Thanks to Carol Ann for the tip. The West Seattle Junction Post Office’s outdoor mailbox is taped up and out of service, just three months after its return, which followed a year-and-a-half absence. Since today’s a holiday, we have no way to check on what happened to it, when, and whether any mail is missing; the signage simply declares it “broken,” and so far we don’t see any incidents logged for police at that spot, so we’ll follow up with USPS tomorrow.
Ridiculous. Bollards are not some.arcane magic, just do the obvious thing and solve this forever
Few weeks ago I noticed a smaller “Out of order” sign on the door flap. It had been hit (from the uphill side). If you look at the legs you can see they are bent, and the feet are broken off their anchors. It apparently was a temporary out of order, but possibly now the P.O. sees it is not secure and doesn’t want to risk it being taken while containing items?
This is why we can’t have nice things. ;)Seriously, though, when the notice was first posted concerning the mailbox’s return to public use a few months ago, I was considering a post saying “I give it six months.” The optimist in me prevailed, but I’m saddened to see the pessimist was proven right.
I think the most positive way to look at it is that we got a much needed parking space back 😉 specially since the USPS trucks feel the need to constantly park in the customer parking area.
Might want to read that big old sign in the parking lot, Erik!
If there’s a truck blocking, it’s off hours & you don’t belong there.
Trucks block the parking all the time during regular business hours. Not just the closed hours
That’s not a parking space. When the box is operational, it’s a drive up lane. When the box is gone and people park in that space, they are parking illegally on the sidewalk.
Why do I get the feeling that you use bus stops as your personal pickup/dropoff area because the busses aren’t there all the time.
I know, right! The sheer audacity of USPS vehicles parking in the USPS parking lot! What’s next, employees taking up parking spaces at Safeway and QFC! How very rude of them
They have plenty of parking I. The side/back that they don’t use. Instead they’ve begun parking in the customer parking in front instead of parking in The rear and walking around.
I remember when WS used to have neighborhood mailboxes that would be emptied on a regular schedule by the PO. I don’t recall those mailboxes be vandalized. However, they were all removed several years ago.
Gee, I wonder what simple procedure would’ve avoided this. How much is it costing to fix/ replace each time? Bollards are cheaper
Lots of illegal or unkind parking in the lot and across from the box on the street. Both areas marked no stopping (2 cars parked there in the attached photo) or with arrows showing direction of travel. A long time issue that Parking enforcement and the post office management won’t do anything about so here is my ask. Please don’t park in front of the box. It’s to be used for drive up use of the box. The outer lane is the through lane. I once saw someone park in front of the box and USPS vehicles were in the other lane so drivers got stuck and could not drive in the lot and exit correctly.
When the box was gone (see attached) people used the space for parking but it results in people parking on the sidewalk. Illegal and an ADA violation and not neighborly to people using the sidewalk. There’s no expectation of privacy in public still I blacked out the one visible license plate.Thank you.
No one with a brain is doing that. If I saw that I wouldn’t take pictures id talk to the person. But its easier to complain and not change the outcome I guess
It sounds like so far Derek hasn’t had to deal with any mobility issues. There are many reasons why people use the drive up, from simple preference, to no parking nearby, many people with physical ailments can’t park several blocks and walk. For elderly people it may be challenging to park across the street and feel safe crossing with so much traffic. Simply put, why people choose one over the other is not your concern.
Yes of course, ADA reasons also, should have included that in my former post, sorry.
The doors are locked during non-business hours, so no access?
Otherwise: Pretty sure the USPS is catering to the ubiquitous car-centric empowered fast food drivethru culture in this instance (drive-up mailbox).
Along with Derek -bolo must be totally oblivious of those with mobility issues .
Yes I was embarrasingly and thoughtlessly oblivious in that moment. I quickly corrected myself and apologized 3 minutes later in my 10:02 pm comment. Striving to do better in 2026!
People can go inside but it has been a drive up option for decades, for convenience or for people with mobility issues. The slot used to be about as big as a VHS case and letters were easily deposited but the slot has been made letter opening size for security reasons. The slot is now recessed as well so it’s not easily used as a drive up option. As often as the box has been hit, I don’t recommend parking next to it, not to mention blocking drive up access.
Besides the obvious reasons of needing a drive-up box, mobility, elderly, & ADA. They may have several small children in the vehicle. Do you want them to leave the kids in the car while they walk inside and stand in line for several minutes and or unbuckle them from their car seats and bring them into the PO? So yes, there are REASONS why people need the drive-up mailbox.
Exactly! Drive up mailboxes are useful and important for people from all walks of life. They must be kept safe and intact so that they are always ready for people who need to use them.
The same for the other post office. This is just not that hard: Bollards!
Derek has a habit of promoting fairness for those hampered by all of life’s ills, it seems the disabled needing that box are not as relevant.
I think we are getting off track here. Shouldn’t we be trying to find out what is causing the damage? A simple security camera would show that. Its location in a small parking lot is also questionable. It is only attached with concrete anchor bolts which are easily removed.
As others have mentioned, the first thing to do here is to protect the box itself by installing bollards. This won’t protect it from malicious damage but will protect it from accidental damage from vehicles.In the nearly 27 years I have lived here this has happened at least 3-4 times. Each time it has taken at least a year for a replacement, the damaged box is sent out for repair. It is really an unbelievable turnaround time for a huge organization like the USPS. The USPS has a facilities department for the greater Seattle area located at the 4th Ave S. branch. They are responsible for the ongoing maintenance and repair of the numerous USPS properties around the area. Why don’t they have several of these boxes readily available in inventory for a major metropolitan area like Seattle? When one of these is damaged and needing to be removed they could simply show up with its replacement. The damaged box could then be sent out for repairs. This could turn this into a 48 hour inconvenience. This seems like a no brainer to me.
In case folks are looking for other mailboxes, according to USPS website, there are five of the corner USPS mailboxes available along California: 3045 California (at Hanford), 4759 California (at Edmunds), 5401 California (at Brandon), 5901 California (at Juneau), and 6523 California (across from Thriftway in front of Subway).Additional location at 4199 SW Alaska (at 42nd)
Now the box is gone. Unbelievable. Three times in the last few years.
It seems it could be the same people who can’t negotiate Darwin’s corner without spinning out or tipping over can’t mail a letter without damaging the mail boxjust quit hitting stuff
Make it a walk up box, out of the way of the path of car damage. People with disabilities don’t always arrive by cars. They use the sidewalks which are made dangerous by this makeshift, poorly designed drive-through. There is a safer drive-through option at the WWV Post Office for those who absolutely need it and cannot get out of their car to mail a letter.
Can confirm that this mailbox is missing. If I had known I would have brought some flowers…
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