A missing mail collection box and the Van Ness UPS Store move make for a fruitless mail trek

by Marlene Berlin

Some mail can’t wait for the next visit by the mail carrier, or is too sensitive to leave out for them. So recently, I set out to mail some tax forms and checks.

First I tried a U.S. Postal Service collection box I’ve used before, at Connecticut Avenue and Albemarle Street. But when I walked over, it was nowhere to be found.

Then, I walked to the UPS Store at Windom Place, but the doors were locked and the store had been emptied out.

The location’s long-planned move to Cleveland Park had finally happened. I thought about how much I will miss the friendly and efficient employees. They would go out of their way to help you in any way they could, and the business contributed to making us a neighborhood.

Giving up for the moment on dropping off my mail, I hiked into the Soapstone Valley, then on other trails in Rock Creek Park.

On the way back, I found the USPS collection box on Ellicott Street and 30th Place was still there, but the pick up time was 10 a.m., so my mail would not be collected until the next day.

I needed to pick up a book at Politics and Prose, so I walked up there and looked for the blue collection boxes in that area. I found the boxes on Ellicott and Nebraska Avenue but their pick up times were 10 a.m. as well.

When I got home, I checked my mailbox and saw the mail had not been delivered yet, so I put the envelopes out for the mail carrier. They were picked up about 10 minutes later.

After the fact, I checked the USPS collection box locator. It is out of date, showing no boxes at Ellicott and Nebraska. At that point, the map still had the collection box on Albemarle Street but that has since been updated.