Remember mindlessly dropping that junk mail into that blue bin in the lobby of the La Conner Post Office?

Chances are you might have recently found yourself picking up that mail off the floor with the sudden disappearance of the post office recycle bin.

Until last week, post office box renters could shed their unsolicited mail at the post office before taking their necessary mail home. Postal Service cutbacks put a stop to that.

“Last year USPS stopped approving funding for recycling,” said La Conner Postmaster Jim Siderius.

For the convenience of local residents, “I’ve been paying the clerks to unload the bin by hand,” Siderius said. “But with the amount to deal with, it’s become unmanageable.”

The postmaster said he is not happy about this change.

Neither are some residents, as evidenced by the pile of junk mail that has been accumulating on a counter near where the recycle bin used to sit.