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IS THE MIDNIGHT RUN TO THE POST OFFICE GOING THE WAY OF THE PLAYBOY CLUB?

April 07, 2008

Another tradition falls by the wayside in Omaha:

For the first time in a decade, the big top will be not be up April 15 - tax day - at Omaha's main post office downtown.

It was a circus of a different sort, with a tent providing cover, postal service employees staying late and pizza, doughnuts and volunteer tax help available as last-minute income tax filers got their returns into the mail before the midnight filing deadline.

Times have changed, however. Electronic filing is making the late night less and less necessary, Omaha Postmaster EvaJon Sperling said Friday.

"Each year we have had a decreasing amount of traffic," she said.

They have more bad news for procrastinators:

So the big tent will remain folded, with no extended hours at the main post office on April 15 and no extra hours or extended collections at any post office branch.

The downtown tradition will be missed, said Mary Thompson, who volunteered her tax help for years at the post office at 12th and Pacific Streets.

"It became almost kind of a carnival atmosphere," Thompson said. Some people waited until the last minute just to show up for the party, she said.

Some parties aren't worth having.

As far as I know, the main Des Moines post office on Second Avenue will be open late next Tuesday. Of course, we're often behind the curve here; we had one of the very last Playboy Clubs in the U.S., too. While strange, I'd take it over the Second Avenue post office any day, even April 15.

Of course, given the near-riot that Mickey Kaus reported from Los Angeles last year, maybe these late-night filing-festivals aren't such a great thing. And if you really need to file last minute, you can spring for FedEx at your neighborhood Kinkos.

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