Forget postcards. After all these years, you can still ‘post-a-nut’ on Molokai

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Of the five post offices on Molokai, it’s safe to say Hoolehua Post Office stands out from the rest ― and not because of its size.

“It’s just a little post office. I have 451 PO boxes. And on this island, that’s all we have is PO boxes. We do not have home delivery,” postmaster Roxann Tancayo said.

Located close to the island’s airport, the post office gets a lot of business from tourists, who make a beeline there to decorate coconuts with their own artwork and messages and mail them off as postcards.

The nutty program even has a catchy name: Post-a-Nut.

“It was a unique idea. Instead of a plain postcard they’re posting a nut,” Tancayo said.

Visitors to Molokai learn about Hoolehua’s coconut campaign as soon as they get off the airplane from a sign that points the way.

“And that sign was made by the post mistress who created this Post-a-Nut program. Her name is Margaret Leary. She created the Post-a-Nut program in 1991,” Tancayo said.

She follows in the footsteps of her predecessors, who kept the program going as a revenue stream for the post office. At times, she’ll supply the coconuts, but most often customers have to bring in their own.

“The coconuts need to be dry, and they can’t have any bug holes or anything sprouting from the coconut,” she said.

Costs vary according to weight and where it’s being mailed to.

The post office provides permanent markers for the art and people get very creative.

“They can spend hours at my office decorating their coconut,” Tancayo said.

The Hoolehua Post Office mails more than 3,000 Post-a-Nuts a year, and they go all over the world. Only New Zealand and Australia don’t accept them.

Tancayo said her customers go nuts about the Post-a-Nut program.

“They’re excited. They’re like, ‘Oh, I’m so excited! I’m going to send out a coconut!’” she said.

The craze isn’t just for visitors, locals are into it too. Why send a postcard when you can mail a Molokai coconut.

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