Friday, September 6

You Know You Are a Postal Geek When . . .

I promised myself I would NOT totally geek out about the upcoming Washington DC Letter Salon, but I saw the announcement today and I got that happy jittery feeling in the bottom of my stomach again!  Then a pen friend and I had an IM conversation about the upcoming Ex Postal Facto event in San Francisco 2-14-14, and I started to buzz again just thinking of going to it!  So I thought a little list may be in order so you do not feel alone, and know others are out there too with a similar geeky affliction.

You Know You Are a Postal Geek When . . .

  1. You plan vacations around letter socials and meeting up with pen pals.
  2. The post office knows you by your first name and are happy to see you!
  3. You day dream of your mailbox overflowing with letters and such, made worse by non mail holidays!  And plan your day around stopping to check your PO Box or Mail Box in hopes of finding such missives! 
  4. Not only do you have a stamp portfolio that would make most stamp collectors salivate, but you are not afraid to use just the perfect stamp to accent your beautiful and personalized mail.
  5. You have greater than 15 pen pals, and are on Postcrossing and/or Swapbot and/or Sendsomething and/or Good Mail Day and/or one of several equally as awesome mail swap sights.  And lets be totally honest here - you probably frequent several as part of your daily routine.
  6. You are waiting at the Dentist, Doctor's Office, Optometrist, or really any public space and you find a pen in your hand responding to a letter.
  7. When you seek out THE PERFECT PEN, and will openly debate the subject on the internet! No fountain, no gel, no ball point!
  8. You own several mail themed items as home decor or accessories and keep the eye ever open for more.
  9. Have more stationery than any person in your regular daily life could comprehend.
  10. Watch random videos on YouTube about how the postal system is run in your country, and well, any country really.
  11. You know better than your local postal employees about rates and new stamps and services.
  12. Your ears perk up if anything postal news comes on TV.
  13. You can't fathom when people at work say things like, "E-mail is so much better."  What? Wait, how???  That's not even a contest!
These are just a few of my own personnel observations, please add your 46 cents* worth below! 

-b

*46 cents is the current price of sending a letter within the USA, but I'll be happy to hear from all mail geeks worldwide!

10 comments:

  1. Sounds like me! I would add visiting post offices and/or stationery stores when traveling. And, of course, always leaving room in your suitcase for the new goodies you will inevitably bring home :)

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    1. Mee too!
      See you and raise you one! Go out of your way to buy stationery when traveling internationally! My mom thought it was funny in Ireland a few years back, but I dare say I would be worse now.

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  2. Ha! You nailed it! Go to DC and say hello to the host Alyson Kuhn for me. And do come to San Francisco -- it is going to be great!

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  3. haha wow! So true! I totally can especially relate to 7, 9, 11 and 13. I remember going into my post office last year and talking about something (can't remember what) and they didn't know about it. I had to laugh thinking I knew more than they did. :)

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  4. Number 5 is so me! And 9 and 11 too... I can relate to your whole list, though. ^^"
    I would add another one too: when... Postcards and stamps become your only souvenirs from trips abroad.

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  5. OMG, I'm a completely postal geek!
    Except that in Morocco it's impossible to convince the postal office workers that I'd like to have different stamps one day. They have only the basics series (with the king)!

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  6. -You're a postal geek when you see postcards for sale and you can't help buying one for every of your penpals and get out of the shop with 20 cards in hand .
    -You're a postal geek when you go to holidays and the first thing you write in your travel notebook is the list of all penpals you want to write to , with their adresses.
    -You're a postal geek when the first building you're looking for when arriving in a new city is the post office.
    -You're a postal geek when you feel so alone among people who never write a letter.
    Shall I go on?... :o)

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    1. Awesome list! LOL They say in life you should try to find people with your own level of crazy, so we're a weird scattered lost at birth family here.

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  7. Oh my got! All of these are just pure true!

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  8. I just have to tell you this. My sister and I took a day trip and a friend had told me that some Truck Stops sold postcards. We detoured onto an exit off the Intersate and went into a truck stop and found a large variety of postcards for .25 each. She and I both bought 100! The clerk had to scan/ring them up individually and she asked us what we were going to do with them. We sinply said "mail them to people" and told her about Postcrossing.

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