Mailboxes

Ive always thought it was so weird how the mail is done here in our neighborhood.

I realize now the sense of it and why the Post Office does it. We have a communal boxes that are posted around the neighborhood and you go with your key and get the mail. Its obviously much easier for the Postal Worker to make several stops rather than going to each house in the neighborhood.

Our habit is to stop on our way into the neighborhood on the way home from school. I keep the key in my car and the girl hops out and gets the mail, hops back in and we go home. During the summer or when we are off the mail can pile up sometimes because I forget to get it or just because Im lazy and dont want to walk down the street to the box. (and YES...I have actually gotten in my car and driven down to the box...I will confess to that and ask forgiveness from the Postal Office gods)

Growing up our mail box was on the house. The mailman (as they were called back then) had to walk down the lane and then up the steps to the house and deposit them into a little slot that was vertical. the slot had a bronze covering that had the words MAILBOX pressed into it... as if it needed identifying.

The slot emptied into our coat closet in the front room of our house... how weird is that? It even had a little door at one time on it to keep the mail from sliding out of the chute. It was always funny to me during the winter to stick your hand in the chute and feel the cold air from the outside. And if there was a lot of mail that day...well, just forget even trying to get it through the chute, it was easier to just go outside and pull it out from there.

My paternal grandparents had a slot that was in the bottom of their front door. It was a horizontal slot and I remember thinking how odd it was that their mail fell on the floor.

I always wanted one of those free standing mailboxes but have yet to have one. My grandmother had the BEST mailbox. She had a metal box on a post but it had this little red flag that you put UP when you wanted to mail carrier to stop and pick up mail that was outgoing. Of course, as a kid, you think its the coolest thing. They also had another red plastic box below it that was for the newspaper. The mail carrier would drive up in his little mail truck with the driver side on the right side of the car and do the mail. Stop and Go. Stop and Go. all the way down the street.

The girl still enjoys getting the mail for me if we are at home. Its often a little "job" that excites her and the neighborhood kids. I think it must be related to the whole "I have a key and I get to use it" thing as well as being able to venture away from the house on their own.

The United States Postal Service fascinates me. I just think how interesting is it that you put a little sticky piece of paper --the stamp--on an envelope and write on it and once you put it in the mailbox, its a felony to mess with it? How cool is that? Its also amazing to think about how many different pieces of mail they work with and can you imagine the handwriting nightmare? Its crazy really. I seriously need to think about taking a tour of a post office.