The Post Office

I checked out the USPS (United States Postal Service) website looking for the address of the Post Office in Fort McDowell. There was a whole list of post offices within a twenty mile radius, but none listed for Fort McDowell. After I looked at the list for a bit I realized that it included a whole bunch of places that were just basic postal outlets. The notes on many said they sold stamp books only.

I found out I could narrow the search by checking full service post offices only. That helped. Now the list had only about ten places starting in Fountain Hills and extending into Apache Junction and then into Phoenix and Mesa. We targeted the Scottsdale/Fountain Hills Post Office which the site said was only 3.5 miles away. I put the address into Toad II's GPS and off we went.

Okay it says we're here. But, where's here? There's a whole bunch of fancy buildings with lots of bronze sculptures in between. There's City Hall; there's the Police Station; oh, here's the library. Guess we could ask the lady who just came out. Nice lady, but she says she doesn't know, she doesn't live here either. But wait, says she, I'll go back into the library and ask. Wait, we can go... But, she's already gone!

A few minutes later, out she comes followed by a young man. He points out to us the building about a block away on the other side of the parking lots. It's the back side of the Post Office. Turns out the address we had is the address of the whole civic complex, not just the Post Office. So off we go.

I head inside with my stuff to mail. The line inside is L-O-N-G! But, there's nobody at the machine in the lobby. I remember Daughter MM had said she'd used one of the machines. I pick up the necessary Priority Mail envelopes and put my stuff inside and address them. By now, there's a fellow using the machine. I watch what he's doing. Doesn't look too hard. My turn. The machine asks for the ZIP code of my envelope, I tell it, it tells me to swipe my credit card. I do. It asks if I have more to mail. I tell it I do. It tells me I don't need to swipe my card again. I put in the ZIP codes of the other two envelopes. The machine spits out the postage/bar code/ZIP code labels; I slap them on each envelope; and drop them in the revolving door. The machine asks if I have more to mail. I tell it I don't. It spits out my receipt with the tracking numbers for each envelope. Job done! With never a human contact...! I walk out and join Forry in Toad II and we head home.