The Ongoing Quest for the Smallest Post Office.
Rick Jenks, Ph.D.

Linn’s Stamp News (March 9, 1992) contained an article entitled “NAPLEX honors tiny post office” which stated that, “Naples will honor the tiny post office of Ochopee, Florida, listed as the smallest operating post office in the world in “The Guinness Book of Stamp Facts and Feats”. The article prompted me to travel from my home in Tallahassee to Ochopee to visit this tiny building and to avail myself of its postal services.

I prepared several special postcards according to USPS specifications. They were the smallest size allowed (3.5” x 5”), franked with the smallest US postage stamp (Dolley Madison 15 cents, Scott # 1822), and addressed with the smallest acceptable font size. Additional postage to cover the then-21 cent rate consisted of one 3-cent Everglades National Park stamp (Scott 952) and one 3-cent Florida Centennial stamp (Scott 927). On the image side of the postcard, I affixed a photo of the post office, showing me depositing postcards into the outside mailbox.

Homemade Maximaphilatelic Originals!

Florida is home to several other small post offices. The tiny Wacissa post office was replaced only a few years ago with a modular-style post office, but the wee Miccosukee post office is still in operation.