Neighborhood mailboxes to be removed

Posted by Geeky Swedes on January 13th, 2009

KJ emailed us to let us know that the big blue mailboxes on the corners of 67th St. and 10th Ave. and 63rd and 11th will be removed next week.

According to Ernie Swanson, spokesman for the post office, a “volume density study” is conducted on mailboxes over a two week period. If there are 25 items or less in the box each day, then it’s a candidate for removal.

The postal service has been removing boxes throughout the country for six to eight years as first class mail usage has declined with the growth of email. KJ also says that “the other nearby box (14th & 58th) was never replaced after the road construction project a few months ago.”

Tags: Ballard Facebook

Erin

The post office seems to have no understanding of how inconvenient it is to have to walk or drive for more than a mile to deliver a letter, or of the dangers of leaving mail in one's own mailbox. (I just had a Netflix DVD stolen from my mailbox this morning. I had attached it to the outside of my mailbox to be picked up by the mail carrier.)

Carlos

Are these boxes available for sale?.

Would like to recycle USPS blue removed boxes since they are secure and lockable.

Tom

They're removing mailboxes in both Arlington, Virginia and Falls Church, Virginia, too.

kj

....spoke with a friendly worker from the USPS Ballard Annex this week. He stated that dozens of collection boxes are being removed from north Seattle to Des Moines. With the changes in mail service (email etc) the Post Office had (I believe he said) a 3 billion dollar deficit last year, and managers are in the hot seat to curb spending any way they can. He (and his manager) knew of no way to petition to keep a box. So it doesn't look good for the future of collection boxes...

kj

K.J.- what makes you think I am a man? I could very well be Kitty Jezebelle! The mystery deepens...
I'll try to always make only intelligent & thoughtful comments on this site, so if you are ever mistaken for me we'll both look good. -kj

Paul

I’m curious to know, which mailboxes are *staying*?

mickey

CKE - Call the Ballard Annex for the P.O. and report your mail carrier. It very well IS his job to take your outgoing mail.

EAS

They are also removin a box at the corner of 15th and 60th NW. Bummer

CKE

Darn! I use the local blue mailboxes all the time! I don't think it's very safe to leave outgoing mail (like bills with checks!) clipped onto my mailbox, with so much foot traffic going by. Also, my particular mailman REFUSES to take outgoing mail. He says it's not his job. Let's look into what "keep the boxes" wrote about requesting that they not remove specific boxes!

keep the boxes

You can request that the post office not remove a specific box. I've had success with this in the past and the mail carrier thanked me. The carriers will often use boxes to drop off mail along their routes and come back with a car to pick up...

Bimmer

Buy a condo and get an outgoing mail slot.
Yes to Change!

m

@ Nidwaldner - that is a great idea! Put one at the NSC at the very least.

Nidwaldner

why on earth doesn't the USPS put the boxes in convenient, high-traffic areas such as by the library/NSC and Fred Meyer?

BlackSheep

Thanks, Gordy - I thought the 58th street box was just gone for good, I didn't realize it had just relocated.

mickey

I understand the financial angle, especially since the U.S. Postal Service is hemorraging money. But the true bummer about losing the corner boxes is that they are more secure than home mailboxes, where items can get stolen easily. Add to that seniors and disabled persons needing a drop-off box close by their homes, and then add on top of that the inconvenience we will all experience when the 17th Ave. post office is relocated to down near Fremont, in the pedestrian unfriendly dead zone around Fred Meyer.

eM

especially is the sample is conducted during a snowstorm?

Earinc

You sabermetricians out there can correct me, but isn't a two-week sample ridiculously small and statistically irrelevant?

K.J.

are you telling me there is another KJ from ballard???? who is this mystery man???

Cynthia

I sell on ebay quite frequently and I just leave the packages on the porch for my mail carrier. I also return my Netflix DVDs that way too. No problems so far!

You might want to talk to the mail carrier, or leave a note for them if you're going to leave something on your porch or mailbox for the first time though. :)

m

We still have ours on 17th & 53rd, but for how long? Oh well, it will probably do my fat #$% good to walk all 6 blocks to the post office...

Ben

I am disappointed, those mailboxes are a huge convenience.

Lisa

Two mailboxes on NW Market Street (at 8th Ave NW and at 6th Ave NW) have the same removal sign on them.

swimgirl

I've long wondered where all the mailboxes are in our neighborhood. I feel like I never see them, then when I hear of one, it's because they're being taken away! Oh well. The mailperson picks up my DVDs from home also, I just don't always trust that for more sensitive things.

gordy

The one on 58th and 14th is now on 58th by the Blowing Sands Studio building.

BK

You don't need to notify the post office for carrier pickup requests, at least for small things. I regularly leave my Netflix movies in the mailbox and my carrier always takes them.

Paul

They're removing the one at NW 65th & 8th Ave NW as well. I’m mighty disappointed, as I use it regularly.

Still, the post office now has carrier pickup requests via their web site: . Guess I’ll have to notify them every time I send back a Netflix DVD.