Cupid’s Mailbox

There are four municipalities in the United States named Valentine — unincorporated communities in both Arizona and Indiana; a town in Texas whose claim to fame is being near the epicenter of the largest earthquake in the state; and Valentine, Nebraska, whose most famous resident is a fictional character — Rebecca Donaldson, the character played by Lori Loughlin on Full House, hails from the town.

The Nebraska Valentine is also home of the series of postage cancellation stamps, shown above.

The postmarks uniquely celebrate the town’s name and tie-in with the themes associated with today’s “holiday.” And because Valentine’s Day cards are so frequently mailed, the cancellation stamp is more sought-after than one would normally think.  Thankfully, the town of Valentine — which isn’t even named for the saint (but rather this guy) — is very accommodating, as noted on its website.

Simply address and stamp your Valentine’s cards as you normally would, but instead of mailing them, put them in a larger envelope, and mail that envelope to them at Cupid’s Mailbox, P.O. Box 201, Valentine, NE 69201, and they’ll forward your mail, replete with postmark.  Just get it to them by February 5th (sorry!) if you want it returned to your Valentine in time for the 14th.

Bonus fact: Gasoline, wear and tear on vehicles, etc., make delivering mail (or, in the case that follows, parcels) an expensive endeavor.  But UPS has found an innovative way to lower costs: few left turns.  UPS specifically plots delivery and pickup routes in a way to minimize the number of left turns their ubiquitous brown vans make, citing fewer miles travelled and gallons of gasoline used as the benefit of this decision.

From the Archives: Post-a-Nut: Another neat thing you can do via the mail.

Related: Something for everyone.