Updates on Old Favorites

New readers might not know that it's my mission to photograph [and get postmarks from] as many U.S. post offices as humanly possible, for historic and archival purposes. Why? Originally, it was a way of documenting my cross-country travels and served a gift for my postmark-collecting father. Now it's because five years (... months?) from now, so many of these places won't be around. Post offices will disappear and so too will so many of these towns. Unfortunately, top-level USPS keeps trying to make my life easier by stripping away all the small, rural, and interesting offices with actual character -- the ones most reflective (and most necessary to the survival) of their communities.

(Why Donahoe is looking to destroy his organization is still beyond me. Have you ever heard the phrase "death by a thousand cuts"? Think 3.7 thousand cuts, and plenty more where those came from.)

This journal was started back in Sept. 2010, with a few entries from my favorite parts of the country: Hawaii, Manhattan, and Wyoming. Let's see where we stand on some old favorites now.

Big Island, Small Office -- Nīnole and ‘Ō‘ōkala, Hawai'i.
Both locations are open three or fewer hours a day, so why aren't they on the RAOI study list? Because they're actually CPOs -- Community Post Offices [a type of CPU], formerly Rural Branches, which means the towns once had an independent post office, but they're now run under contract. These locations are exempt from RAOI, though CPOs have been generally disappearing at a high rate.

Remember: CPOs, a concept around for decades, while not as preferable as an independent Post Office, are a thousand times better than the Village Post Office sham. At least CPOs offer near-full services! They even have things like, gee, scales to actually weigh stuff on!

Some really photogenic CPOs: Fire Island, NY.

'Appraising' An Obscure Office in Manhattan -- New York, NY: Appraisers' Store Station
One of the oddest post offices you'll ever see, three blocks south of Rockefeller Center in the fourth floor of a generally secure building, Appraisers owes its existence to the diamond jewelers downstairs. This post office accepts only Registered Mail, sometimes insured via private insurance into the multi-million-dollar range. There's a reason USPS made this post office, and it's so jewelers wouldn't have to wait in line at Rockefeller Center, or leave their bullion lying around in an APC. This facility has already had its public meeting, but anyone who would like to defend its existence still can; contact information at that link.

As Rural as it Sounds -- Recluse and northeastern Wyoming
You'll be disappointed to know that three out of the four post offices shown in this entry -- Recluse, Leiter, and Arvada, are all on RAOI. I might make another Wyoming entry soon.

A Tale of Two Antlers -- Antler[s], Saskatchewan and North Dakota
Antler, ND is on the RAOI Hit List.

On the Hit List: Long Island Processing Plants
Figured this could use a jump back to the front page, since there's been a great influx of visitors from postal news sites! And yes, lawyers, I was on public streets, so this is all perfectly legal. If you doubt this, look at Google Street View.

It's Only Lodge-ical -- Post offices in ski lodges in MA and PA.
Skytop and Pocono Manor, PA are on the RAOI Hit List, and I suspect both will be gone shortly. Hancock, MA is a CPO and is thus not part of the study.

Not Just NE-Where -- stories from a slice of Nebraska
Of course, the one with the most character, Nehawka [click on thumbnail 3], is on the RAOI chopping block.

Hope you new readers enjoy the site!
E

Revisiting: Trenton Edition

The author just moved to Philadelphia yesterday. I visited a few new POs along the way and revisited two facilities that have been covered in this blog and recently discontinued: Trenton's Yardville Branch and Chambersburg Station. Thought there might be some nice new urban renewal projects or delis opening up in these shuttered POs. Let's see what we found:

Yardville; three months after discontinuance: Nothing. In fact, its lease expires March 31, 2013, so this spot will be doing absolutely nothing for the community other than looking abandoned for some time to come. The sign on the door defers people to Trenton's Main Post Office. Driving distance: 2.5 miles.
Chambersburg; 1.5 months after discontinuance: Nothing. Guess when their lease expires: 9/30/2018. In essence, a poor community that has been told they're not worth USPS's while, and they'll probably have to sit with this empty lot for seven long years. They have to find transportation to the Independence Station P.O., 2.1 miles away. There are two other, busier offices, at a similar proximity.

Taking Pity on Google, Part II

Here are some further edits to postal markers the author has made:

Pawcatuck, CT: post office was unlisted. Now it is correctly placed.

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Wakeman, OH: post office was shown to be west of Monroeville; the marker was nearly 20 miles away. It is now properly placed.


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Northeast U.S.: Carrier Annexes

Ever curious where a Carrier Annex is? Wonder no more: every marker point on this map is a new edit / addition [edit-ion?]. This one's not an easy task.

> Some were listed as being full-fledged post offices, which is misleading (Trenton Carrier Annex; Madison, NJ Carrier Annex; Elmsford, NY Carrier Annex).

> Others were the site for carrier and retail operations, but have still split; those listings had still read 'US Post Office' though they are now just carrier facilities: Springfield, NJ Carrier Annex; Brooklyn, NY: Ryder Carrier Annex.

> Still more were just not shown at all, partly because USPS reveals very little information about them and because they aren't open for customer retail operations in any case. Here are some brand-new listings: Guilford/Madison [CT] Carrier Annex; Great Neck [NY] Carrier Annex; Revere [MA] Carrier Annex.

I'm still working on them, so there will be more to come.


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There are many more to fill in to the Boston area; this is a start:


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Youngstown, OH: I removed the listings for the East Side and South Side Stations, which were closed earlier this month and covered in this GP entry.

Taking Pity on Google, Part I

So, not many posts lately. I'll explain. The next paragraph might seem irrelevant, but it leads to the explanation.

Google Maps is rather handy when you're mapping out 25 post offices to visit one day. Unfortunately, from experience, I've found that map placement is not always accurate; some listed post offices have closed; or some aren't even listed! That's likely because, while USPS once provided a full docket of information for Google to use, some addresses are un-mappable and no one has the time to validate all the information. Well that's not cool!

Enter yours truly. I've basically been, shall we say, providing Google with free labor. Over the past two weeks I've taken to Google Map Maker (a really cool tool) to validate post office listings and map placement. Changes show up on Google Maps for searches once they are approved by other users. I've modified about 400 listings. Hopefully they make for a good reference for interested parties -- especially those who want to tour offices like moi! Here are some highlights:

1. The Poconos, PA

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Okay, before I got to them, these listings were PAINFULLY inaccurate. Absolutely no post office within the map parameters above was properly placed. Mountainhome didn't have a listing at all; Canadensis was placed where Cresco is; Cresco needed a new listing. Tobyhanna was listed as being on Rt. 311; it's really off on Main Street. Pocono Manor needed re-placement; its marker is now placed on the lodge that houses it.

In the Scranton area, I removed the listings for Dickson City and Elmhurst.

So now, EVERY post office in that window is spot-on. Although I haven't yet been to Scotrun, so I don't know about that one.

2. Southwestern Massachusetts:

Corrected many mis-placed tags, including that for Mill River, MA.

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3. Queens, NY:

I added a listing for the new Broad Channel CPU.

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JFK's post office and Air Mail Center were hopelessly misplaced; they were shown to be in the passenger terminal when they're really on the outskirts of the airport. Finally, their location is properly shown:


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In short: I really should be getting paid for this.