South Side, St. Louis, MO

In the wee early hours of the Monday-Friday morning, I leave my backyard and walk several steps to get the paper at the above vending machine. 80% of the time, I have mail to post, as well. So, it’s a 2-bird-1 stone deal.

But sometimes I forget (it is awfully early) to do these chores in my backyard, but never fear. There are plenty of opportunities to take care of business between home and work.

I work in downtown Kirkwood, which is a great place as it’s laid out in the traditional urban grid, with residential and business intermingling. And Kirkwood is just as accommodating with plentiful newspaper boxes as is the city. But Kirkwood has a strange aversion to mailboxes; there’s only one every mile. This is odd, because Kirkwoodians carry on much like South Siders, yet their mail drop opps are severely limited. At least they have newspaper boxes; once you cross the city lines, both mail and news boxes drop off in number. Just start casually paying attention as you drive around, and you’ll see what I’ve noticed.

In the city, there is a newspaper machine every other block, and every 3rd block is a mail box. But I prefer to be expedient and drop mail and get the news in one location. Unlike lovely Kirkwood, there are plenty of these opportunities in South St. Louis. Sometimes they are on opposite corners of an intersection, above.

Or sometimes they are on opposite sides of the sidewalk on the same corner, above.

But the ultimate is when they are right next to each other (above). Drop a letter in the blue box, drop coins in the yellow box, pull the paper, and on my way. It’s a satisfying sense of efficiency, and, in the end, it’s the simple things in life that seem to matter most.