This is the post office across the street from my house, and as an avid letter writer with several pen pals, I am in here ALL. THE. TIME.
They always have patience and answers for my many postage questions ("How much does it cost to send a non-machinable letter to Argentina?", "Where can I find the Robert Panara Deaf Education stamps?", "Do I have to include 'China' in the address of a letter to Hong Kong?")
To top it all off, this is where Kelly, my mail carrier, is based. Kelly is amazing. She goes WAY above and beyond. I'm going to paste in a story of a mail SNAFU that happened to me about a year ago. If you don't want to read a long explanation of why Kelly is amazing, feel free to stop now and just know this post office is a damn good one.
Okay buckle up because this is a rollercoaster of a story:
I spent the last two weeks hand-addressing (in calligraphy) 80 wedding invitations. They were beautiful. This morning I put them in the mailbox before I went to work - I was so excited to finally get them out to my family and friends. I even put in a card with a small gift for my mail carrier, thanking them for managing my invitations.
When I got home, I found a note in my mailbox from my mail carrier (an amazing woman named Kelly), explaining that she had found my mailbox open and empty. Later on her route, she had found some of my invitations, a few open and wet on another street in our neighborhood. She left her phone number and told me to call her when I got home. I was so freaked out - clearly my invites had been stolen. When I called, I was in a bit of a state, crying because of how much work I put into hand lettering all the envelopes and thinking that many would be lost.
Even though she was off for the day, she went back to her post office to pick up what she had managed to find and bring them over to me. They were ALL THERE! I have to re-address a few, but they were there! It turns out that another kind soul (a nice man named Martin) found them stacked on top of a big group of mailboxes near his home a few streets away from ours. He collected the ones that had blown away and put rocks on top. Then he explained what had happened to Kelly the mail carrier who related it to us.
I can't believe the crazy rollercoaster of emotions I've been on since I got home from work today. I was so unbelievably angry that some cruel person would steal 80 wedding invitations just to look for money. Then I was relieved and amazed at the kindness of my neighbors (Kelly lives nearby too). Faith in humanity restored! Also, from now on, I will take important things to the post office when I need to send them. read more