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Heather Boylan's avatar

My birth mom was a mail carrier for many years in rural Austin. She showed me around her "route" recently , telling me stories about pretty much everyone who lived on her route, stopping to say hi to people... honestly it was one of the most wholesome things I've ever witnessed.

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Ash Ambirge's avatar

RIGHT?! Brandi said I could go on a ride along with her next week, and you better believe I am 💯 doing this and reporting back. 😂 So cute and wholesome indeed!!!! (We passed each other on a dirt road and she stopped and goes, “You want your packages now?!” And then just passed em over! Ha!

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Heather Boylan's avatar

This is exactly how my birth mother operated. She took me to the post office as well while I was visiting - introduced me as "her daughter" (I was adopted as a baby) and WOW was that a fun interaction with her co-workers who knew her before she knew me!

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Clio's avatar

Oh gosh I'm laughing 😂 I'm so glad you keep informing us, your international audience, of all these dirty little secrets of the American way of life 😂 (or maybe I should more precisely say, your internal comments about your American life right now - either way, I love it ❤️ pls don't stop! )

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Ash Ambirge's avatar

It’s like a whole new world to me!

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Zoe Zuniga's avatar

Speaking of mailboxes and dead parent's ashes.... You could do one of those newfangled forest burial thingies and send your parents through the mail and have a tree planted on top of them. like this one https://www.betterplaceforests.com/ or this tree pod forest burial or whatever. It's becoming all the rage! https://8billiontrees.com/eco-friendly-natural-products/tree-pod-burial/

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Ash Ambirge's avatar

SHUT. UP!!!!!!! Whatttttt!!!!!!! I have never seen this!!! Shoot, we should disrupt that industry and plant wine vines on top of them instead. 😂😂😂😂😂😂

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Zoe Zuniga's avatar

OMG! What a great idea. If i wasn't so busy getting 3 other streams of income up and running i would grab this!!! somebody do it NOW!!!!

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Kristi Keller 🇨🇦's avatar

I've heard you can also have ashes made into fireworks and put on a show. Of course, this is for rich people only. Can you imagine though?

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Zoe Zuniga's avatar

Hahaha, sounds a bit messy with human ashes all over but fun

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Marissa Macias's avatar

Definitely this. I read an article awhile back that noted how future generations will have no clue who is in the box/urn and the ashes of relatives generally end up in a dumpster at some point.

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Elle Wolfe's avatar

LoL 😂, when we first moved into this neighborhood people kept talking about the ‘bird box’, as in I’ll leave whatever information in the bird box. I had no idea what they were talking about.

As it turned out the bird box was this little wood cubbyhole right under the mailbox 📬 where people left information for you because of the whole illegal to open people’s mailbox thing. Needless to say the bird box was scary and emitted Fear Factor vibes. Like god only knows what hell you could be sticking your innocent, and valuable hand into.

So three years ago the Homeowners association made all homeowners update their mailboxes. And by made I mean threatened to fine you $1000 for every month you did not pay the $400 to have the new black steel mailbox on the french pole with the curly-cue bracket and the cylinder shaped bird box underneath. So now the bird box is a cute cylinder shape but no less creepy sticking your unsuspecting hand into✋🏾 to retrieve a card from Bob offering to pressure wash your driveway. Dead things do live in my bird box because if you put anything in there, I’m never going to see it!

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Ash Ambirge's avatar

I have so never heard of the bird box concept!!! But I am glad someone is providing solutions to this national crisis. 😂😂😂 So what you’re saying is all your mailboxes are the same now?!

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Elle Wolfe's avatar

Yep!

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Zoe Zuniga's avatar

Oh yes, those expensive theft proof mailboxes are popular here in Silicon Valley among the owners of all the McMansions.

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Elle Wolfe's avatar

I think the neighborhood associations idea was to make them vandal proof. High school kids would knock them off with baseball bats.

Although my neighbors teen age daughter backed out of their driveway and ran over my new mailbox. 😂😂😂 Her parents had to pay to replace it!! 😬

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Lee Romano Sequeira's avatar

Suit me up for Orange is the New Black, b/c I am a repeat offender! 😂 😂 😂 Geez, hope they don't have a database of us who violate this rule by fropping cards in my neighbors mailboxes a few times a year! Is my photo in the post office or cop shop? Oh, the shame! (but I'll keep doing it b/c I'm a rebel). 😂

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Ash Ambirge's avatar

I was going to drop off a bottle of olive oil to the neighbor’s mailbox over the holidays and then GOT SCARED THEY WOULD THINK I WAS A MAIL ROBBER. 😂

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Kristi Keller 🇨🇦's avatar

I was going to remain neutral the whole way through this...until the very last paragraph reminded me of the time I had ashes shipped to me through Canada Post. Did you know that Canada Post is the only shipping company in the country who will transport human remains? Not UPS, not Fedex. Just the mailman. Nobody needs to know this until they need to know it.

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Ash Ambirge's avatar

Now I’m going to have to ask Brandi if we can do that here in the US!! I saw her yesterday and she offered to have me do a ride along and shadow her one day and I am absolutely doing this. 😂😂😂😂😂😂

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Kristi Keller 🇨🇦's avatar

LOL true Ambirge style. Most people do ride alongs with the police. But you?? You're the avant garde one who does the postal service. 🤣🤣

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Jessica Miller's avatar

Brilliant. I laughed. I cried…mostly from laughing.

Just crossed into Pennsylvania on our way to ski. 👋🏻👋🏻 I’m coming to steal your mail!!

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Ash Ambirge's avatar

YOU DID?! 😲

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Jessica Miller's avatar

Yes!! (Yes, I’m in PA. No, I haven’t stolen your mail. Yet.)

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Karen Robinson's avatar

😂 😂 😂 🤣🤣🤣 Now I know exactly what to do with my dad's ashes when he dies since he says he doesn't care 🤣

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Jeffro55's avatar

It's true, Ash: you have to be a Federally Authorized Postal Service Employee to open that mailbox.

The only exception? The owner, you.

It does seem a bit insecure, though.....

So, I never put "outgoing" mail in mine, except those "Postage Paid" reply thingies for magazine subscriptions.

I think LifeLock is fear-mongering, too, and I HATE those commercials!

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Sarah Silva's avatar

This has me going down all kinds of mail receptacle searches :-P If you have a mail box at the end of your drive in the UK, you are super fancy! So, in the US, you don't have letterboxes - a flap in your front door?

Other than the time a firefighter offered to seal up the letterbox in case of an arson attempt (my friend was living with us while divorcing her psycho ex), the worst problem with having a letterbox was bulky mail that wouldn't fit. But now I want a mailbox with a flag, so cool!

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Ash Ambirge's avatar

What!!!!!! Oh my goodness this convo is giving me life. No, we don’t have flaps in our doors! I mean, I actually do because the farmhouse is old and I think they delivered this way in the past, but now it’s allllll mailboxes—at least in rural parts! When I lived in the city, I had a tiny mailbox in the common area I accessed with a key.

Now I am fascinated/horrified by idea of an arsonist coming by!!!!!

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Paul Julian's avatar

How big is your mailbox? I have an old country style mailbox painted fire engine red and big enough for enough to hold a 36 pack of beer. It's also a landmark for folks. "Look for the fire engine red mailbox".

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Ash Ambirge's avatar

Ha!! I love it! Mine is a regular sized black one that’s tipping over hahahah—it’s actually across the street in the neighbor’s yard, oddly, because apparently all the mailboxes need to be on that side of the road! 😲

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