Who's Heard Of Hornbrook, California?

Nothing all that exciting here as far as a common precanceled stamp, but since I hadn't heard of the community before, I just looked it up and found that it comprises an area of 1.2 square miles with a 2000 population of only 286, yet STILL has a working post office:



It amazes me that in this generation of cutbacks, that it would pay to keep a working post office open in such a small town.

I wonder who would have used precanceled stamps in such a small place as far back as this stamp goes (maybe the local government)?

At one time the area had a lot of mines, I'm not sure if they would have had a need for a lot of precanceled stamps though.

Type 734 value .25

oh well a typo

The PSS TnT Album Pages shows that this stamp would have to be either be a 734 or 841. I think it's a 734. Anyway, even though the value of the stamp may be minimal, I find it more valuable to know that it came from a town with a population of only 286. Of the nearly 800 different precancels I have for cities and towns across the U.S., this has got to be my record for a precancel from the smallest populated town.

Women outnumber the men,
the average age is 42yo
Average house price is $39,000

......I am booking my flight tomorrow.

Here's a timely news article, just posted earlier this week. 80% of US post offices lose money, but closures are quite rare. An interesting quote: "I've heard postal officials say that it's almost more work to get [a post office] closed than it costs to keep it open."

http://www.federaltimes.com/article...FACILITIES02

Ryan

The winters look to be a little bit crisp and cool, fine for a Canadian, but the summers will definitely suit an Australian.

"Nearest city with pop. 50,000+: Medford, OR"

I drove into Medford on a July afternoon and the sign on the bank said it was 118°F (48°C). An exaggeration, fortunately - according to the evening news, it was only 113°F / 45°C that day. Horrible, horrible - when the wind blew, it felt like you were standing next to the exhaust of a running engine.

Ryan

Very interesting news article, Ryan.

While it may not directly relate to this post, I remember years ago it was quite popular that post offices had vending machines from where you could purchase booklets and coils of various stamps. However, that trend seems to be ending (maybe because they are unreliable or too labor intensive to keep filled (?)).

I commonly use three local post offices in towns near me, and not one of them has a self-serve vending machine of any type. You must wait in line, even for one stamp! While it's a waste of time for the consumer, maybe it's because the postal clerks need to be kept busy.

By the way, I have a local small town post office that CLOSES FOR LUNCH from 12:30 PM to 1:30 PM. Anyone ever heard of that before? I stopped by at 1:15 PM on a weekday and all the doors were locked and lights were out.

I am looking to move to the country,
I put an offer on a home a few weeks ago
town population = 190
Still has a thriving Post Office, Farming areas can be quite busy
postally, yet with a decentralised population.

In Australia's west, 45 degrees is not uncommon,
and certainly spot on with Ryan's exhaust analogy.


One day in Perth when it was around 44 degrees,
the thermometer in my colorbond gabled double garage,
showed 53 degrees IIRC.

My township that I live in has about 11,000 residents living mostly in three old coal patches. We have four post offices in the township. It takes me 15 mins to drive by all four post offices.

We are so small and close nit that if you put my name along with the city and state I will get the mail.

Neat

Last week when I was house hunting, I left my mobile phone
in a remote little country town, it was handed in to the Post Office
and I received it this morning from the postmaster to my PO Box
in an "official mail" parcel bag.

Country people rock!