Letter Writers Alliance

The U.S.P.S. Remote Encoding Center

“The machines can’t read it, so we have to. It does get easier after you’ve been doing it for a while. You start to recognize certain things.” -Natalie Jenkins, postal worker who helps decipher letters at the Remote Encoding Center

The U.S.P.S. has long been a pioneer in the field of optimal character recognition AKA OCR. They've got vast rooms of machinery that scan your mail and route it to the appropriate other rooms of machinery until it gets sorted (probably by more machines) and then your postal carrier gets their bundle to bring out to you. Those machines are really good at what they do- 98% good, in fact, according to the New York Times. 

When the machine fails, that's where the Remote Encoding Center gets to work. There used to be more of these centers, but as the technology has improved, the U.S.P.S. has closed all but one. Located in Salt Lake City, the 700 workers spend an average of three seconds looking at all the illegible and faded or otherwise confusing addresses. They process 5 million pieces of mail DAILY. 

And people balk at the price of stamps. All that work and all those jobs working for your mail for 49 cents. It is a wonder, I tell you.

 

 

P.S. The image is not one that needed any help being delivered, but all of the photos I found of the REC were boooooooring or not under CC license.

Lovely Post Offices of the World

Lovely Handwritten Notes has a delightful run-down of some of the world's most interesting post offices. My favorite in the list was the La Grande Poste d’Alger, the main post office of Algeria. What's missing from the list? Member Katy would put on the post offices of Burning Man. Add your favorites in the comments! 

Missing Post Office

The Missing Post Office was created by artist Saya Kubota as a part of the Setouchi Art Festival in 2013. Housed in an actual disused post office and staffed by the artist and a retired postal director, Missing Post Office has many of the hallmarks of an actual post office. There are uniforms and familiar symbols. The central piece of the post office is the "Drifting P.O. Box" which houses messages on post cards which can be read by any visitor. The messages may be written to anyone or thing. The artist compares it to writing messages in bottles, but instead of releasing them into the ocean, the Missing Post Office will keep those messages safe until they find their proper readers via serendipity. It is a curious system, but touching and thoughtful. I especially liked this story about the postcards addressed to Kota.  The Missing Post Office is still open. You can submit messages (in postcard form only) to the project at: 

Missing Post Office (Hyoryu Yubinkyoku)
〒769-1108
Hyoryu Yubinkyoku Dome
Awashima 1317-2, Takuma Town, Mitoyo City, Kagawa Prefecture

The Stone Post Offices of FDR

It should come as no surprise that there are many things that fascinate me about the United States Postal Service. Everything from minute differences in perforation on stamps to giant, automated machines for sorting mail, to how letter carriers effect their community... just everything is so interesting! Recently, I fell down a little rabbit hole involving Franklin Delano Roosevelt and New Deal workings as they influenced post office design in New York. Dutchess County is known for its stone buildings; so much so that there is an exhaustive website dedicated to them and how they came to be. Among these buildings are five post offices: Poughkeepsie Post Office, Rhinebeck Post Office, Hyde Park Post Office, and Wappingers and Ellenville Post Offices. These Colonial Revival structures were made with local stone and stone from older buildings and walls from around the area that had gone into disrepair. FDR was passionate about this: 

"We are seeking to follow the type of architecture which is good in the sense that it does not of necessity follow the whims of the moment but seeks an artistry that ought to be good, as far as we can tell, for all time to come. And we are trying to adapt the design to the historical background of the locality and to use, insofar as possible, the materials which are indigenous to the locality itself. Hence, fieldstone for Dutchess County. Hence, the efforts during the past few years in Federal buildings in the Hudson River Valley to use fieldstone and to copy the early Dutch architecture which was so essentially sound besides being very attractive to the eye."

There are a bunch of cited documents where FDR is actively campaigning for the use of stone in the projects. My favorite is a back and forth between Treasury Secretary Morgenthau and the Supervising Architect of the Rhinebeck P.O. Louis A. Simon.

Morgenthau: The President of the United states is very much disturbed because he hears that the Rhinebeck Post Office—they’re not going to use old stone wall, that they’re planning to open up some stone quarries. And his instructions are that they should use old stone wall.

Simon: Well, Mr. Secretary, here’s what the situation is. We sent Stanley-Brown up there and he found that we could get quite a little stone from the old building that…

Morgenthau: Well, listen, you better write me a memo on it. And the President wants old stone wall.

Simon: Yes, I see how the thing came about. Mr. Shipley (Arthur Suckley)[35] who is the owner of the place, said that he’d rather not use the old French wall off his place, but there are plenty of more old stone walls all over Dutchess County.

Morgenthau: Well, are you going to use old stone wall?

Simon: Sure we are.

Morgenthau: Well, for God’s sake do, please.

Simon: Yes, we certainly are.

Morgenthau: And no new stone.

Simon: No.

Morgenthau: Well, the country is saved. O.K.

To someone like me, that exchange is delightful.

The Hyde Park P.O. and the Rhinebeck P.O. also feature murals by local artist Olin Dows. You can see an extensive gallery of the murals from the Rhinebeck P.O. here. I started this research journey at the murals and found out everything else after looking into how they got put there in the first place. I only learned of the murals because of a Tweet I received. I love hearing from our informed and interesting members. Write to us! Send me a Tweet! Leave us a comment!

Francobolli AKA The Postcard Cafe

L.W.A. long-time friend and pen pal, The Missive Maven, recently tweeted this story from Postcrossing (another friend, Hi Friends!) about Francobolli. Francobolli is in the Netherlands. The site is in Dutch, but I could see lots of words for "write" and "card" and "coffee". (Hooray for Romance language families.)  There, you can pick a postcard to write along with your coffee or tea. Place your card in the calendar wall and it'll get mailed on that date. I love this. I love this wall so much.  I didn't think it was possible to want to visit the Netherlands more than I already do. Have any L.W.A. readers had the pleasure of writing a card or "kaartje" at Francobolli? Have any other awesome places to share? Let us know in the comments!

A Member's Account of the Stamp Gallery Gala

Oh happy day! While neither Kathy or I could make the grand opening of the William H. Gross Stamp Gallery at the National Postal Museum last Sunday, many of our splendid members did. One of whom, the incredibly creative Mary England (seriously, she's always sending me postcard updates on the latest rad art thing that she's been up to), has blogged her experience and graciously allowed us to share it with you. For those of us who couldn't be there, it's a pretty great vicarious experience. Color me all kinds of jealous about that fantastic personalized correspondence folder!

Here are my favorite photos she took of the gallery and museum. Oh and one of Mary with a certain celebrity...

It's Mr. ZIP! Thanks for the virtual trip, Mary. I know it must have been so much fun! Did any other readers attend? We'd love to see your blogs or hear your stories about it too!

Japan's Stationery Cafe

Be still my heart. Last week, my inbox was flooded with suggestions that I share this article from The Japan Times. Japan is known for its themed cafes, but this one is the one for me. The shelves are lined with books and magazines on stationery. You can purchase stationery along with your food and drink. Seems pretty great, right? I mean, it's kind of surprising that it hasn't been done before now.

What's more (and this is the best part) is that you can become a member of the cafe. Membership comes with a discount on cafe items, but it also gives you a key. The key opens up the many drawers in desks around the cafe. The drawers are full of stationery items for members to use! This is awesome. If we ever have a physical space, this will definitely be a member perk for us too. I'm marking this down among the many reasons to go to Japan.

 

The Frist Center

After my post about the second lives of decommissioned post offices, L.W.A. member Rita sent me this brochure about the Frist Center in Nashville. The fantastic Art Deco building was constructed in the 1930s and was added to the historic register in 1984. However, when the main postal facility moved out in 1986, the building was being used as only a branch office. Of the three floors, only one was in use. In the 1990s, the building was transformed into the Frist Center.

"The former post office space is perfect as a visual arts center. The huge, sorting rooms with high ceilings in the center of the original facility were naturally suited to become spacious exhibition galleries. The former skylight in the center of the building, previously closed and built over in the 1950s, had its function resurrected in the new design with the creation of clerestory windows to light the foyer and the new grand staircases. Proud of its historic site, the Frist Center for the Visual Arts celebrates the former function and architecture of its premises with a logo derived from a motif on the buildings original cast aluminum doors."

The website does mention that the "remaining branch post office relocated to renovated space on the lower level of the building in November 1999." Rita didn't mention that there was still a post office on site. I wonder if it's still there... So I just called them and yes, there is still a post office there. It's on the first floor. The receptionist was mightly confused by my inquiry as to wether or not they offered a special postmark. I had to explain what a postmark was. Someone in Nashville go find out for us. This looks like a beautiful place and a great art center. What a nice way to reinvent a postal building.

The Palace of Postman Cheval

Ferdinand Cheval was a French postman in the late 1800s. He was also a sculptor and an architect and probably some sort of , though he probably wouldn't have described himself as thus. Working nights after his postal shift for the next thirty-three years, Cheval created this structure of naive art architecture. When he finished this “Palais Ideale”, he was in his seventies, but that didn't stop him. When the law prohibited that he be buried in his palace, he then went to work decorating his own mausoleum in the town cemetery.

The legend is that it all started with one interesting rock that Cheval stumbled across along his postal route in 1879. "Inspired by its shape, he began collecting more small stones each day. At first he would carry home the pebbles he found on his mail rounds in his pockets, but as he began collecting more, he started carrying them home in baskets, and eventually a wheelbarrow." The palace is made of these found rocks, cement and lime mortar. He is quoted as saying "I wanted to prove what willpower can achieve."

The palace is still standing and is a cultural landmark in France. It has over 100,000 visitors a year and is certainly on my list should I ever get to France. It even got its own stamp in 1984. Thanks to Carolee for the tip and for the excellent write up at Messy Nessy and the New York Times for the information.

Former Post Offices

Did you know that the U.S.P.S. sometimes sells off old buildings and facilities? There’s a real estate page I look at often where I dream of having the half a million dollars to house the L.W.A. in an actual post office. While part of me is sad that these buildings are for sale, I also find myself fascinated by what they become.

For example, in my neighborhood, our old post office building is now a fitness center. This is also the fate of this grand building in Petaluma, California. The CA building was a lot more picturesque than the one near me which is a 1970s box. Honestly, I think I like it better as a gym than a P.O. Also within walking distance from my house is a warehouse for an event company inside an old Post Office store front.

I’ve talked about people living in post offices on the blog before, but I think one of my favorite reimagined P.O.s is the Willimantic Brewing Co. in Connecticut. My pen pal Marissa sent me a postcard from there. It’s her hometown bar and they’ve kept a lot of the old postal features as well as worked in the postal theme to their logo and beer names. Bars and restaurants seem to be a popular reincarnation for post postal buildings.

Have you noticed any post offices turned into something new near you? How do you feel about P.O. buildings doing service other than postal? Let us know in the comments.