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New Pentagon City Post Office Now Open

by ARLnow.com | July 18, 2011 at 3:03 pm | 4,572 views | 62 Comments

Pentagon City’s new post office opened on S. Fern Street today.

The post office, complete with woodgrain accents and plenty of light thanks to floor-to-ceiling windows, replaces an old, dingy post office at 1720 S. Eads Street. With today’s opening, the Eads Street post office is now closed to customers.

The new post office, at 1301 S. Fern Street, is located in the ground floor of the the Millennium at Metropolitan Park apartment building, across from Costco.

Rebecca

In addition to replacing the “old dingy” postoffice, did they also replace the crappy parking situation as well as the long lines?
- CrystalMikey
  
  At least it had its own parking…does this new one?
  - CarsSuck
    
    probably bicycle parking, why don’t you give that a try.
    - CrystalMikey
      
      Or I could just walk there…but what if I’m mailing a big package, huh?
      - CarsSuck
        
        radio flyer, little red wagon
- Dale R
  
  The new location has no drive through drop off and VERY limited “pay on the street” parking in the front. There is also very limited parking on the back of the bldg. Add to that competing with the traffic going into Costoc and it’s a nightmare!
- http://www.comcast.com Buddy
  
  I would say the best thing to do is get rid of
  those tired ones who work at the counter in that old
  Post Office… Slow takes on a whole new meaning.
Southeast Ben

I thought the Post Office was broke…
- gone postal
  
  Like so many stories out there, that one is wrong too.
  
  The P.O. is not broke. It is required by law to “pre-fund” it’s future retiree’s health benefits, which no other agency or private company in the country must do. Without that crazy requirement, it’s making a profit.
  - Josh S
    
    Jeez, I imagine a lot of folks in the near future will be wishing their retirement benefits were “pre-funded.”
    
    Doesn’t sound too crazy to me….
    - gone postal
      
      You wouldn’t pay all your health insurance premiums, to cover the rest of your life, in one year, would you? That’s basically what pre-funding is.
      
      No other business or government agency other than the Postal Service does it, for good reason.
      - ZoningVictim
        
        Not that I don’t get your point, but if one could afford it then it’s a smart thing to do because it will save a ton of money over paying the premiums monthly or annually.
      - gone postal
        
        But nobody can afford it. That’s the point. You can’t afford to pay all of your bills for the rest of your life in one year. Neither can the Postal Service, and it shouldn’t be required to.
  - BrownFlipFlops
    
    That’s not correct. Government employers may carry huge unfunded pension liabilities, but private employers who offer pension plans have to fund them according to the requirements of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).
    - gone postal
      
      But this has nothing to do with pensions. This is retiree health benefits. Nobody pre-funds those. It’s confusing at first, but they are completely different.
      
      But since you bring it up, the USPS has actually way overfunded its pensions due to miscalculation by the government.If it had that cash it could easily cover the pre-funding payments. This is cash it earned, not taxpayer money, which the USPS doesn’t use.
      - Arlwhenever
        
        If the Postal Service moved to a normal cost methodology to fund retiree health benefits as they are earned, which is standard in the private sector, it would still be in an inescapable financial hole. All the big mailers don’t want the Postal Service funding pensions and health benefits now because they figure the taxpayer will pick up the tab when mail volumes dwindles to next to nothing in the future. So the mailers pay now, or or our children and grandchildren pay later. Take your pick.
      - gone postal
        
        The USPS has OVERfunded its pensions by 50-75 billion dollars. Nobody is waiting for or expecting a taxpayer bailout for pensions. Stop making up stuff out of thin air.
Steve85

Who cares about parking. Get out and walk. Hopefully they would tear down that old post office building and replace it with some beautiful 20 story building
- CarsSuck
  
  +1,000,000!
  - ZoningVictim
    
    -2,000,000!! The majority of people don’t use things they can’t drive to; especially old people. Building a post office that people will avoid because they can’t park there doesn’t seem very sensible.
    - Steve85
      
      Well if u can’t use that one go some where else. Sounds pretty simple to me. That’s why America is obese now cause people complaining about walking.
    - doodly
      
      No, the majority of people in urban areas walk at least part of their day.
      - Steve85
        
        That’s true. I was talking about the crybabies on here that’s complaining about parking. The only people compalining about the new post office are the crybabies that drive. Get out of the car sometimes.
      - ZoningVictim
        
        The majority of people in every area walk at least part of their day, somewhere around 5000-7000 steps per day depending on whether they are male or female. That has no bearing on whether or not they want to be able to park at the businesses they frequent. Can they just go somewhere else? Sure, but the ridiculous bike snobbery going on here is lame. Some people ride their bikes to get around; congratulations. By all means, go find yourselves a suitable medal to pin to your goofy body suits plastered with the corporate logos of companies that don’t send you any money and have a blast. Just understand that most people want and need a place to park.
      - doodly
        
        I agree that some people took the bike thing too far. I was just responding to your comment about how nobody would ever go somewhere they can’t drive to, which also went too far.
PCity

The pedant in me is bothered that it’s still called “Eads Station” despite being on Fern.
- J
  
  I agree….i saw that and my first instinct was to say “that’s dumb!”
Steve85

Who cares about parking. Get out and walk. Hopefully they would tear down that old post office building and replace it with some beautiful 20 story building. Its now an eyesore being there
Walker

People with kids care a lot about parking, although the “no cars” crowd doesn’t seem to think it should be difficult to transport 1 or more kids around without a car.
Steve85

Move to Fairfax. Plenty of parking out there
- Walker
  
  Move to Dafuskie Island if you don’t want to be around cars.
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daufuskie_Island
- CarsSuck
  
  Yea, or that other crap-hole called Woodbridge. This is the city, quit crying about parking.
  - madisonmanor
    
    actually, no – this is a county, not a city – look it up. Despite your pious attitude, not everybody in the county, whether they live, work here or both – can do it without a car.
    - CarsSuck
      
      I’m aware it’s a “County”, thanks. It might as well be a CITY. It is urban. And stop hiding behind your children to justify driving a car everywhere. Get them a bike. If they’re too small, get a bike carrier for them. My parents didn’t drive me everywhere around with a silver spoon in my mouth. We walked places, just like in the really olden days. Your life must really suck if you feel like you have to drive everywhere.
      - madisonmanor
        
        “hiding behind your children”?? When did I mention that? I used to both live and work in Arlington and I rode my bike to work when I could, but it is difficult when working half time in both Crystal City and McLean. My life doesn’t suck at all, but I actually have responsibilities to other people throughout my day now in locations not all of which are Arlington (not children but not able to get out on their own now either – it’s okay grandma, I know it’s hot but the bus will be here in 15 minutes to take us to your doctor’s appointment – or would you rather jog or ride your bike the 18 miles – and don’t go giving me that arthritis excuse again) – plus traveling to other customer locations in Chantilly, Reston and McLean. Have you ever tried biking 15 miles to a customer meeting wearing a suit in 90+ degree heat? Public transportation isn’t an option either when time between meetings in both locations is 30 minutes and it takes nearly 90 between locations for the bus.
        What works for you doesn’t necessarily work for others. I thought Arlingtonians were supposed to be tolerant of others – I guess not.
      - Greg
        
        Especially this week, you’ve got a good point. I biked home from work yesterday, and the thought definitely crossed my mind that doing so could be dangerous for many people. I probably won’t bike this Wednesday-Friday when the heat index hits 110. Even if the heat is bearable (you get a nice breeze on the bike), the air quality is nasty.
      - doodly
        
        I commute by bike too and am strongly in favor of alternative transportation, but I don’t pretend like it’s always an option for everyone every day. Especially when you have kids.
      - ZoningVictim
        
        “I thought Arlingtonians were supposed to be tolerant of others”
        
        Only when you act, think worship, etc. just like them…
      - Bluemontsince1961
        
        LOL! There’s some truth in that statement, ZoningVictim!
      - doodly
        
        Who ever said “Arlingtonians should be tolerate of others?” I’ve never heard that.
      - SamsontheCat
        
        Wow, such anger at cars and people who drive them. Were you hit as a child by a Buick or something? Show me on the bumper where the car hit you?
        
        For the record, I walk, bike or take public transport 90% of the time (so only hate on me 10%). Then again I live in walking distance to many things, including the metro for those times I need to go fartther, and can bike when I feel like a leasurely trip somewhere.
        
        Sometimes though (that 10%) I need to travel somewhere farther than public transport can take me or need to get there faster than my pedal power can convey me (or as pointed out by others, have to carry a 50lb box and a large canvas or something…in the rain) Those times I drive (please forgive me. I know that means my life is sad and sucks and I am a horrible, horrible, person).
        
        I support your vitriol against the kids with silver spoons and car seats and all that. I’m already working on a chariot-like device so that I can strap it to my kids’ bikes (or just harness them in) and have them pull me through Arlington to the post office. No silver spoon for them…just the crack of my whip.
    - doodly
      
      This is a city. It’s got 8,150 people per square mile. The fact that it has a county form of government is irrelevant, especially in Virginia. Consider that Suffolk, VA is a city form of government. It’s density is 159 people per square mile.
      - Steve85
        
        Great facts.
      - doodly
        
        Just for fun.
        
        A view from inside Arlington COUNTY:
        
        http://maps.google.com/maps?q=arlington+va&ll=38.880097,-77.113914&spn=0.00527,0.011362&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&gl=us&z=17&layer=c&cbll=38.880097,-77.113914&panoid=nYTa6xUXEtMuluQ6IVqJbw&cbp=12,72.21,,0,-17.42
        
        and Suffolk CITY:
        
        http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Suffolk,+VA&hl=en&ll=36.650142,-76.614606&spn=0.086903,0.181789&sll=38.880097,-77.113914&sspn=0.005312,0.011362&gl=us&z=13&layer=c&cbll=36.650142,-76.614606&panoid=ap6WIyxyFJ1RS3hCMTox5g&cbp=12,181.02,,0,2.21
G Clifford Prout

I thought dingy and Post Officer were synonymous.
Edgar99

Walking is the only way anyone is going to get to the new office. It is directly across from the entrance to Costco. No parking available ever. Also no drive-by drop off like at the old office. Not that we will ever get to see the statistics but the new office will be lucky if it handles a fifth of the volume the old office did. After getting stuck in traffic on fern and driving around the block without finding any parking, I drove down to the Wythe Street office in Alexandria which I imagine is what most of the old office’s users will wind up doing.
- South Arlington
  
  I’ve lived in the Gramercy next to the Millenium. There’s never anyone parked at the metered spots in front of the Millenium, and you can park on the little streets Kettler built on the other side of the apartment buildings facing the grassy areas. It’s really not that hard to park at this place.
- Michael H.
  
  Even if you can’t find a parking spot near the Pentagon City post office, you can head over to the nearby office on Crystal Drive. That’s much closer than going to Alexandria.
soarlslacker

Are there any outside boxes for mail? Even if driving is not possible due to no parking, it would be nice to be able to ride a bike to the USPS or even walk the dogs over and drop off mail without going inside. Every business is not as smart as B of A, which lets me bring my dogs inside and gives me dog treats for them.
- PCity
  
  There’s a blue mailbox outside the post office, yes.
- Arlwhenever
  
  If you show up inside the PO with dogs the inspectors will show up with cuffs, and holstered gun.
LPS4DL

Farewell Eads St. PO. You served me well for 31 years.
ArlForester

What is this post office thing you people speak about?
- http://planetmoron.typepad.com/ Planet Moron
  
  I think it’s something our grandparents used to use to make their monthly horse payment.
  - Lindsey
    
    +1
kfl

The mailboxes face the building, so no drive-by drop-off. No parking lot for people with parcels. Very limited pay parking on an already over-crowded street. Congratulations to our County officials for looking out for residents (not!) and to the Postal Service for their improved (??) service (??) to residents! This ill-planned move benefits only apartment dwellers and the COSTCO parking lot’s company.
Lindsey

Funny, I don’t remember all this whining happening when the UPS store opened in that same area. That has the same issues. But if you’re in a car, you’re obviously coming from somewhere and going somewhere else — why not just drive by a post office with better parking and go there?

To the commenter who works half the time in Crystal City and half the time in Tysons Corner — the post office on Jones Branch Drive has a ton of parking. Just mail your humongous boxes that you can’t possibly carry half a block from the closest available parking space when you’re in Tysons.

And what is this madness about drive-by mailboxes? Does your house or apartment not have a mailbox/letter slot/etc.?! Is there not a mail drop at your office? You’d think people had no way to contact each other besides this one particular post office.
CarsSuck

so many cry babies on this site. ARLnow, your site sucks, and the only thing of concern to the pathetic slew of commentators is a complain about traffic or parking. Is that what is the biggest fear and concern on Arlingtonians minds? You people are a bunch of primadonnas, get over yourselves and your endless obsession with pavement.
- Everyone
  
  Don’t go away mad, just go away.
  - Bluemontsince1961
    
    +10
SamsontheCat

So the old PO is going to be redeveloped for residential use? It seems too small a space to tear down and build a high-rise unless they take-over some of the Crystal Towers parking lot.
No one will ever be happy

“This building is old and falling apart, what junk!”
“This Post Office makes my outrageously expensive condo less outrageous being nearby”
“I never get to walk around for my errands because everything is too far away so we need 3 7-11s or banks within 9 blocks”
NOW…
“Uh… this brand new fancy building is too hard to get into because the old run down one was ugly but so convenient”
“My building is way too convenient… since I can walk right across the street and drop off my packages”
“I can’t park my car here even though I paid an outrageous amount of money for my condo/apartment when I signed my lease to be closer to everything and I REALLY wanted a nicer Post Office”

Come on people… there’s a larger drive through post office on Crystal Drive and numerous options throughout Arlington and Alexandria; your fancy buildings for those not in a house nearby likely allow you send packages with the mailman from the front desk, just ask; I know it’s hot outside, but you live in Arlington where yes we have 4 seasons but surprise!! it gets humid.

Everyone just calm down. This was to tell you the post office is open and every side complains.

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