Kirby's Fremont

A Post Office for Fremont?

By Kirby Lindsay

Now, this hardly qualifies as a severe hardship. After all, the nearest post office is only 1.7 miles away--uphill all the way. Walking to the post office isn't impossible, but riding a bus there is. Still, there are those of us here in Fremont (that would be me) that dream a big dream, of being able to purchase nearly anything and run nearly any errand without leaving our little burg.

Want to dream along with me?

Let's imagine a businessman named Riz Alvi (since that is his name) who owns a business called Perfect Copy & Print. Let's say it has been on Fremont Avenue since 1997 and done well there. We could even imagine that he and his brother Asif have another store on Capitol Hill (since they do.) That location sees continuous walk-in traffic while the Fremont store has more big jobs and fewer walk-in customers.

Now imagine the shoppers, neighboring business owners and employees walking into the Fremont store and constantly inquiring about the nearest post office (since they do). We might even imagine that Riz listens to his customers (since he does) and thinks that maybe he could contract with the United States Postal Service to have a small contract post office inside his business. After all, he and his employees could wait on people without too many distractions and it might bring in added printing jobs.

Our dream could have come true years ago, when Riz acted on these requests within the first six months of opening his Fremont business and the Postal Service said yes. The Postal Service also said that they wouldn't pay for it. Can you imagine that Riz would spend approximately $4,000 a month to run a post office, selling products and services at cost? I can't, and neither could he.

So our dream continues. We can imagine Riz would go to the Fremont Chamber of Commerce and ask for their support. The Fremont Chamber is good at giving support and you can easily imagine that they were enthusiastic--finding a volunteer to write a petition and drafting a letter immediately. I had a hard time imagining the 500 signatures Riz collected in less than two months--until he showed them to me.

There the dream stops, and we wait. In September Riz will apply to the State Postmaster to budget money for a Fremont Contract Post Office. He will send the petitions and letters he has collected to show just how many people see a need for the presence of the USPS in Fremont. At this point, we can only hope that our dream matches the will of the USPS.

Certainly the neighborhood could support a post office like never before. According to the petition, "Our neighborhood is growing, with a dozen new apartments and townhouses being built [here] each month. With the addition, in the next two years, of over 1,000 more employees in the neighborhood, we must have basic services available to all." Even the postmaster of the nearest post office, in Wallingford, agrees with Riz on the need for an overflow post office.

And Riz is not the only businessperson aware of the volume of mail that flows through Fremont. For 16 years, Mail Stop, a mail service shop, has provided mailboxes to nearly 200 Fremonsters. Forrest Bouldry, the owner, does it all. In his small shop, wedged between Essential Bakery and an Edward Jones Investments office, he sorts mail, sells stamps and handles foreign mail and packages for a wide assortment of Fremont regulars. His box holders include boat live-aboards, manufacturers and home-based businesses, and residents who distrust the security of their home mailboxes. Artists and craftspeople rent boxes, as do travelers. Forrest does mail forwarding for regular clients, and holds mail for extended periods when requested.

Mail Stop does nearly everything a post office can do, plus he has a very mellow shop cat, Sneaker. He also does phone messaging service for a few box holders. He chooses not to handle paperwork-intensive registered or insured mail and he doesn't handle C.O.D. mail either. Since he bought the business, in 1991, he has learned his limitations. He won't handle Express Mail, since he can't always promise overnight delivery, or packaging of items beyond the most simple sizes and types.

In many ways, the presence of Mail Stop means we don't need a "real" post office, or maybe they will complement each other. Certainly Riz is aware of the importance of filling unaddressed needs first. Perfect Copy & Print won't rent postal boxes. According to Riz, "If Fremont already has it, why do we do it again?"

So maybe we've already seen the dream come true. In either case, it is a wonder to me, and the fulfillment of a dream, to see two businessmen working to answer the needs of this neighborhood. We have come from the 1970s when Fremont didn't have any mail service to today when two businessmen work to answer a specific need of our neighborhood. Now, on to tomorrow when we may have a choice to send it "Certified" or "Registered."

Kirby Lindsay almost looks forward to mailing her taxes "Registered Mail" in Fremont, and avoiding one more errand that takes her away from home. If you have questions about Fremont, you may write to her c/o The Seattle Press or e-mail to fremont@oz.net.

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