It took more than three decades, but this postcard mailed by Barbara Moore from Bar Harbor in 1977 found its way to her mother’s Fort Kent mailbox last week.
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FORT KENT, Maine — In 1977 the first Apple II computer went on sale, Quebec adopted French as its official language, Jimmy Carter took office as president, inflation was running at 6.5 percent, a gallon of gas cost 65 cents and the price of a stamp was 13 cents.
In July of that year, Barbara Moore bought one of those 13-cent stamps and mailed a postcard to her parents, Jim and Peggy Moore, in Fort Kent.
Her mother was thrilled recently to get the card with its brief note about the wonderful time her daughter was having — 31 years ago in Bar Harbor.
It took the card, with its picture-perfect sunbathers on the front, three decades to travel the 250 miles from the coast to the St. John Valley.
“When I got it I thought, ‘What the heck is she doing in Bar Harbor? She lives in California,’” Moore said.
Now a lawyer in Sacramento, Calif., Barbara Moore three decades ago was working as a camp counselor at Camp Matoaka in Oakland.
“Hi Guys, This is where I went yesterday,” Barbara Moore wrote on the back of the card bearing a photo of a sunny day at Sand Beach. “Had a good time, will call you tonight. Love, Barbara. P.S. It is soooo hot!”
The first thing the elder Moore did after receiving the belated summer greeting was hop into her car and drive straight to the Fort Kent post office.
“[Postmaster] Rudy [St. Peter] kept shaking his head,” Moore said. “The other post office employees gathered all around and they kept shaking their heads.”
St. Peter told Moore there is no way to tell where the postcard spent the last 33 years or why it took so long to be delivered.
“I heard of a letter from Europe to someone here that took three years to get here,” Moore said. “That’s nothing compared to 33 years.”
Moore said her daughter at first did not believe the story of the wayward postcard.
“I told her I had it right in front of me and read it to her,” Moore said. “She just laughed and laughed.”
The postcard’s arrival, albeit delayed decades, reinforced Moore’s confidence in the postal system.
“The mail does get through,” she said with a laugh.
On 11/12/08 at 1:46 AM,
bassman4447 wrote:
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wow
On 11/12/08 at 6:26 AM,
linger47 wrote:
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This gives a whole new meaning to the phrase, "better late than never!"
On 11/12/08 at 7:02 AM,
LincolnMOM wrote:
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I dispise SNAIL MAIL....this happened to me once but it was my car insurance payment....it got there SIX MONTHS after I maled it!!! They didn't believe me....when I said "It's in the mail"....but when it FINALLY arrived, they couldn't believe their eyes..............NOW I pay ALL my bills ONLINE :)
On 11/12/08 at 8:12 AM,
kboot73 wrote:
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where was this card sitting for the past 30 yrs and now it show's up, was there an explanation on how this happened
On 11/12/08 at 8:29 AM,
Deschain wrote:
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<-------This is why they are laying off 40,000
On 11/12/08 at 9:17 AM,
anne_of_mdi wrote:
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Deschain, where did you get the 40,000 figure? I read that the USPS is "considering" laying off up to 16,000.
On 11/12/08 at 11:21 AM,
RickyG wrote:
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Thank God for computers. I do everything online because of stuff like this. I mailed a payment AT the Post Office and it took 3 weeks to get to the Credit Union that was UPSTAIRS IN THE FEDERAL BUILDING. 3 WEEKS TO GO ONE FLOOR. Our postal system is worthless. They keep raising the prices and the service gets less and less.
On 11/12/08 at 1:39 PM,
Deschain wrote:
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Anne, you are correct, it is 16K; I misheard the news. I worked for the USPS for 3 years and witnessed many wastes of manpower and resources.
On 11/12/08 at 1:46 PM,
anne_of_mdi wrote:
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Hi deschain! Thanks for your message. Actually I went back and double-checked and found an article out of Louisiana which said the USPS could be looking at as many as 40,000 layoffs. This is very scary stuff, news of tens of thousands of people being laid off. This a.m. I couldn't believe my ears when Glenn Beck was touting food - yes food - as a good investment. It might be a good time to invest in that freezer...
On 11/12/08 at 3:15 PM,
confusedmainer wrote:
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very possible anything lost for so long got stuck in a machine, or behind it,,,that has happened..maybe we should go back to real people handling things instead of machines..modern science..bahhh..I'll saddle up the horse and deliver...lol
On 11/12/08 at 8:03 PM,
cathy12 wrote:
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With all the negative press in this great US of A, finally something to laugh about. What a pleasant early Christmas gift!:)
On 11/12/08 at 8:41 PM,
matt29 wrote:
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Someone probably found it and placed it in a blue mailbox recently.
On 11/12/08 at 8:48 PM,
matt29 wrote:
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I noticed the modern postal machinery sprayed a bar code at the bottom of the post card, but didn't cancel the postcard a second time
On 11/13/08 at 4:03 PM,
knine620 wrote:
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i wish my bills came 30 years late!
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