10/8/99 -- 6:57 PM

Millenium countdown clocks tick off some Postal Service

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DALLAS (AP) - Postal officials thought it was a benign little promotional item: digital clocks counting down the days, hours, minutes and seconds until the new millennium in offices around the country.

But they didn't anticipate that the clocks - with their big red numbers - would remind customers of how long they had spent waiting in line - and of their own mortality.

``The customers said it made them feel more time-conscious. It made them feel hurried, like their lives are going too fast,'' said Jackie Beall, postmaster in nearby Colleyville. ``Some customers said, 'Y2K is coming anyway, why are you putting this stress on us?'''

The clocks, which are in dozens of North Texas offices and in several Northern California offices, are coming down.

Recent customer surveys found satisfaction levels decreasing for some Texas offices, so Postal Service workers started informally polling customers on what they liked and disliked about the stations. They learned that the clock distressed several customers, said Stephen Seewoester, a spokesman the Postal Service's Fort Worth region.

Some customers complained that the clocks made the wait seem longer or made them feel older, said Sam Bolen, public affairs manager for the Postal Service's Southwest area.

``We have 40,000 post offices nationwide,'' Bolen said. ``Try as we might to please everyone, there's always going to be something that offends some people.''

Alan Wald, Postal Service spokesman for the Oakland, Calif., district, said five clocks were removed from offices because of complaints.

Customers felt ``the clock was a reminder that (doomsday) was coming. And we didn't see any compelling reason why the clock had to stay up,'' he said.

Why only in Texas and California? Are people's lives more harried? Does death and doom haunt them more than those in other parts of the nation?

``I wouldn't begin to speculate,'' said Bolen. ``Talk to psychiatrists about it.''

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Gee, I wonder if there might be another reason not mentioned above!!

Ray

-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), October 08, 1999

Answers

They have them in grocery stores in the liquor isle. I believe it's Korbel that has the time clocks. I thought the clocks in the post office were a stupid idea.....

-- clock watcher (clockwatcher@clockwatcherrr.xcom), October 08, 1999.

Do you think maybe our forum pollyannas were the ones that complained?

Can't be reminding people of reality all the time ya know...how else's ya gonna remain a sheeple?

-- (screwed@on.tight), October 08, 1999.

The question I sporadically ask the USPS window clerks is:

What happens when the clock reaches Y2K? Does it stop?

They don't have an answer...

-- Randolph (dinosaur@williams-net.com), October 08, 1999.

Well, makes me want to go to the post office and see if I can take it off their hands for free then... :) Now how many people here can say they have a big countdown clock like that up in their living room? :)

-- James Collins (jacollins@thegrid.net), October 08, 1999.

Randolph, you are a twisted, twisted man.

Chuck

-- Chuck, a night driver (rienzoo@en.com), October 08, 1999.

Ppl *feel* in their bones a dread; they know there's something to that countdown. And they don't want to be reminded! As if ignorance stops time.

Will be interesting to see if/how squirrely the public gets as the Fuse sputters down ...

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), October 08, 1999.

I remember seeing on of those countdown clocks in a Post Office and it giving me the willies. It reminded me of the fleeting time left for people to do something, anything, to hedge against disaster. I know that my house is in Y2k order, but I look around at others standing in line to get their money orders or mail their package to Boise and I think, "Time is running out for these folks." I wonder when someone is going to go postal in the Post Office from Y2k- related stress. The first thing they'd go for is probably that stupid clock, with red numbers on a black background, no less, if I remember correctly.

-- Kurt Ayau (Ayau@Iwinet.com), October 08, 1999.

Will these clocks maybe be available (as government surplus) to the public? When (probably in February...)?

The small one that I have at home (a gift from one of my daughters...) causes a steady stream of comments from visitors...

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), October 08, 1999.

People don't like it because it reminds them of a time bomb ticking off. It also represents a countdown to a nuclear war.

-- bardou (bardou@baloney.com), October 08, 1999.

A surplus count-down clock is bound to disappoint its purchaser. At 24:00:00 31 December 1999, whichever time zone it's set for, the clock will read 00:00:00. Forever.

And they aren't heavy enough for boat anchors.

-- Tom Carey (tomcarey@mindspring.com), October 08, 1999.

But they DO prop windows and doors real well.

-- Lobo (atthelair@yahoo.com), October 09, 1999.