New Post Office Drive-Up Box Located in Sweetbay Parking Lot

Patch readers have asked several questions about the new drive-up mailbox in the , which was installed in July.

The box is located at the back of the parking lot, adjacent to 56th Street. It’s on the concrete median in the center of a roundabout. From 56th Street, turn into the Sweetbay parking lot, and then take an immediate left. You’ll see the box on the left side.

The post office picks up mail at this collection site once a day at 3 p.m. Monday through Friday, and at 2:30 p.m. Saturday. There is also a Federal Express box at this location with pick-up time at 7 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Patch reader Rose Killinger suggested mail be picked up at the box more frequently.

“The traffic congestion is so bad in front of the Post Office that traffic backing out blocks street traffic,” she wrote in an e-mail. “People who merely want to mail something for morning pick up could avoid that area if pick up at the drop-off box was 2 or 3 times a day as it is at the post office.”

According to Jose Santa, the new post office’s station manager, adding pick up times isn’t something the post office has considered. The post office chose to pick up mail there at 3 p.m. because he said studies show that most mail that is dropped off there comes in by that time.

Santa said the post office could do a courtesy pickup if a resident makes prior arrangements. Otherwise, he directed residents to the box outside the new post office's entrance on Chicago Avenue. Mail is picked up at that box four times a day Monday through Friday at 8 a.m., 3:30 p.m., 5 p.m. and 6 p.m., and three times a day on Saturday at 8 a.m., 12:45 p.m. and 2:30 p.m.

There are also other mailbox locations nearby. They include:

• 119 N. Glen Arven Ave., at in front of the Student Center. Mail is picked up here Monday through Friday at 1:45 p.m., and Saturday at 1 p.m.
• 5500 E. 113th Ave., across the street from the building. Mail is picked up here Monday through Friday at 2:05 p.m., and Saturday at 11:30 a.m.
• 11816 N. 56th St., at the Terrace Landings office complex on the southbound side of the road. Mail is picked up here Monday through Friday at 2:35 p.m., and Saturday at 1:30 p.m. There is also a Federal Express box with pick-up time Monday through Friday at 6:30 p.m.
• 6314 E. Fowler Ave., at the SuperTest gas station. Mail is picked up here Monday through Friday at 1:30 p.m., and Saturday at 12:30 p.m.