SHOW ME YOUR POST OFFICE

Pam, I thought as much. It's always best to be prepared.  Good luck with your continued postal crime spree. 

Monster A Gogo, You write "Mail Art Police". What does that mean?

Helene, it is his humorous way of saying that the handlers at this particular post office refuse to accept his wonderfully extravagant envelopes for mailing. 

Maxima Strange. Merci

That’s what I thought. I’d rather check to avoid missing a "private joke" special mail-artist. :-)
I’ve never had a comment like that. I put my envelopes in mailboxes on the street. I don’t go to the post  office. No counter, no unpleasant comments.

Helen, I mailed my envelopes from the mailbox in front of the post office.  I live in a very small town. I do NOT put my return address on anything, but they figured out who I was (I'm guessing by the mail I used to receive.  (My mailbox is closed and I am more or less "retired" from mail art). I had a note to go to the post office,  and there were TWO of my envelopes being held...and I was told, basically,  NOT to send any mail art any more. 

Now, when I do mail it, I mail when I go to the mainland, away from the island I live on and the mail art police at the post office.

Helene...sorry about the spelling. It autocorrected.

I understand. I would have been very upset if I had suffered that. This is an incorrect and unprofessional attitude.

1CA42379-00F7-4169-9910-18DAC84B9C2D.jpeg. Thanks Maxima. My Zine arrived today. I’m delighted to be part of an all over the world participation.  

Wow, that took a long time, Claire, I’m glad it came! 

Marcia. Lovely post-office!

Thank you, Hélène! 

>Luís< So adorable! It’s a good idea to share the special stamps too.

Thank you for the photos! 

Luís

Charming! look like London mailboxes.

The Old Post Office Bakery on Landor Road has been a lynchpin of the community since 1982 when founder Karl Heinz Rossbach, while squatting in a former post office off Acre Lane, began using an old bathtub as a mixing bowl to produce artisan sourdough loaves.

Not local exactly but I get to it sometimes.

A post office where you can enjoy coffee and pastries.. the dream!

;-)

Not such luck, it is only a patisserie now. as many more small post offices it has gone with the wind of greed. The British PO is only interested in packets, more profit.

This was our nice  large local PO, at the corner of my road. 

We still got the postbox, they are disappearing also.

Now we have to go to a book shop to get postage, etc.

That is a shame, Mail Art Martha . :(

Yes! I have always thought of them as a kind of sacred space. 

This happened since the right wing gbovernment ( that is a lucky typo, bovine government suits them) we  have had for 12 years sold the Royal Mail. Infuriatingly, still called Royal Mail.

We are also lucky in France to still have post offices. But it is mostly in big cities. In the countryside they closed and in a general way the service deteriorated.

I just learned that postal rates are increasing (still!) in France. And especially for letters sent abroad.
Already there is only one rate to send a mail to Belgium and Singapore... A few years ago there was a rate for European countries and a rate for the rest of the world.
And from 1 January 2023 the price for a letter sent internationally; for a weight up to 20grs will increase from 1.65 euros to 1.80 euros!
I am very unhappy, especially given the continuing deterioration of postal services. Everything is done to discourage citizens from writing so that the Post Office can focus on more lucrative business services.

Helene, it is the same here. it was announced that our postal prices are rising again in January as well---and we already had a postal rate hike earlier this year.

Monster, unfortunately yes, this policy of privatization of public services so harmful, affects many countries. I fear that in the near future it will no longer be possible to send mail-art.

And I want to send letters with beautiful stamps (French artists, engravers are paid for this and I like it!) all over the world. I don’t want to use e-mail messages!

  I win! In Britain, now, it costs £1.85 to send a letter abroad. That is 2.15 Euros or  $2.29!
For 60 grams to Europe but 20 grs only for the rest of the world.
Also going up soon. Definitely they are killing the letterpost service.

We will have to embrace e-mail art, or die. It is only evolution in action, the organism that does not evolve becomes extinct, unfortunately.

14.12.22 Dare Ms. Mail Art Martha (via Ms. Maxima Strange & SHOW ME YOUR POST OFFICE),....."embrace e-mail or die. It is only evolution in action"---Perhaps a logical response but I see your comment as a profound & perceptive observation. For several years now, I've watched  postal rates rise habitually & have found it all somewhat difficult to meet my own needs in terms of  postage stamps. Am finding myself  increasingly out of place in the 21st century &  increasingly nostalgic about the 20th.   Just a couple of year's back, I saw on my street a typical U.S. Mail truck  driven by a uniformed postman with a red Mohawk. Things are changing. All best to you ( in the traditional sense). SinCelery, Richard Canard 

Rchard and Hélène, I of course feel the same and I am putting up a good fight but I will embrace Mail Art in any form rather than give it up.

Look at this beauty by Hélène, in collaboration with the French postal services, part of an envelope and now a favourite bookmark:

It is mounted on white card but it does not show well.

Thank you Mail Art Martha.
I, too,by pleasure of sending and receiving mail, I will continue to make mail-art

No post office in my hometown anymore, except for a few 'postal service points'. But here is my handsome postman, who was willing to pose with me and declared how lovely the creations are that he delivers on my address.

Carien, he’s really cute, heehee

The greed of privatisation of public services is so destructivekkD65017B5-5284-4181-9EB5-5123E555C263.jpeg

What a gorgeous postie.xx

That’s so interesting, Mark. I love seeing the envelopes. I love the way writing looked back then. 

@Mark Johnson These are great!

Very cool personal family history, sir. Thanks doe sharing. Any idea why the town didn't continue to prosper?

Fascinating. Thank you.

Behemoth brutalist Baltimore main post office (above)

The post office for my zipcode 21218 (below). It's easier just to go downtown to the main post office. 

I don't know if this is one person, but someone has taken thousands of photos of post offices (32,650 Photos). 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/postoffices/page326

@Mark Johnson, 

it's wowwing me. 

looking further into it, there's a website http://www.postmarks.org/photos/ 

Mark, what an incredible testimonial! And how important is this rescue of the memory of our ancestors. I loved knowing. And thanks for sharing the photos.

Mail Art News, how beautiful to see the grandeur of the Baltimore building... just like old times... I also prefer to go to the main post office, although it is further away.

It's a complete mapping of post offices! Great work.

@Marcia Rosenberger, 

wow Sao Paulo is the fourth most populous city in the world. The must have to process a great volume of mail every day. 

Attached are some photos of the 1:87 Cascadia Central Post Office, modeled in the Cascadia Diorama on the layout of the full scale postal complex in Olympia, Washington USA.

~ Jack @ Cascadia Artpost

Hello. I am in Osaka Japan. I will post a photo of a local post office when I can. I live in a small town and the branch is small.

Hello. I just went to the post office so I took some photos.

Sorry the photos are side ways.

the post office picture i sent a while back has now been closed down. 3205 Melbourne Victoria Australia