Wednesday, September 1, 2010

You've Got Mail (Or Not!)






































All of these pictures are actual mail boxes. Around these parts, people like to prettify them. So I don't imagine anyone in our little valley will be pleased to hear about the latest news from the post office. They have fallen on hard times, what with e-mail, fax machines, Fed Ex, and UPS. They are losing more and more profit, and it is expected to drop by half in the next decade. So they want to cut out one working day and deliver mail only five days a week. They figure that being off on Saturday will save them over three billion dollars a year. But this requires approval from Congress, and Congress already turned it down once in 1983. They are saying that the worst part will be for the rural customers, who live far from post offices and depend on the mail every day for parts for farming equipment, medicines, and government checks. What is your opinion, do you care if you don't get mail on Saturday anymore? Who was the greatest letter writer in the world? Probably Paul, in his epistles of the New Testament. What is an epistle, and how is it different from a letter? An epistle is a long, formal, didactic letter, or one of the letters included as a book in the New Testament. And they really deliver every time.


"This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name." Acts 9:15

And so Paul did suffer, but he did it with an inner joy that God had given him, and along the way wrote some of the most beautiful and spirit given books of the entire bible. Books that are still being delivered and learned from not just five days of the week, but every day.

28 comments:

photowannabe said...

They are considering that here in No. Calif. too I hope not.
I agree that the best letter is the one from our Lord.

Ann, Chen Jie Xue ι™ˆζ΄ι›ͺ said...

http://ann-mythoughtsandphotos.blogspot.com/2010/08/watery-wednesday-water-closet.html

posted my post on the high tech loo.

Did any of the house owners come out and ask what you are doing? May be they think you are trying to steal their parcels or their checks. LOL

This is a real story. In Borneo, when I was growing up, the baker used to deliver bread, and we have tins for the baker to place the bread.

When I went to canada, together with some guys from my same town, we traveled through canada and USA. One of the biys says, "Look at those fancy breAD BOX."

Anonymous said...

Cute and unusual mailboxes Ginny. We have heard the same about Sat. delivery. It is frustrating for folks like us who receive important mail order pharmacy drugs.

SquirrelQueen said...

Those are some really fancy mailboxes, I love the one with the flower can.

I have heard about the Saturday delivery issue, it would have no effect on us. If it would keep the rates down I am all for it but it probably won't.

srp said...

I have a couple of mailbox photos... one from a very posh subdivision that is shaped like a dolphin... the whole thing.... I bet their neighbors want to hide their faces.

Frankly, only bills and political announcements come these days and I don't care for either. So it probably wouldn't make a difference to me... one less day to have to throw all that stuff (not the bills of course) away.

Ruth's Photo Blog said...

Living in Canada,we have not had mail delivery 6 days a week for many,many years.Also,in some rural areas they now have community boxes,so that the mailman does not need to make so many stops.
Have a day filled with joy.
❤ Ruth

MadSnapper said...

i say go for it if it saves them that much. hardly anyone gets their check by mail now, all direct deposit and most parts are delivered by fedx or ups, hardly anything is delivered by US mail, that is the problem. our mail service here is so poor, they might as well deliver one day a week. they hold my husbands hobby magazines and bring them all at one time, this makes him crazy and frothing at the mouth which makes me crazy. we always got our mail before noon, now we are lucky if it comes by 5 pm.
maybe the should consider taking a week day off and that would make it not be 2 days in a row with no mail. the govt will do what THEY want for sure. this is just persoanl opinon and there is a SLIGHT chance i might be wrong ha ha

MadSnapper said...

forgot to say I LOVE the car mailbox. not as a mailbox but for the car. love old cars. we have many mailboxes here that are shaped like manatees, they are 5 feet tall and standing on the tail and the box is inside the tummy part. these are all really interesging. the ones down here are armored due to teens/gangs riding along and knocking them down and destroying with fire crackers. i think i might take a series or our armored mail boxes.

George said...

You certainly have some beautifully decorated mailboxes in your community.
I seriously doubt that dropping Saturday delivery will save the Post Office enough money to make a difference.

Fred Alton said...

How about that? The government could save a little spare change just by not delivering the mail on the week-ends. It reminded me that our society is far from the principle of the Sabbath-rest which God said man needed. I'm a Sunday worshiper - but there is a principle of one day of rest out of seven for the purpose of rest. Of course Jesus is our rest!

Beverly said...

Saturday mail makes no difference to me. It is uaually always junk mail anyway, or advertising.

Stephanie V said...

You get mail on a Saturday?!

I love the mailbox with whirligig...I'm crazy about them.

Mary Bergfeld said...

What wonderful photos and what an eye for the unusual tucked midst the ordinary. I rely less and less often on the post office and mail service. I probably wouldn't notice that mail wasn't delivered on Saturday. I would object, however, if other folks were seriously inconvenienced. I hope you are having a great day. Blessings...Mary

Together We Save said...

I don't mind not getting mail on Saturday. I know they have to find some way to save money or postage will just keep going up. In my town they don't deliver to businesses on Saturdays, businesses just had to request it.

Melanie said...

Those are some very pretty mailboxes.
I hope the Saturday mail continues, but we'll have to live with whatever they decide!

Debbie Taillieu said...

Oh the joy of being able to have a good ol'fashion mail box! I love these. Grew up with one in Los Angeles, but now modern times in the city of Las Vegas has given us "cluster" mail boxes. Just one more way of losing our own creativeness and individuality!
Great shots!
Have a fabulous day!!

Remington said...

What great ideas for mailboxes! Thanks!

Karin said...

It's a good thing you captured all these beauties on film - they may soon go the way of the dodo bird - what with electronics and community mailboxes taking over. Our daughter has lived in rural areas and they head down to the Post Office to pick up their stuff whenever they want to - no door to door.

Here in Canada we haven't had Saturday delivery for years and we don't miss it. I think USA still has one year before that takes effect.

I do love the creativity and uniqueness of each mailbox! Cute!

Jane said...

Great looking and very creative mailboxes there. I seldom get anything but junk in mine, so I check it once a week.

Jane

Glenda said...

I would miss our Saturday mail and hope it doesn't happen. But if it does, we'll adjust. It will be difficult for those who get meds thru the mail.

Love those creative mailboxes! If our personalities are reflected in our choice of mailbox, I'm in trouble!! Our is a plain old mailbox that needs to be replaced!!

Nikki (Sarah) said...

very cool...love the creativity of people.

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Well----people aren't doing 'snail' mail much anymore ---and companies like UPS and FedEx are much better at delivering packages... I hate to say this but the Post Office goes back to being another federally run program that is run poorly.... There is so much waste in most of our govt. run programs --and that's why UPS and Fed Ex and others do so well.. IF they'd let another company take over the PO and run it privately, it would be much, much better... BUT--we'll just keep pumping tax payer money in these agencies and they'll continue to be wasteful.... I personally don't mind not getting Sat. mail--but I'm sure not everyone agrees.

Great mailboxes.... I've never seen such fancy ones. What is the significance of the watering can???

Hugs,
Betsy

Shauna said...

I am new here! Would love for you to come visit me too :)

Have a great day!

http://www.trying2staycalm.com/

ruthinian said...

Awwww... i love mailboxes. but ironically i use p.o. box. hahahaha anyway, i have lot of mailbox photos too that i took during my regular walk in the neighborhood. i was trying to lose weight so i tried to walk every morning. but i brought my camera with me so i would stop every now and then and take photos. i didn't lose weight but i gained lots of photos. hahaha.

Love them Ginny, special the windmill... so unique.

Kilauea Poetry said...

Wow ..what a hit (lol).. You managed to take a nice assortment too. The tree behind the fireman looks incredible!! These are really nice. As for Hawaii (here on the Big Island) -we don't have a regular postal delivery..(only in certain spots like down town) just a P.O...I remember we had a pretty black rot iron box by our front porch. On the other hand, for "rural customers, who live far from post offices and depend on the mail every day for parts for farming equipment, medicine" I do feel for them- that will be rough I imagine. What about you? When my husband has to order parts (they often won't stock them now)-talk about hard times, as shipping is so expensive here!! Anyway, in a rush its UPS and sometimes Fed X.
Oh, again, I love those flowers and think the tiny butterflies are beautiful!! Amen the verses too-

Doris Sturm said...

No, I don't care if I get no mail on Saturday - I get mostly bills anyway ;-)

Doris Sturm said...

p.s.I love the pretty mail boxes, especially the last one with the two cats :-) but all of them are very pretty!

ruthinian said...

oppps... I mean the lighthouse not the windmill... hahaha what am i thinking? Have a wonderful weekend dear.

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