Decline of the Blue Box

[Lady Day]

They are icons of the American mail service, but they may be about to go the way of the Pony Express.

In villages, towns and cities across America, residents are waking up to find the familiar blue mailbox at the end of the road is gone.
In the past 20 years, more than half of America's mailboxes have been taken out of service, leaving just 175,000 nationwide.

From this BBC article.

LD

 

[John in Covina]

They are very hard to find. It used to be that out front of the supermarket would be a mailbox so you could pop those bills and letters in while food shopping. As something most do on a semi-regular basis 9food shopping, the mailbox was convienient when close by.

However, in dealings with the government it seems that not much is convienient these days.

 

[Carlisle Blues]

It appears that the Box is going the way of the horse and buggy...

 

[ThesFlishThngs]

Very sad. It won't be long before the letter carrier is a thing of the past as well. Along with bundles of letters and boxes of photographs stashed in the attic.

 

[Lady Day]

I think the letter carrier is fairly safe for the time being. Some one has to get the mail to residences, and the mail delivering robots are still being worked out

LD

 

[ShoreRoadLady]

Sad. But...I haven't used one in ages. I usually drop the (few) letters I write in the mailbox or at the post office.

If, however, the USPS starts closing post offices as planned, I may need those handy blue boxes!

 

[LizzieMaine]

I'd never thought about this till you mentioned it -- we have a box on the corner in front of the theatre, and I use it frequently, and it never would have occured to me that they were endangered. But I rode around for a bit on my bike this afternoon -- and that one on the corner, and the two in front of the post office are the only boxes I saw. There used to be one on every block, as recently as a few years ago, but now just three downtown. There's a few others on side streets, but they;ve been turned into those "Not For Deposit Of Mail" green boxes. So it's not just an urban thing -- the boxes are disappearing in small towns as well.

When I was a kid I loved to look at the dates on the sides of the mail boxes -- at that time most of the ones you'd see on the average street dated to the forties or fifties, and you might find one of those old cast-iron pole boxes dating back to the twenties or earlier. Yet another childhood pastime lost to progress...

 

[ThesFlishThngs]

I suspect, Lady Day, they may go to the 'cluster box at the end of the street' system, in the same way apartments and some businesses are done now.

 

[J.L. Picard]

I think the letter carrier is fairly safe for the time being. Some one has to get the mail to residences, and the mail delivering robots are still being worked out

LD

Yep, safe and trustworthy...

 

[Flivver]

When I was a kid I loved to look at the dates on the sides of the mail boxes -- at that time most of the ones you'd see on the average street dated to the forties or fifties, and you might find one of those old cast-iron pole boxes dating back to the twenties or earlier. Yet another childhood pastime lost to progress...

I had forgotten about the dates on the sides of mailboxes! I also loved checking those out on every mailbox I saw as a kid. In our town, the sewer grates also had dates on them. But I never saw a date earlier than 1937...about the time my neighborhood started to be developed.

Does anyone remember when the USPS changed the color of mailboxes from army green to blue? I seem to remember it was around 1956-57. I was disappointed by this change because I had a toy bank in the form of a mailbox that was painted green.

 

[Carlisle Blues]

Very safe............

Good riddance.........The box was a good idea before the "ill-bred" came along..:eusa_doh:

 

[Feraud]

I love mailboxes! How can I return Netflix movies without 'em?

 

[Bruce Wayne]

But for enthusiasts, nothing will ever replace the emotional charge of receiving a letter, a postcard or an invitation in the mail.

Amen!!!

 

[jayem]

Maybe the Chicago suburbs are unlike the rest of the US... but there's still plenty around here. In fact, there's one right down the street from me.... and about 10 more in my immediate neighborhood.

My friend refuses to put bills in her home mailbox because she was taught it's not the job of the mailman to take your mail for you, just to deliver it. My argument for that was... why the little red flag then? Anybody know more about this?

 

[scottyrocks]

I had forgotten about the dates on the sides of mailboxes! I also loved checking those out on every mailbox I saw as a kid. In our town, the sewer grates also had dates on them. But I never saw a date earlier than 1937...about the time my neighborhood started to be developed.

Does anyone remember when the USPS changed the color of mailboxes from army green to blue? I seem to remember it was around 1956-57. I was disappointed by this change because I had a toy bank in the form of a mailbox that was painted green.

I remember when mailboxes, at least around here, were the current blue, but with red on the curved top part.

As far as mail carriers, theyre not goign anywhere but someone oughta teach em how to wear their uniforms. They look like slobs, shirts unbuttoned and hanging out.

 

[Tomasso]

The Blue Box.

They also function well as a clothes hamper or so I hear.

 

[John in Covina]

His little red flag.

... why the little red flag then? Anybody know more about this?

THe red flag was used by the postman to indicate that there was mail in the box, he had delivered. If you lived in a rural setting the mailman delivered only at the street not to your home. If you did not ive too far away from the street you could see the flag up and know the mail was in and get it instead of wasting a trip to check.

I ws told that they don't do that anymore because it wastes too much time and something about your privacy as it tells the mail thieves "come and get it!"

 

[Jack Armstrong]

Does anyone remember when the USPS changed the color of mailboxes from army green to blue? I seem to remember it was around 1956-57. I was disappointed by this change because I had a toy bank in the form of a mailbox that was painted green.

I do, and I think you're right about the date. I always thought the new color scheme looked gaudy. In my town, at least, they were red, white and blue in three horizontal bands from the top down. The all-blue boxes didn't come till much later.

 

[csmiller]

You have mail ...

THe red flag was used by the postman to indicate that there was mail in the box, he had delivered. If you lived in a rural setting the mailman delivered only at the street not to your home.

Don't know if this holds true everywhere, but in my rural area you put the red flag up if you want the mailman to *pick up* a letter that you are mailing (or to pick up a misdirected piece of mail that he delivered to you). If the red flag is not up, anything in the mailbox just sits there.

Craig

 

[Lady Day]

Don't know if this holds true everywhere, but in my rural area you put the red flag up if you want the mailman to *pick up* a letter that you are mailing (or to pick up a misdirected piece of mail that he delivered to you). If the red flag is not up, anything in the mailbox just sits there.

Craig

No, thats true, and how it was in my, and many other neighborhoods with street side mail boxes. The mailman would ride up, deposit/take the mail, lower the flag, and go on to the next cluster of boxes a few meters down the road.

LD