MetaFilter posts tagged with postoffice

World's Smallest Postal Service

cashman — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 06:29:31 -0800

Lea Redmond is Postmaster of 'The World's Smallest Postal Service'. In CA she sets up her tiny shop and sends miniature versions of transcribed letters, complete with little wax seals.

Make your own joke about irrelevant things lingering on past their prime...

1f2frfbf — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 10:32:23 -0800

The US Postal Service announces a series of Simpsons stamps to be released on May 7. Includes additional marketing, polling, contests and general postal info here.

Owney is a tramp, as you can plainly see. Only treat him kindly, and take him along with ye.

Shepherd — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 09:23:31 -0800

Owney the Postal Dog was the unofficial mascot of the U.S. postal service in the 1890s, riding the rails with the mails and accumulating an impressive collection of dog tags on a specially designed vest. He even made it as far as Japan, being issued a special postal class (Registered Dog Package) and an official Japanese passport. After an illustrious career, however, Owney met a sticky end -- shot by the police under dubious circumstances in Toledo in 1897. Despite his ignominious death, Owney has inspired lots and lots of books and even a decade-long public school project with stuffed "traveling dogs" being sent from state to state. And, speaking of stuffed, Owney can be seen in the fur, preserved at the National Postal Museum in Washington, D.C. (and even post-taxidermy, he apparently gets out and about every 40 years or so). There's even a video, narrated in a voice so folksy you can't help but imagine a kindly old man strapping you to a rocking chair and jamming crackers and home-made jam down your throat. Owney stands in obvious contrast to the stereotypical postal worker/dog relationship, with the U.S. Postal Service reporting over 3000 bitten carriers in 2007 and holding a Dog Bite Prevention Week every year in May.

Hello, Newman.

Wet Spot — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 18:54:57 -0800

The Underwater Post Office. Check out the Minister of Tourism sending a waterproof postcard.

Comic Strip Classics Stamps

plep — Fri, 23 May 2003 05:32:10 -0800

Comic Strip Classics Stamps. (via Dublog).
Related :- A nice collection of exhibits at the National Postal Museum, part of the Smithsonian (such as this exhibit of Cuban stamps and this one on FDR's stamp collecting); the Bath Postal Museum of British postal history; stamps of Greenland; stamps of Tibet.

Can't Mail Wine in the US?

djspicerack — Tue, 26 Nov 2002 14:12:47 -0800

Ever Try Getting Wine Shipped in the U.S.? Looks like Montana had set up a "wine connoisseur" rule that allowed for some shipping into the state if you filled out some paperwork, blah blah blah. PAIN! As someone who enjoys a good wine and wanted to order a bunch of it earlier in '02 when I was in Sonoma, CA and have it shipped home, only to be crushed when I couldn't have it done, I'm looking for a way to get this to work. Anyone else come across these various laws? Anyone else live in a state where they CAN get wine shipped in to them? 13 states allow reciprocal shipping from other partner states, and 14 others have some strict rules about it. Will opening these rules up allow minors an easy way to get alcohol? Some great links at the bottom of the article, too.

machaus — Sun, 21 Apr 2002 09:27:25 -0800

Two sworn enemies that have been battling for a hundred years, each with their own agenda. Neither side has the moral high ground, and you would think that one side would know better than to use the tactics they do. Another mid-east post? Nope. Mail-carriers versus dogs.

Grok09 — Tue, 30 Oct 2001 13:02:59 -0800

Anthrax Appears To Be Home Grown. Something more than sensationalist anchor people reading off tele-prompters. A low key approach to questions I think a lot of people have

crunchland — Thu, 17 May 2001 06:55:57 -0800

YES! You can help save the US Postal Service! With the USPS raising rates every month, it seems, and continuing to run with a $2 billion deficit, it's beginning to look like this quasi-public agency is going to lose the battle to those other overnight delivery companies. But since there are some people who can't afford the luxury of email or the high prices of FedEx, there must be something the common man can do to help keep Ben Franklin's baby afloat. There is! via Pigs & Fishes

MarkB — Tue, 03 Apr 2001 11:35:20 -0800

Post Office May End Saturday Delivery... One day I'll be may be able to tell my children, "When I was your age mail was delivered six days a week." My children will respond in awe.

stavrosthewonderchicken — Wed, 31 Jan 2001 01:34:11 -0800

Had this idea about a year ago over beer, when netthings were a-cookin', fleshed it out with some geek-comrades, pitched it under an NDA to a VC, got the green light, and then chickened out and went back to the day job. Once you really thought it through and calculated the wired populace as a percentage of the unwired, we figured, the idea was fabulous, a service to The People and a MoneyMaker. Now someone else seems to have had the same idea, more or less. I wish them luck. If it takes off, I'm gonna feel mighty dumb, and if it tanks, mighty lucky. Now I can finally ask the MeFi jury...Silly thing or smart?

hit-or-miss — Tue, 14 Nov 2000 19:55:34 -0800

Post Office expedites delivery of military ballots . "...such a procedure cannot be done with civilian overseas absentee ballots because they arrive at numerous air mail centers throughout the country, not just in Florida."

How can this be fair? Republicans have been smugly contending that the military vote will seal the election for them, while the Democrats are hoping for votes from Floridians in Israel. I smell a conspiracy.