Post Office Expose

Today I mailed two copies of my novel. (Congrats to Gloria who won my Gobble Blog Hop.) Since publishing my book, I’ve spent a good amount of time and money at the post office mailing copies of my book and today I noticed something odd.
“That will be $6 something,” the clerk says.
“Really? It was a lot cheaper last week,” I reply.
“Oh!” She acts flustered and then tells me other mailing options. I pick the cheapest, $5 something.
She rings up the next package--same novel, exact same envelope. “Look,” she says, acting surprised. “This one is $3.60!”
I think she thought this would make me happy. Instead, I feel suspicious. “How is that possible? It’s the exact same thing.”
“No. It can’t be.”
“I promise you, it is.”
“Well, let’s ring up the first one again and see.” AND—now it’s $3.60.
Is the two dollar difference a big deal? Not really, unless you times it by the hundreds of people who pass through the Rancho Post Office every day.
Why am I sharing this story? I’m not sure. It’s not funny, uplifting or even slightly entertaining. I don’t expect there to be an investigation of the Rancho Post Office. I don’t want the post mistress to lose her job, although I hope she’ll be more careful, and if she’s being dishonest, I hope she’ll stop.
It’s just that when you do the exact same thing repeatedly, it’s fair to expect the same results, and when that doesn’t happen, you have to ask why. What happened? And what can I do about it?
If nothing else—I can share it on my blog.