The State Where A Post Office Will Send An Unwrapped Coconut Through The Mail

Tropical destination vacationers send postcards and photos to friends and family showing vistas of white sandy beaches, crystal blue waters, and towering palm trees; however, one state encourages sending coconuts to your friends back home. Post offices in Hawaii, the only entirely tropical U.S. state, let visitors send unwrapped coconuts, making that wish-you–were-here sentiment even more tangible.

One post office on Molokai, the fifth-largest and most rural of Hawaii's five major islands, has become a tourist destination for its Post-a-Nut program. The Ho'olehua Post Office provides coconuts free of charge along with permanent markers that people use to creatively decorate the husks before mailing the coconuts. Tourists pay only the cost of shipping. Since they can be sent to almost anywhere in the world, prices can range from around $9 to $20 (or more) depending on the coconut's weight and where it's going. Unlike the arduous process of sending baked goods through the mail, shipping coconuts is easy, as they require no packaging.

The coconuts are inspected at the post office according to U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines for things like growths or holes. Patrons write the mailing and return addresses on their inspected, decorated coconuts and workers often adhere brightly-designed postage stamps before they're sent. Recipients will likely be displaying the coconuts, not eating them, even though they are nutrient-rich fruit that provides more hydration than watermelon. If you plan to eat one while you're in Hawaii, though, make sure you know how to open a coconut without hurting yourself.

The Ho'olehua Post Office began the Post-a-Nut program in 1991, created by its postmaster as a way for people to send "an unusual, authentic bit of Molokai to their friends," according to a USPS blog post. Some 3,000 decorated and unwrapped coconuts are sent every year from the small post office on the island of just some 7,400 residents, bringing in a significant portion of the postal location's revenue.

Although the Post-a-Nut program is exclusive to the Ho'olehua Post Office, tourists can send unwrapped coconuts from any post office in Hawaii. However, patrons will have to provide their own coconuts and get them inspected for mailing, which can be done at some post offices or at agricultural inspection stations all over the state. They will also have to get the markers or other art supplies themselves if they want to decorate the coconuts.

This mailing quirk isn't just for Hawaii — or only for coconuts. The U.S. Postal Service will send an unwrapped coconut from anywhere in the U.S. as long as it has a destination address and return address on the husk. The same is true for a potato — who knew? Other items like bricks, rocks, flip-flops, inflated beach balls, piñatas, and even glass bottles (if you want to risk it!) can also be mailed without any packaging.