I had a similar experience as the OP with the passport services at my local USPS location. I went there to apply for my son's passport and after waiting for 15 mins in the line, the sweet lady at the counter rolled her eyes and pointed me to the "Notice Board". Duh, should have known to check the notice board first. Anyways, there was a handwritten note saying that Passport services are not available on <list of dates - basically the entire week>. No biggie, I thought I'll try next week. So next week rolls in and its bascially Deja Vu. I find myself in a 15 min wait, run into the same lady at the counter, who (no kidding) does the exact same thing. I run to the notice board and there's a new note on the notice board with a bunch of new dates (basically, the entire week). How did this happen? Next day I went to the county clerk office and was done in 15 mins flat. Passport arrived a week later. USPS, never again.