In the last days of the Waikane Village Post Office, Nadine Tokuzato was asked by a collector to postmark a stack of letters and packages with the distinctive green ink.
It was then she realized the mark of the brief chapter in her little store’s long history might someday be seen as a collector’s item, so she postmarked some envelopes to send to friends, just in case those ever became valuable.
The final day of the Waikane Village Post Office was Thursday, Oct. 27, 2022.
The services of a Village Post Office are basic. Customers can pick up and send flat-rate boxes and buy stamps, but it’s not a place to receive mail. A big metal mailbox for outgoing letters was installed outside.
But mail services weren’t a big draw. The make-your-own Slush Puppy machine saw way more action.
Kanani Alos, postmaster of the Kaneohe Post Office, who was responsible for oversight of the operation in the Waikane Store, sounded sad about the end to the little outpost.
“It was a hard call for us to close down the Village Post Office operation at the Waikane Store. Nadine and her team are fantastic. Unfortunately, the amount of revenue generated by the operation did not justify the expense of our contract with the store,” she said.