Some of you know exactly where your favorite blue drop box resides. But I bet most of you drive past these uniquely shaped blue boxes each day and don’t even notice them.
I came across a CNN.com article that claims there are as many as 160,000 of these blue collection boxes in use around America.
If you are having a hard time finding the nearest blue box to drop your outbound mail in, there are a few apps that can help you out. For Android, check out the USPS Mobile or Mail Box Locator apps. You can also try MailboxMap.com from your computer or smart phone to see where all 160,000 drop boxes are located.
If you are using an iPhone, you can try the USPS Mobile app or the Find Postboxes app.
I like Mailbox Locator because it is simply about finding the nearest drop box, and it uses your phone’s GPS to quickly route you to the nearest one. It also shows you the pick-up days and last pick-up times so you know if you’ve still got time to get your letters in the mail that day.
In case you’re wondering, at LetterStream we don’t place our mail in the blue boxes or in our own mail box. We don’t even drop our mail off at the retail counter of the local post office. Instead, our mail gets trucked to the USPS BMEU (Business Mail Entry Unit), for fast, same-day processing of our mail, even after the post office retail window is closed.
Keep an eye out for those little blue boxes and see how many you can count on your way to work this week; you might be surprised.
Of course, when faced with an urgent mailing, skip the box and contact LetterStream instead!