Day 4 — Be a postal explorer
February 4, 2013 in Fun Things, Journal
As we kick off the first full week of The Month of Letters, you have the simple task of sending six items in the mail, one each day.
If that seems easy, why don’t you kick it up a level and use the Challenge to get to know your neighborhood a little better. Using the mailbox map try to use other mailboxes than your usual. Who knows, you may find a new coffee shop or a shorter route to the dry cleaners while you are questing for a mailbox.
And if you succeed? Badges! Earn the Explorer by reporting one trip to a new mailbox on the “What have you mailed” form. The Adventurer is for the intrepid letter writer who visits four new mailboxes.
And as soon as I finish the design, there will be the Trekker, for the letter-writer who manages to go to twenty new mailboxes.
PostMuse said on February 4, 2013
I have a mailbox locator app on my phone, and I’ve used it lots when traveling. I’ve never thought of using it at home. I’ll give this a try tomorrow and take pictures at each new Blue Box.
Katie said on February 4, 2013
what’s the name of the app?
PostMuse said on February 4, 2013
It is USPS Mobile. You can even use it to put a hold on your mail if you forget to do so when traveling. And look up zipcodes. Does rate look-up, too, but you have to know the weight. I can usually tell if it is over 1 oz limit, but can’t always tell when it is over 2 oz.
Katie said on February 4, 2013
Awesome – thanks! I will def check it out.
Mary Robinette Kowal said on February 4, 2013
Oooo… I am downloading that right now.
rachel said on February 4, 2013
yay, I love this! thanks for the tip!
Eunice Probert said on February 4, 2013
Well, I would but I live in a rural area. Short of taking a bus, I can’t really explore new post boxes! But good luck everyone else!
Elizabeth Hartung said on February 4, 2013
I can when I’m in town, but it’s awful cold to walk much and parking is impossible. I can go for the four new mailboxes–do ones outside post offices where I’ve used the post office but not used the mail drop count? Twenty, no, not happening, I’ll just drop my postcards in the mailbox at home and put up the little flag.
Mary Robinette Kowal said on February 4, 2013
Yes, using the one a the post office definitely counts if it is a change in your routine.
fly said on February 5, 2013
It may be silly, but can you ask a neighbor to use theirs?
Mary Robinette Kowal said on February 5, 2013
You know what… yes. Absolutely. Since this challenge is all about taking time to communicate, then adding the bonus of a conversation with your neighbor seems totally in the spirit.
Ciara Kay Barsotti said on February 4, 2013
Oh man, that mailbox map is AMAZING! Why have I not discovered this before??
Pattiamg said on February 4, 2013
You know what’s funny. I can still remember where those free-standing blue mailboxes were located in my childhood neighborhood, but with the exception of the boxes outside the post office, I don’t know where any mailboxes are nowadays. Kind of sad, huh? I am definitely going to be using the mailbox map and trying to discover mailboxes AWAY from the post office.
Julie Jordan Scott said on February 4, 2013
I am going to have a blast with this mailbox mailing challenge. It feels like geocaching for mailboxes. LOL And the fact I get a badge makes it even more exciting. I need to go to Los Angeles with a whole bunch of letters and zip around town down there. Wouldn’t that be fun? Well, believe it or not, I think it would be fun!
Mary Robinette Kowal said on February 4, 2013
I think it would be great fun.
Fiona Webster said on February 4, 2013
I’m afraid I don’t use the blue mailboxes, because I’m into getting my mostly vintage stamps hand-cancelled at the post office. Anyone else who prefers hand cancellation? It may be rather perverse to wait in line, as I do, to get every single postcard & letter hand-cancelled, but even one trip a month to one’s local P.O. supports our valued postal employees by helping to ensure that their jobs will continue to be funded.
Mary Robinette Kowal said on February 4, 2013
Hm… maybe a hand-cancel badge is in order. Hm…
rachel said on February 4, 2013
I like getting things hand cancelled every once in a while, too. does give it even more of a personal touch. a badge would be great.
fly said on February 5, 2013
Well, technically a post office is a big ol’ mailbox, so… perhaps a different post office? Also, vintage stamps sound awesome.
JJ said on February 5, 2013
Oh yes!! I occasionally drive 25 minutes out the Columbia Gorge to visit the Bridal Veil PO. Second smallest PO in the US. Geri, the postmistress has only 100 square feet, so that means no room for canceling machinery, also no room for the machine that spits out the ugly sticker with amount of postage for a parcel. So, if mailing a parcel from Bridal Veil, it will be covered with hand cancelled stamps instead of the ugly sticker!! Naturally, I take nearly all my parcels there.
Deborah Quartz said on February 4, 2013
Julie,
Woohoo now that sounds like fun, I think I am going to venture out this week to an area I usually just pass through and mail some letters.
mayuze said on February 4, 2013
hmmm… I’m from Belgium.. so the map doensn’t show any of the mailboxes here
So it’s when I post my mail in another mailbox than I normally do? Just to be sure that I won’t be cheating 
Mary Robinette Kowal said on February 4, 2013
Yes, it’s just any mailbox other than your regular. Ideally, each time you click the box it will be a different new one.
Cynaemon Milliken said on February 4, 2013
I think there are only two mail boxes in this small town. But I will look around.
Sauni-Rae Dain said on February 4, 2013
Yikes, I am going to have to start tomorrow in order to have enough days to count for Trekker! Already 3 days into this zaniness.
BostonMargy said on February 4, 2013
Oh my gosh, I almost forgot! I added a contact form to my blog. If you mail me your address, I’ll mail you mine!
BostonMargy said on February 4, 2013
Oops, forgot to give you my blog address: http://blogcollectables.wordpress.com/
Thanks!
WhyILiveAtThePO said on February 4, 2013
Hi! have reported a new mailbox the last two days and didn’t get the badge. Has anyone else had an issue?
Mary Robinette Kowal said on February 4, 2013
Funny you should ask. I accidentally flipped a switch that set it to “manual award” instead of automatic. I turned it back on about half an hour ago and am going through manually awarding these now. Deeply annoyed with myself.
WhyILiveAtThePO said on February 4, 2013
Oh no!
fly said on February 5, 2013
YIKES!
I’m sorry that happened, but I’m glad that’s what was going on, because, um… I sorta thought I was losing my mind.
Denise said on February 5, 2013
I had the same issue. I haven’t checked to see if mine has been manually fixed yet.
Denise said on February 5, 2013
No, mine doesn’t seem to have been changed yet.
Mary Robinette Kowal said on February 5, 2013
There were rather a lot, so it took me awhile. I stopped last night when it got late enough that I was having trouble remembering the alphabet.
Yours should be awarded now, so let me know if it isn’t.
Denise said on February 5, 2013
Bless your heart!
It isn’t. Unless I’m not seeing it, which is a possibility!
Anny said on February 5, 2013
I don’t have one specific mailbox that I go to, I have one only a few meters from my front door, but I usually don’t go in that direction but instead head downtown or to a mailbox by a store or a coffee shop or..yeah you get the point.
It’s sad that our mailboxes all look the same though. Silver and yellow, all of them!
Gillian Osborne said on February 5, 2013
I live in a small town but we’ve got a few boxes to put our post in so I’m mapping these out as I walk/drive around town. We also have a sorting office so a box outside there too. Not sure if there’s 20 boxes in our town but you never know….
It’s fun to seek them out tho’
Carlene Simmons said on February 5, 2013
On the last day of vacation this summer I had a few last items to put in the mail. There is always that check out morning frenzy and I forgot about mailing them till we where all packed in the car and headed toward home. I didn’t want to mail them from home so I used the USPS mobile app to locate a mailbox along our route. It proved a bit of a challenge at first. Instead of stressing, we had a good laugh deciding it would should be a travel game. I felt so accomplished when we located the blue box I defiantly took a photo. I’m looking forward to playing this game around town this week.
PostMuse said on February 5, 2013
I totally misunderstood the Adventurer achievement. On my lunch break today I visited four different Blue Boxes so I could unlock that achievement tonight. I took pictures of each Blue Box https://twitter.com/PostMuse/status/298867117200142337/photo/1 But now I see that it unlocks after reporting on four days. I had a lovely walk, though. I will go to three more different Blue Boxes during the week, using my handy USPS Mobile app, and really get to see the city!
PostMuse said on February 5, 2013
And, like others, my Postal Explorer badge is not showing up on my profile.
Mary Robinette Kowal said on February 5, 2013
Sorry about that. There’s a bug that runs deeper than we thought it did. At this point, I’m awarding them by hand once a day while my developer tries to find the problem.