Community post office

In exchange for staffing the post office with its own employees, the owner of the facility is paid by the Postal Service in proportion to sales.

As a result of Wanamaker's advocacy, drugstores in particular began to open postal counters (New York City drugstores opened fourteen contract stations in January 1890 alone), and while these counters rarely made profits by themselves, they created an opportunity for one-stop shopping that routinely prompted an increase in overall business for a store.

Rickenbaugh's daughter and granddaughter were the postmasters for the majority of this period, and the post office operated out of a group of shelves in the house's parlor.

At the same time, the informal setting allowed for continuity; Ella served three terms as postmaster, only retiring at the age of eighty after nearly sixty years in the position, and her own daughter's twenty-year period of service ended only when the post office was closed in 1961, following the dissolution of the Celina community as the Forest Service was buying the surrounding countryside for the Hoosier National Forest.

By maintaining a contract station, a university can set policies and provide services in accordance with its own needs, including retaining a percentage of sales for university coffers,[6] permitting departments to purchase materials on account,[7] conducting sales on a cash-only basis, and operating out of a popular location such as the student union.