FOLLOWUP: About the missing, fire-damaged Westwood mailbox

| West Seattle fires | West Seattle news | Westwood

(August 28th photo, courtesy Megan)
From the “in case you were wondering too” file: Three and a half weeks after the fire that destroyed mail and led to removal of the mailbox outside the Westwood post office, we asked USPS spokesperson Ernie Swanson if it would be back any time soon. His response: “There is no spare mail collection box of this type available. So we are repairing the old one. The process is underway and we hope to have it ‘back in place’ in the not too distant future. I can’t give you a date for that just yet.” We’re still checking on the fire investigation, but we’ve been asked several times recently about the box’s status, so here’s that followup in the meantime. If you need an outdoor dropbox, the Junction post office (California between Genesee and Oregon) still has one.

coffee September 22, 2015 (4:39 pm)

Its been over 2 years since the handle broke off the pull down drop box in the lobby, so I say it will be at least a year….

dcn September 22, 2015 (7:05 pm)

I still want to know why the box said the last pickup time was 6 pm, yet anything dropped into that box after 5:30 pm was destroyed that night. This means that the last pickup happened at 5:30 pm that particular day. I made sure to drop my Mom’s birthday card in the box before 6 pm, since I thought it’d be postmarked that day. She never got it and so I sent another one.
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Some people might depend on that 6 pm last pickup for financially sensitive items, such as bills. Hopefully, when the put the box back, it will have correct pickup times.