A reprieve has kept the mailbox standing in front of the Potomac Community Center, but it bears a letter of condemnation and faces an uncertain future.
"Based on a recent density mail survey this box is due to be removed not before September 6th," reads the sign.
"Four years ago we lobbied to have it," said Linda Barlock, director of the community center. "There are no public mailboxes between Potomac Village and Rockville on Falls Road."
The U.S. Postal Service has slated the community center mailbox for removal, among others in the area that the survey indicated to be infrequently used.
Barlock and others hope that the postal service will change the plan.
"We keep talking it up, and several people have called to express their opposition," said Barlock.
So is it a dead mailbox walking? No specific date of removal has been set, and as long as it stands, pickup will continue at the mailbox.
"It's kind of on hold," said postal spokesperson Deborah Yackley. "It's something we're supposed to be doing regularly, because we're not supposed to keep boxes that aren't being used."
If the mailbox is removed from the location, it will join the ranks of the outdoor pay phone that was removed from the community center last spring.
While a pay phone remains inside the building, the late outdoor pay phone was also one-of-a-kind between Potomac Village and Rockville along Falls Road.
"I would see deliverymen and repairmen using it before we opened in the morning," said Barlock.