The 2025 Calendar of Post Offices and Places

This ninth edition of the Postlandia Calendar of Post Offices and Places is dedicated to my father, long-time science teacher Robert Kalish, who passed away in January. As of the time of this writing his 78th birthday would have been tomorrow. Dad started collecting postmarks in 1960 and visited a decent nunber of post offices himself. Here's a slide of him in front of the (long-since-discontinued) post office in Wymer, West Virginia in 1966.



The direct link to order the calendar is [calendar discontinued; link no longer active].


2025 Postlandia Calendar Cover:


With this year's calendar we've now featured over 100 post offices, spanning all 50 states (as well as Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands). I think of each month's photo and caption like a condensed blog post. So while I don't write on here anymore, I still get to research and write about a decent number of postal operations each year. I have to admit, I was close to not dedicating the effort this year. It's hard work, and November is not kind to my body in general (I'm looking at you, Daylight Saving Time). But here we are, I'm glad we're back, and let's keep going, shall we?

As always, do note that the photos in the calendar are high-resolution, unlike the compressed versions I post here.

This year's efforts included a) actually visiting a couple of the sites in question; b) contacting a post office and a nonprofit; and c) reviewing more than two dozen historic newspaper stories as well as blog posts and other websites to check fun postal facts.

California King


Every calendar is printed to order. My publisher of choice is Lulu. They've proven reliable for as long as I've been making these calendars, and you should find that the printing and paper quality are top-notch. You can write on them with pen or even Sharpie and the pages hold up just fine.

In addition to the holidays you'll find on other calendars, you'll find historic tidbits and postal trivia. I'm pretty sure this is the only calendar that notes under July 26 the 1775 appointment of Benjamin Franklin as our first Postmaster General.

To B. Frank(lin) With You:


Sales of these calendars help support my continued post office explorations, which this year have included trips to the heartland, southern California, and a dozen post offices on islands in New England. Proceeds also support the time I continue to dedicate expanding the Post Mark Collectors Club (PMCC)'s Online Post Office Photo Collection, the freely available reference that recently surpassed 34,000 post office photos!

Baskett Case


Again, the link to order the 2025 Postlandia calendar directly from our publisher, Lulu, is [no longer active].

Thank you for your continued support!

Sincerely,
Evan (Postlandia)

The 2020 Calendar of Post Offices and Places

So! It's been a while since I've written many articles, but I've still been logging several thousand miles visiting post offices. Alas, it's that glorious time of the year that brings us pumpkin spice and the annual Postlandia Calendar of Post Offices and Places. I'm not here to write about the flavors of autumn, so hello calendar! For those of you new to the 'tradition,' the Postlandia calendar is a 12-month calendar that features a different, interesting, and photogenic post office for each month, plus a description of why it's significant. There's nothing else quite like it anywhere. This will be the fourth iteration, and the calendar has now featured at least one post office from most U.S. states.

The 2020 edition of the Postlandia calendar takes us to post offices far and wide—notably the Caribbean, home to the U.S. Post Offices of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. I've still yet to transcribe my adventures, but I visited every single P.O. in both U.S. territories earlier this year, and it was an unforgettable experience. You'll see two really cool finds from the Caribbean in the calendar. This said, the calendar also takes us to the Northwest, New England, the Mid-Atlantic, and all the way out to the Grand Canyon. The post offices are big and small, and there's something for everyone. (Everyone who's interested in post offices and/or snail mail, at least.)

Here's the [edit: link removed; project retired] direct link to the calendar on Lulu, my trusty printer.

The images are printed in high resolution (far better than I present on this site), on high-quality paper. The dates include not only U.S. holidays but dates significant to American postal history. And, yes, you can write on it—again, good paper. Thick stuff.

Postlandia Calendar cover:


The cover (and one of the months) features one of my all-time favorite post offices: Milton, Pennsylvania. Heck, I featured it in a blog post back in 2011. But I stopped back to photograph it again earlier this year with far better lighting on the building, and this gem definitely deserves another look.

Delaware: Birth of an Empire


Illinois: A "Great American Post Office"


Texarkana: Two States, one Post Office


As always, there's so much more where these came from. I hope you experience as much enjoyment with this calendar next year as I've enjoyed curating it. Remember—I've trekked to thousands of post offices (I'm presently just shy of 10,000) so I can bring you some of the very best, anywhere.

I refuse to sell advertising on any website I manage or any product I manage, so this is the only way I make even a modicum of money from this hobby. It really does make a dent in my gas money bills, so I want to thank everyone who purchases a calendar for your support.

Again, the link to the calendar is [removed]. I've always said that this is the perfect gift for the special USPS employee or snail mail enthusiast in your life; a wonderful purchase for philatelist and stamp collectors; and generally speaking, just the perfect post office calendar. The calendar is available [link removed], at the secure website of the high-quality printer Lulu. Everyone I know who's purchased either the 2017, the 2018, or the 2019 Postlandia post office calendar has loved it!

BONUS!!

I'm a huge fan of FDR-era (1933-1942) post offices, more than 1,000 of which house beautiful examples of New Deal artwork. Last year I introduced a second calendar that overlaps somewhat with our postal fandom, and this year I'm bringing it back: [retired link] New Deal Legacy: 2020!

It features a bit of postal goodness from the FDR era, but goes way beyond to highlight some of the myriad of accomplishments put forth by various New Deal agencies across the country, including the Works Progress Administration (WPA), Public Works Administration (PWA), and Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).

Again, each image in the calendar is accompanied by a full description of exactly what's going on.

2020 New Deal Legacy Calendar cover:


The projects...

Louisiana: Deco Justice


New Mexico: Desert Pride


Colorado: The High Road


The high-resolution images include the stories that make each one image significant. They are printed on thick, high-quality paper and will hold up to all of your writing-on-your-calendar needs. Just as with the Postlandia calendar, these span the country. There's something for everyone. Here is the combined link to my author's page that will lead you to both the the Postlandia and New Deal Legacy 2020 calendars.

Thank you for your continued support.
Evan

A 420 Road Trip? Visiting Weed, New Mexico and more

It struck me that, should the laws of the land ever change, and should the U.S. Post Office ever become the U.S. Pot Office, it would have a couple of great names to start with. Basically, yes, here is a post about post offices whose sole connection is they have 420-friendly names! Let's start in New Mexico.

Weed, New Mexico
Weed is located in the middle of nowhere. Located east of Alamogordo in the hills of southern New Mexico, it's a community of 20 people. Nevertheless it, and the neighboring post office of Sacramento, is able to sustain a four-hour post office. Get your bearings with this Google Map; Weed is on the right side:



Name aside, Weed, New Mexico has some of the best welcome and post office signage around. Check 'em out!




The building that houses the post office also houses the Weed Café.


Love the cowboy minding the entrance!


Inside the front door is the community bulletin board and some additional directions:


The actual postal part of the building has been standardized re: the counter and P.O. Box section.


I visited the site in 2012, during my second large cross-country road trip. A few weeks later I visited another Weed, this time in sight of Mount Shasta in far northern California.

Weed, California


Weed has a mid-century Federal Building, which unfortunately was backlit (and doesn't have very unobstructed views in general).



Weed was the site of a massive fire in 2014, which destroyed several institutions—including churches and a library—though not the Federal Building.

Finally, let's head up to rural South Dakota, where two small towns (also visited on that road trip in 2012) east of Pierre on U.S. 14 round out our 420 tour.



Blunt, South Dakota has a population of about 350, and the post office has been at 301 North Main Street for nearly 50 years, since 1968. The current lease, as per USPS's Leased Facilities Report, is for a modest $4.99 per square foot.



And, of course, once you've driven through Blunt it's pretty easy to achieve Highmore. Population-800 Highmore has had its post office located at 111 Commercial Avenue SE since its building's construction in 1961.



'Til next time!

2017 Calendar of Post Offices and Places

Please check the newest entries in this blog for the most current link to the most current Postlandia calendar! --------- Welcome to the first annual Postlandia calendar. It's a small project a few years in the making, and I hope to bring you photos and stories from a dozen new and distinctive locations every year.

Postlandia—the blog, the Facebook page, and now the calendar—is really about celebrating the connections between post offices and the communities they serve. You'll find that theme throughout this year's dozen selections, from the grand New York GPO at the heart of Manhattan; to the population-100 villags with distinctive century-old general store/P.O.s; to the massive, Spanish-style mail-sorting plant in southern California; and the P.O. on stilts along the hurricane-prone Gulf Coast. The photos are from 12 different states, ranging from Florida to Alaska; from villages population 100 to New York; and taken as far back as 1900 and up to the present. Captions detail the significance of each post office. Most are of places never before shown on this blog.

Snippets:

Postlandia Calendar Cover:


Oregon: join thousands of couples and send your wedding invitations here!


Texas: German Hill Country @ 110 years old


Ohio: housing historic American artwork


I hope you'll consider this celebration of some of America's great post offices for the postal worker, historian, or philatelist in your life. The calendar is available via Lulu [update, Sept. 2017: no longer available; new version out!] a high-quality printer-to-order. Proceeds go toward bringing you more stories from across America. Thank you for your support! Yours,
Evan @ Postlandia

Postal Tour: Rapid City, SD

In southwest South Dakota, near the Black Hills, Badlands, and the monuments of Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse, lies the local metropolis and gateway to the region -- Rapid City with its roughly 69,000 residents. Despite its comparatively small size it's the largest city within a 350-mile drive, which means that the city's mail processing operations are not slated for consolidation at any time under USPS's Area Mail Processing (Network "Rationalization") plan.

Rapid City's postal footprint is distinct in that while the city could accommodate one or more classified postal stations, there are only five numbered contract stations beyond the Main Post Office / P&DF.

Here's a map of the area:


Our tour begins with the former site of the Rapid City Post Office: a stately 1912 building now known as the Rushmore Professional Building (housing law firms and other such organizations). The Main Post Office moved to its present site during the mid-1970s, from the west end of downtown to the east.

Old Rapid City, SD post office:


The present site fits with one's expectations for the design of a 'modern' Processing and Distribution Facility.


Flanking the MPO along a roughly straight eight-mile corridor are Rapid City's five CPUs. This framework is beneficial in one respect: there are five postal operations open on Saturdays and four on Sundays -- one until 11 p.m. each night -- in the area. Most Dakotas District operations -- including CPUs -- are very keen on learning and obeying rules and regulations, and I found each operation to be friendly and competent. From west to east, presenting the five CPUs of Rapid City:

Rapid City, SD: Sta. #6 (Family Thriftway Center CPU)


Rapid City, SD: Sta. #4 (Boyd's Drug West CPU)


Rapid City, SD: Sta. #7 (Medicap Pharmacy CPU)


Rapid City, SD: Sta. #5 (Boyd's Drug East CPU)


Rapid City, SD: Sta. #2 (Don's Valley Market CPU)


Until next time!

12-12-12 Postmarks

Howdy, folks! It's the last triple-date of the century here on Earth, and the U.S. Postal Service has made available a handful of "12-12-12" pictorial cancellations for those interested in obtaining one. (Of course, you could always get a "DEC 12 2012" postmark anywhere today, but that's not quite the same, is it?) If you're interested in any of these special cancels, please mail the postal card / envelope with the stamp to be cancelled, along with a request to the appropriate postal official, to the address shown at the right. Requests must be received within 30 days. The following information about these commemorative cancels was made available in the most recent Postal Bulletin.

The first commemorative cancels comes courtesy of (what appears to be) the Western Pennsylvania District office, located with the Pittsburgh Main Post Office.


Several post offices in South Dakota are offering 12-12-12 cancels of their own. They're particularly nice as the pictorials present a map of the state with the towns accurately located therein. The instructions for obtaining any of these cancels is the same as above.



I visited one of these offices, that in Buffalo, back in 2008, while heading toward the Geographic Center of the 50 States.

Buffalo, SD post office


Hope you enjoy!