The US Postal Service is an institution I have long admired. Which puts me in a decided minority in the US, a nation that makes a national sport of mocking the postal system. I guess you have to have lived elsewhere to appreciate the USPS and its customer service attitude. These days the mails are transported by a semi-autonomous branch of the US government. As far as I can tell that means the postal service has to deliver the mails and not lose money because none will be forthcoming from the Federal Budget. I guess they will declare themselves a bank if they end up needing a cash infusion.
Key West has two post offices, a nondescript hole in the wall next to Winn Dixie in New Town and the main post office a splendid brick structure whose official address is 400 Whitehead Street, but it actually exists in park-like grounds wedged between Eaton, Whitehead and Fleming Streets:
The rear of the Post Office nudges up against the Truman Annex and its where the big trucks load up with the mails and haul them up to Homestead to be sorted. The weird thing is that of you post a letter to Cudjoe Key, 33042, which is served by the Summerland Key Post Office, the letter will go to Homestead for sorting and will come back down the next day for delivery, covering 200 miles to go 25...Whatever works I guess.
When I'm at work we often get calls from people living in islands ten or more miles up the Keys, convinced they do live in the city when they are far outside city limits. That's because their address reflects the fact they are served by this post office and are considered to be part of zip code 33040- the city of Key West.
When I used to live on sailboats the first thing I did when I settled in a city was to get a PO Box, it was my way of establishing residence and getting settled. In Santa Cruz, California, in 1983 there was a wait for a box as I recall, and I felt I had arrived when I got my slot in the main post office.
In St Petersburg when I got a slip at the city marina in Demen's Landing I was enchanted to discover my little brass box lived
al fresco in an indoor-outdoor post office. Key West has a similar arrangement:
The fenced walkway around the front of the post office is usually open, but there are shutters that can be lowered ( in case of heavy weather of course):
This a post office subjected to massive rains too so the gutters and downspouts are solid. Too bad they aren't directed into some sort of receptacle to store the rainwater:
The post office has a light airy feel, its a place weirdly enough I enjoy visiting just for the hell of it. The parking lot is vast, and it has chickens too, but human visitors are strictly regulated of course:
The post office parking lot is very convenient to downtown and the postal employees get testy when people park there in the day and don't use the facilities, so cars do end up getting towed. After hours though it's a different story. There used to be a parking lot attendant at night who took money to let people park and boy, he was as mean as a snake. I never used to go anywhere near him. Now he's gone and someone else will have to claim the title of meanest person in Old Town.
That last picture I took on a night time lunch break, last winter. Always pretty the post office on Whitehead Street.
4 comments:
You can still pay to park at the Post Office on Whitehead? Last time I was there, they sent us down the road, however that was during the day. I guess you can still do so at night?
Now that I know there is a bus, I will ride that down to KW if I stay up in Big Pine Key.
Hey, I knew that "mean as a snake" guy. He was fairly nice outside his job. Well, almost nice.
I have to say, during the winter, the behavior of drivers and patrons of stores gets pretty bad here in SWFL (recent weekend at the hardware store, I had 3 people reach right in front of me without as much as an "excuse me", one practically pushing me out of them way). I finally told the guy that did it 3 times if he would mind waiting until I was done in the bin I was pulling pipe from before sticking his hand into it.
So I can see why the guy was as mean as a snake in some regard. After years of dealing with tourists (and possibly drunks) with the same questions and behaviors, I can see it grating on my nerves. Especially since it has to be magnified due to the island is so small.
Do these people behave this way at home? I would hope the heck not.
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