Thursday, October 29, 2009

The Small Town Post Office Produce Exchange

In our town, there are no mail trucks or mail delivery people. There is no "on demand parcel pickup" or vacation mail holds. There are not any mailboxes on the streets because there is no mail delivery. There is only the Post Office.

If you want to mail something, you go to the Post Office. If you want to GET your mail, you go to the Post Office. If you want to know what's going on in town, you read the bulletin boards and notices at the Post Office. If you want to chat with your friends, you go to the Post Office (around 10:00 for the older folks, or around 11:15 for those with Kindergarteners or around 3:00 for those with gradeschoolers). Just don't go between 12:00 and 1:00 because they are closed for lunch.

Now, as if all that were not service enough to our community, our post office also doubles as a produce exchange. Throughout the gardening season you can occasionally find boxes of squash, onions, carrots, etc. outside the post office that were left by gardeners with a bit of excess. This produce is there to be taken home by whoever in town wants it. It's a pretty good system. I picked up quite a few odds and ends for the dehydrator throughout the summer, and just last week scored a couple of boxes of apples. Not bad for a trip to the post office. :)

9 comments:

Katidids said...

Now that's what I call community! What a wonderful system.

Anonymous said...

I second that.

HermitJim said...

You just gotta love small town America! Sounds like a place I'd like to visit someday!

Darlene said...

People don't believe that you can live "in town" and not have mail delivery. But, yep, if you live in a "rural" area the USPS doesn't have to deliver the mail to your house - even if it is "in town".

Momnerd said...

You make it sound so lovely but it never seemed that way to me. Although maybe because I never went at the right time for socializing, or at the right time to get produce. But I do have to say, I am loving my mail box! But I am missing you....:(

Angela said...

Oh yes, momnerd, if you know you have a package but have no way of getting to the post office when they're open, OR it's crazy cold and you have little ones you have to bundle up just to go get the mail, the no delivery thing is insanely frustrating!

Melonie said...

We have a similar situation - our housing doesn't have mail delivered to the houses...everyone has to go to the base post office to get their mail. Unfortunately (or on some days, fortunately) I have to drive to the base my husband works at - an hour round trip - to check ours when he's gone. However, the up side is on nice days we can stop at the beach or a Japanese store or restaurant for fun as well. I still only drag myself over there once a week though - toddler + rain + multiple tropical storms + slow mail systems = not worth more than once a week drive.

Maybe I should take the Marines there some produce..... *grin*

Sharron said...

I used to live in a town like that and loved it. The crazy post mistress loved to weigh everyone's babies and remembered how much they weighed the last time you were in. She HAD to have had notes eh=she kept, there were a lot babies!

bctruck said...

I live in a ver small town as well. Our post office has become the "leave one take one" library. I must say I expected the leave one part to be far exceeded by the take one part. After 5 years though it is still going strong. I drive from Houston to los angeles 2 times weekly and it sure is nice to come home to a small town.