We just heard that the East Station may be closed for good soon. The other day, we went in to buy some stamps and said, “give me the most badass stamps you’ve got” and dude just pulled out those hideous Forever Bell ones, and we were like, “WTF, really? That’s all you’ve got dude?” Well, he did whip out those little Polar Bear stamps but they’re for postcards and we’re certainly no tourist.
We asked him why they had no other stamps and dude said (and he is a dude for those of you wondering why I keep calling him that: dude has CHOPS) that no one wanted to order them since they were likely going to be closing soon. CLOSING SOON? WHYOHWHYNOOOO!?!?!?!??!
Listen, we know this shiz has been on KXAN (but god, doesn’t the local news make you want to kill yourself? Drugs in East Austin! Prostitution in East Austin! 12th and Chicon at 5! And 6! Barf.) but we didn’t know about until now… Did you guys know? Did you guys know and care? Not care? Is anyone else freaking the eff out? We don’t want to venture downtown. Or to South Congress. Or wherever else it is that mail is slung around this place.
Still reading? This is by far our longest blog post yet so feel free to skip to the end to see how we can save this joint!
Yes, we know our joint might be a little slow. That’s because so many people need it!
Yes, we’re pissed too that there’s no longer a late night stamp machine.We’ll buy stamps from the people!!
And it kinda sucked that the little stamp machine didn’t take credit cards in the first place. Eff you, Visa! And the Bank of America World Points card you rode in on!
We’re content to hate on that dude who apparently hit up 32 of those vending machines at one time and jacked all their cash. Then apparently did it all over again a week later. (Why there’s still one in Hyde Park is up for a later discussion)… But the point of all of this is that we really just want to keep the post office here. And the friendly faces of our East Austin post office here too.
Apparently if our East Austin location closes, the employees will lose their jobs–not be relocated. We know jobs are being sucked right out from under people these days but for some reason this really hits home.
So, we’re calling on our fair readers and dear East Siders for your help. Apparently those yuppies in Chimney Creek (Corners, Creek–whatever) a few years back got all uppity and mobilized to save their post office. We’re calling on you to do the same!! USPS is going to decide by September 30th if they’ll close it or not.
That being said, we have no idea how to save a post office. Nor do we know if people even want it saved. We do. We love our post office. Not just for its convenience and location, but for what it represents. Removing a post office that appears to be the only one serving the entire area east of I-35 from 71 to 183 adds to the east side’s so-called ‘benign neglect.’ We can only hope that the post office will recognize the sheer number of people it serves as a key deciding factor, but we’re also hoping they’ll pay attention to a concerted effort among east siders to save our post office!
Where do we begin? We want your thoughts! Your successes! Your failures! Everyone loves those little polar bears so we started there (and things can clearly only go up from our late night Photoshopping skills).
The USPS VP said they’re evaluating closures based on these factors: “customer access, service standards, cost savings, impact on employees, environmental impact, real estate values and long-term Postal Service needs”…
Some early thoughts:
1) Get your buns there! Where is it you say? It’s on 6th, east of the Cool Store.
2) Buy some stamps. Send a letter. Postcard. Whatever. Make some traffic people.
3) Get to know the dudes at USPS. Get to know the fab women there. ASK QUESTIONS. See what can be done.
4) Should we make an online petition? Go door to door? Appeal to the Postal Regulatory Commission? We always hear grumbling about gentrification, now is the time to put our social capital in this neighborhood to WORK.
5) Shall we follow the successful model of Hawleyville? Find out if something is already going on??
6) Buy those damn Polar Bear stamps. They’re adorable and you know it.
Ok, that’s all we’ve got for now. Tell us to bugger off if you think this is totally lame. We really can’t be the only ones left on the east side who write our Grammas/people in prison/badass nephews. Thank you for reading all of this! Comments below welcome! Let’s do this!!
Tags: 6th, east station, polar bears, postal workers we heart, save our post office!, stamps
Wonderful post, and a much needed conversation. The irony of benign neglect, in this case, is that the east side is one of Austin’s fastest growing areas. What sense does it make to shutter a PO that is the only one serving a large AND growing part of our city? I love the idea of employing our social capital via an online petition (i.e., EA should totally make a sister site called like “saveeaststation.com”–I mean, c’mon, someone’s gotta do it). And let’s not just rally east side residents but, perhaps even more importantly, east side businesses and organizations (any LAF’ers out there that wanna spread the word?). While I love me some Automated Postal Center at the Downtown location, there’s a certain charm to hearing Chops talk about his “free love” days as he processes your mail.
All this said, one concern: do we have to “eff the bears” in the process? Is this really a zero sum game? Can’t we save both? That is one cute bear.
Dude I love that guy with the chops. There is also this guy there that kinda reminds me of Shaft. I mean this guy was awesome.. I sent something to Canada a couple of months ago and this guy made me want to be his friend. I left and told my GF… “man I want to be that guys friend!”
I hope they dont close it… it truly comes in handy. Tell all your friends about it.
First the Silver Dillo and now this? What’s next, no bus service, having the MetroRail skip the Saltillo stop?
oh man, we love that post office. i go there all the time! that is total bullshit that they would close that post office. just like they cut the dillo service on the east side. we’ll have to do some research on this. see what we can do…
oh man, tom, you beat me to it! but seriously! i took that damn dillo to work every day until they cut the service.
I’m a new east side inhabitant and am actually heart broken about this. haven’t visited the east side post office YET but I am about to start!
I am inspired and enraged to take a stand to fight for the right to mail. I think we need to mobilize an east side group and start a petition. Go mail east!
no no no.
i just moved across the street two months ago and frequent it almost daily to ship out etsy and ebay goods. i had no idea. what can we do to save this place?! i am all about lending my services for the cause. chops is quite the bad ass.
hey post office lovers! let’s save the East Station… details here: http://eastaustinite.com/blog/?p=5192
[...] neighborhood is being gentrified, the East Austin Post Office is under threat of being closed. East Austinite has more on the closing and how you can mobilize so that East Austinites don’t have to suffer at the South Austin [...]
Official word on our meet up! Yay and thank you!!
http://eastaustinite.com/blog/?p=5204
For those of you following this drama, its resolution is here!
http://eastaustinite.com/blog/?p=5531
Thank you!