The Seattle District, where the nation’s first Village Post Office (VPO) in Malone, WA, is located, recently added a second one at Friendly Mart in Steptoe, WA. This is the third VPO in the Western Area and the tenth in the United States since the Malone, WA, VPO opened for business in August 2011.

As of February 2012, the Postal Service has received more than 650 VPO inquiries from interested vendors. Nineteen VPOs with contracts are poised to open in the near future, and 46 are currently in negotiations or awaiting evaluations. USPS introduced this expanded access potential replacement for communities either lacking a postal retail facility or affected by retail rationalization efforts