United States Postal Service

Reviews

• DM

  Diana Merdian

  1 day ago
  5.0
  Sterling, IL, Office Staff are always nice and extremely helpful when filling out passport forms.
• ME

  Mark Earl

  Sep 24, 2026
  2.0
  We’ve been using the Sterling Post Office to receive a few packages while we’re temporarily living in our motorhome. We have a PO Box there, and an employee told us they regularly receive packages for people in situations like ours. In fact, multiple clerks have been helping us right along. Sometimes our packages were put in a parcel locker, and other times we were told to go around to the back patio and pick them up. Everybody seemed to understand what we were doing, and it worked just fine. Until apparently it didn’t. FedEx notified us that a package had been delivered there and was ready for pickup. My wife went to get it and was initially told they didn’t have it, and then when they discovered the package on the floor in the back room, it would cost us $150. That got my attention, especially since the box looked like it had been used for blocking practice by the Chicago Bears. When I saw the pictures, I asked who had accepted a package in that condition. Nobody seemed to know. Apparently everybody was at lunch when that happened. I was on speakerphone while my wife was standing at the counter, and I asked why we were suddenly being charged when FedEx had already been paid to transport and deliver the package and we pay monthly for our PO Box. That’s when the Postmaster cleared up one thing for me by explaining, “We don’t work for free.” I sincerely appreciate the clarification. Very enlightening. I had spent the last 61 years under the mistaken impression that government employees worked for free. After some discussion, the $150 somehow became $83, which we paid so we could leave with our damaged package. I’m still not entirely sure how $150 became $83 or what service we purchased for $83, other than getting the box from their side of the counter to ours. But there was one more surprise. After multiple clerks had been accepting our packages and either putting them in parcel lockers or letting us pick them up out back, we were now informed by the Postmaster that packages delivered by Amazon would simply be returned to sender. Apparently there isn’t even an $83 “we don’t work for free” option for those. Pay the wages or don’t pay the wages, Amazon is going home. I understand there are postal regulations, and if we were doing something the rules don’t allow, somebody could have simply explained that to us when we first asked. We would have figured out another arrangement. What bothers me is being told this was fine, having several employees help us do it repeatedly, and then suddenly discovering that not only is it not fine, but there’s an $83 education fee accompanied by a lecture about nobody working for free. Maybe somewhere in the employee break room they could put on a few old episodes of The Andy Griffith Show. Not for postal training—I don’t remember Andy or Barney sorting much mail—but just as a refresher course on how decent human beings talk to one another. We’ll figure out another way to get our packages. That part is easy. And despite everything, always remember to be nice to people. Sometimes somebody has to go first. -Mark
• CD

  C Dea

  Sep 15, 2026
  5.0
  Above and beyond
• SW

  Stone W

  Sep 22, 2020
  5.0
  I had an error on delivery due to a change of address and they helped me figure out everything I needed to receive packages at my new address. Very helpful!
• BW

  Barb Walker

  Dec 6, 2018
  5.0
  I would like to thank Donna for her help today. Great Job. I have always had great customer service at the Sterling Post office. Warm and friendly staff.

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