Mr. ZIP’s Windy Day
“Young readers will love the interactive lift-the-flap element as they join Mr. ZIP for one windy adventure!”
Postal abbreviations
Gary Gulman explains how the states got their two-letter abbreviations.
A consequential chute
When I wrote four sentences about When Strangers Marry (dir. William Castle, 1944), I suggested that the movie has the most consequential mail chute in all film. As the camera closes in, let us pause to ponder a world with five daily mail collections, six days a week. Click any image for a larger view.
Postal consolidation
The United States Postal Service is planning to “consolidate” thirty processing and distribution centers. In Illinois, four processing and distribution centers outside of Chicago are slated for consolidation. That seems to mean that all outgoing mail will be processed in Chicago and environs. Snail mail indeed.
Another meaning of “snail mail”
My one submission to the OED.
Mailing a letter
Nabokov’s narrator mails a letter.
Got stamps?
In today’s Dustin, paterfamilias Ed is looking for stamps. Snarky Meg wonders who still uses them.
Messrs. Zip
Zippy and Mr. Zip.
An IRS pipeline
In The Washington Post, Catherine Rampell visits an IRS outpost.
At the REC
At the last Remote Encoding Center: How the USPS reads terrible handwriting.
A mail chute in the movies
This mail chute filled the screen.
Mutts and the mail
In today’s Mutts, Earl reminds us, or alerts us, that it’s National Mail Carrier Day, aka Thank a Mail Carrier Day.
A Naked City mail chute
That’s a pretty spiffy mailbox. Detective Arcaro, could you step away so we can get a good look? Please?
Newman speaks
“A Message from Your Friendly Local Mail Carrier.”
The Mailman
From 1946, an educational film.
“What’s the Post Office Good For?”
From The New York Times, “What’s the Post Office Good For? Everything,” an illustrated report by Julia Rothman and Shaina Feinberg.
Your Postal Service
A 1949 educational film.
The Maltese mailbox
Sam Spade, mailing a claim check.
Halt!
“The U.S. Postal Service will halt its controversial cost-cutting initiatives until after the election — canceling service reductions, reinstating overtime hours and ceasing the removal of mail-sorting machines and public collection boxes, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy announced in a statement Tuesday.”
Recently updated
A post now with the names and e-mail addresses of the members of the USPS Board of Governors.
A post about the post
Have you called or written to the six members of the USPS’s Board of Governors? Their numbers and addresses are easy to find.
“Nothing stops the mail.”
Not even fascism.
“Defend Our Post Office”
A video from People for the American Way.
Guthrie mailbox
“This Machine Kills Fascists,” now on a mailbox. Art by Mike Shine.
Mail, real mail
The New York Times reports on snail mail in the time of the coronavirus.
THANK YOU USPS
I’ve taken to writing or drawing a thank-you on almost every piece of mail I send. Why not?
Chutes and letters
Diane Schirf has added new (and stylin’) photographs and useful links to a post about the Cutler mailing system.
USPS (b. 1775)
At The New Yorker, Casey Cep writes about the United States Postal Service, its origin, history, current woes, possible futures, and cultural value.
Add some letters to your day
The USPS wants you to write letters.
Mysterious boxes
A postal relay box in NYC.