A Swellesley Report reader, looking out for residents struggling with the new secure mailboxes in Wellesley and seeking to help The Swellesley Report sustain itself financially, has made a modest proposal:
This covers a lot of ground and three or four of your recent stories.
I went to the Grove St post office to mail letters at the “drive up” (and get out) box. In fact, the driver of the car in front of me was out. But he was parked very close to the curb and was having trouble moving around his open car door and the mailboxes. He appeared to also be having trouble figuring out where to put the letters. It was dark, and the slot is not really visible in the dark. I know the challenge. After a few more moments he got back in the car, letters in hand, and drove off.
From my car I managed to get one side of my letters in the slot, then pushed them in with a newspaper I had with me. (Who said newspapers are outdated?) Which leads to the new product idea.
The Swellesley Stick. About a foot long and in the general shape of a clothes pin. Place the letters in the jaws, extend to and into the slot, release using the squeeze handles, stay in the car and feel smart. The stick would be big enough to proudly show a Swellesley logo. The basic daytime model would be just that, the deluxe 24-hour model could have a small LED. But the best part, thanks to your recent story, is that it would be made from the wood of the recently deceased Hunnewell Tree. You will have to move fast to secure the logs. I guess the fallback would be the RDF’s Christmas trees. The Hunnewell PTO could be your marketing partner in the first case, the DPW in the fallback. And for the final story, the sticks could be produced by the person who recently carved a buck statue on the base of a damaged tree on Overbrook Drive.
If people will buy a pet rock, they’ll buy a Swellesley Stick. And it will give you one more story idea, along with the revenue.
A Swellesley reader.
The Swellesley Stick from local wood idea definitely has potential, if not for mailing things. Perhaps if you re-publish a drawing of it, readers can come up with other potential uses, sort of like the recent voting to identify the topiary tree. It could definitely become a “must have” item for residents, perhaps for the garden or over the garage door…
The new Grove st mailboxes are too far from the curb. You cannot put an envelope into the boxes without getting out of your car which defeats the whole purpose. Move the mailboxes closer to the curb.
I love the idea of the Swellesley stick. Another solution could be for the Post Office people could figure out to move the new mailboxes a little closer to the curb, somone could reach the mail slots from the drive up position. Too much to ask???
Well said