General Question

Mariah's avatar

When do people who work full time run their errands?

Asked by Mariah (25883points) June 17th, 2014

Laugh at my naivete. Please. I deserve it.

I have my first full-time job. I need to mail a letter. I need stamps. I scoped out the local post office but its hours are weekdays 9–5 which are precisely my hours. I got to thinking, those are my doctor’s office’s hours too. Lots and lots of businesses’ hours.

If you work full time, when do you run errands that involve businesses that work the same hours as you? Do you have to use a vacation day? What if you’re someone who gets regular therapy or something; you can’t very well take a vacation day every week?

I just need a stamp. I’m not taking a vacation day to get stamps.

Just one stamp. :(

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24 Answers

Michael_Huntington's avatar

I’m currently a NEET, but I’d imagine the weekends/lunch break.

janbb's avatar

Nights and weekends and lunchtimes….

FYI, CVS and supermarkets sell stamps.

longgone's avatar

For this particular problem: Online postage!

stanleybmanly's avatar

It is unbelievable the things that can be arranged to be delivered to you through the use of whatever device you utilized to write this question. On the other hand, for things that require your physical presence, I’ve taken to filling the gas tanks & shopping for groceries at 2–4 in the morning. It’s wonderful. No lines, no traffic. park at the door. The post office will sell you stamps online. The mailmnan will deliver them.

funkdaddy's avatar

So for stamps, they sell them at the grocery store. You can pick them up usually directly from the cashier next time you’re in for groceries. Or the excellent answers above. Post offices also have a 24-hour “ATM” if they have PO Boxes where you can buy postage for a little bit of everything.

For other things, it depends on what works best

1) Do it during lunch
2) Take an hour or two off during the day (leave early, arrive late, take a long lunch)... everyone else has stuff they have to do too, PTO doesn’t usually require a full day
3) Hire someone, team up with a neighbor, have a SO with a different schedule, start your own business so you can work aaaallll the time… whichever works best for you

man, you get three or four people typing an answer and all of a sudden the one liners really come out to get in there first

livelaughlove21's avatar

Luckily, I can apply postage and mail things from my office. Some do errands at lunch or on weekends, if possible. When I have to see a doctor, I get the earliest appointment they have. My OBGYN, who I see more often than any other doctor, starts seeing patients at 7:30, so I can usually make it to work well before 9. I will take a short lunch during the week to make up for it, as it’s allowed by my employer. If I have to take a personal day, I will, but I avoid it.

Dan_Lyons's avatar

The slaves must budget their time to get their personal chores done after they have finished their slave labor.

ARE_you_kidding_me's avatar

I worked full-time and took classes ½ time for years and still got my errands done. You just work them in

Seek's avatar

Just wait until you have kids. Then the brain-bending really starts. You need a TARDIS to get everything done.

BeenThereSaidThat's avatar

lunch break, after work and weekends.

chyna's avatar

The hardest thing for me to do is get my car in for maintenance. They open when I’m supposed to be at work and close when I’m off. I’ve worked it out where a co-worker picks me up or drops me to pick it up.

Pied_Pfeffer's avatar

One other option for stamp purchasing: If you only need one, ask around the office to see if anyone has one for sale. Mine are kept in my wallet and many times co-workers in a situation like yours would ask for one.

As for regular therapy, that should be brought up with the hiring manager before an offer was accepted. It should also be discussed with the therapist regarding the options for changing the appts. to meet the needs of the work schedule.

jca's avatar

Lunch, nights and weekends. When you buy stamps, get a sheet or two and keep them in a file. That way, when you need one, it’s not a problem.

If you don’t have kids, chances are you won’t have trouble going shopping or Doing errands at night.

Doctor visits may require a long lunch or coming in late or leaving early.

johnpowell's avatar

The 7/11 here sells stamps.

As for the medical stuff I would talk to your employer. Depending on the job they can probably work around it. Like giving you a extra hour on your lunch so you can get in a visit.

For banking my CU is open until six if I really have to go in.

zenvelo's avatar

For stamps, there’s usually someone in an office that has stamps, and as long as you pay for them they wot n’t resentful selling you one every once in a while.

Like most people, I do my errands afterwork and on Saturdays. If I really really have to go to the Post Office I go on my lunch break.

Pachy's avatar

The position I held at my company pretty much gave me the freedom to go out whenever I wanted to, but even so, I tended to run my errands during lunch. My big errand day, though, has always been Saturday.

hearkat's avatar

On the way home, weekends, or take time off.

I cut back my work schedule because my sanity is more important than money – even though I’m far from rich.

jca's avatar

Welcome to the incredibly busy world of working full time!

JLeslie's avatar

A lot of 9–5 workplaces allow a long lunch, or let you leave early once in a while, if you need to run an errand. Once you are there for a while you can observe how flexible they are and start asking if it is ok if you run a little late from lunch, because you need to go to the bank or whatever you need to do. A lot of banks and post offices have Saturday hours or a late day where they stay open until 6:00 or even later.

Probably this goes without saying; but, don’t buy just one stamp at a time. Buy a small sheet of some sort. I always have stamps at home, even though I don’t use them very much.

If you go to therapy every week you just make up the time—stay late that day or another day.

It’s one of the good things when I worked retail, I often had a weekday as my day off, so I never had chaos trying to run errands or meet a repairmen, but the downside is working weekends.

rojo's avatar

Get married and split the chores/errands with a spousal unit.

flutherother's avatar

Stamps are not a problem as much as being home for deliveries and for tradesmen coming out to fix things. That said – congratulations on the job.

chinchin31's avatar

CALL IN SICK HAAH

downtide's avatar

I do most of my errands on my days off or in the early evening after work. I buy stamps from the supermarket which is open til 8pm and open on Sundays too. For things like medical appointments that can’t be rearranged to a weekend, I have to schedule time off work as medical leave but I don’t have to use up vacation time for it; that depends on your contract of employment. Like @JLeslie, I work some weekends so I get some weekdays off in return. I hate working weekends but I LOVE those weekdays off because I can get so much done.

Switch to online banking too – that will save you a ton of time in place of having to visit the branch.

jca's avatar

I never take time off to go to a bank. I use the ATM and my pay check is direct deposited.

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