poor office

So, here's why the line at the East Orange Post Office is always so long, besides the suckiness of everyone who "works" there: the post office in East Orange is essentially a poor people depot.

First off, everyone pays cash. And not just cash cash, but wads of crap cash. People pull clumps of singles and twenties out to pay and then turn around to dig through their pockets for scads of change, rendering the average transaction time about 14 minutes. When I got there today, the line snaked around the lobby and spilled out into the vestibule. But the slowness of the line traffic doesn't explain it all away: why are there so many people at the EOPO anyway?

In short, because every other person is there to get several money orders. What is a money order? It's like a check for a poor person. If you don't have a bank account, you go to the post office (!) to pay your bills: you get a few money orders for a couple few hundred dollars each (which is usually paid out in singles, based on how long the transaction takes) and then you send them to the appropriate party. But may I ask a stupid question - how hard is it to get a bank account? I have the same befuddlement about people who go to Payday Loans places to cash checks. Why wouldn't I just cash it with a loan shark or a bookie or a mafia kingpin...at least then I can get a table dance while the money's being counted out.

Let me also say that I won't act as if it's an accident that most of the people who live in East Orange are straddling the poverty line and that they also happen to be African American. EO is over 90% black - thus, there were only a couple vanilla sprinkles in the line this morning. I say this to say that this still doesn't explain the reliance on money orders at the post office: the lady in front of me was complaining about everyone buying money orders today, saying to no one in particular, "Has anyone ever heard of online banking?!" And then, and I'm not making this up, she got up to the window and purchased two money orders. Unless your bank account would be subject to seizure by the IRS, you should have one, you should be paying bills online, you should not be purchasing several money orders every other day. Perhaps it's cultural. Cough.

There are really few people who are doing actual, no-foolin' postal business at the EO Poor Office, then. If you'd like to learn more, send a money order to 26 City Hall Plaza, East Orange, NJ 07017.