This is where I end up when I close off an email with "leaving to go ship".This is the Rocky Mount Post Office, built by FDR's New Deal WPA
program in the 1930s. Inside there is a beautiful old mural that has been restored and cleaned to the original colors (yes I will get a photo one of these days). ***Addendum -7-26-08 - No, I won't get a photo of the inside and the mural. Turns out trying to do that upsets Homeland Security. ***
Just inside the front door is the old style dark wooden original architecture, with the newer glass doors added into that. Within the last year, I've switched to online postage, and it is more efficient, saves me time, uses barcoded labels that speed up shipping time, etc etc. But I miss standing in line at the post office and hearing all the local gossip, talking to my postal clerks (who are the best in the entire postal system), and seeing some of the local characters around Rocky Mount, who all seem to congregate at the post office.
Ebay has literally kept this post office alive - I once heard an estimate that maybe half of the business passing though here is due to ebay sellers.
I sometimes wonder if ebay realizes the extent to which they have become incorporated into people's livelihoods, not just on a individual level, but even to the USPS or office supply stores.
Tomorrow is another book sale day and it's box day on top of that, meaning I can buy as many books as I can stuff into a box, for $1-2.00 per box. Yes, we are taking the van and yes, we have added air to the tires. Wish us luck.
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"I sometimes wonder if ebay realizes the extent to which they have become incorporated into people's livlihoods, not just on a individual level, but even to the USPS or office supply stores."
ReplyDeleteI always think that when I pass all the donation pick-up trucks in the morning on my way to work, literally FLEETS of them...and all the HUNDREDS of donation bins EVERYWHERE, when you used to be hard pressed to find ONE in your town!
I think a lot of clothes that used to be exported or turned into rags, are now sold on ebay....donated clothing is now Big Business....
I can't believe you can't take a photo of the mural inside...good thing you and the postal workers there are such good friends, they might have taken you out instead of informing you that you couldn't do that.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if you have the best postal workers though. Some great ones work at the Evington Post Office too... And they have said the same thing about Ebay. I think eBay has lost sight of their tentacles that are widespread in the community.
Funny how the more 'rural' post offices have the nicest staff... I hate going to the Forest post office. I had a lady get mad at me one time because I let an elderly lady ahead of me in line which meant that the lady getting mad ended up with my dozen packages I was shipping...(before online shipping). I ended up going home and making a complaint by phone. Not my normal style as you know, but this chick was definitely giving meaning to going postal!
WHY? would it upset Homeland Security? i don't get that . . . .
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