Did you know that the POP in POPStation stands for Pick your Own Parcel? #mindblown

I wrote about these POPStations previously (hello, 2014).

In a few weeks, I’ll be celebrating lovingly observing my eighth anniversary in Singapore. The POPStation last week is in a different neighbourhood from the one six years ago.

Finding the Bukit Merah Community Centre isn’t hard. It’s obviously along Jalan Bukit Merah and it’s about a ten-minute walk from my block.

The Bukit Merah CC is located across where the good ol’ Bukit Merah town centre is. I emphasise on ‘located across’ as it’s quite a hike to get to the other side of the main road. The pedestrian bridge and intersections are spaced out away from the centre.

Once at the centre, it’s your run-of-mill community club. I admire these structures. I admire how each residential area in Singapore has one. For Filipinos, think of it as a glorified barangay hall. For Americans, I’ve no idea what communal residential public areas look like when towns and cities are spaced out. For Singaporeans, these are little civic centres. They have facilities for sports and what-have-yous for a community club.

Initially I couldn’t locate the POPStation at Bukit Merah CC. It was 8:30pm when I was here. It was dark out. People on public transportation are wearing masks. There’s a coronavirus. The sight of uncles and aunties playing table tennis was welcome relief. Where is the POPStation?

All the way at the back.

ALL THE WAY.

Finally, I located it near the karaoke room.

Eager to collect my package, I pulled out my POPStation collection slip.

I scanned it on the console.

And then they send a confirmation code to you which you use as a PIN code. Once you enter that… the locker opens.

Easy peasy.

If I wrote about a POPStation before, why write about it again?

In eight years, I’ve lived in seven different places in Singapore. Each place unlocked some type of new experience for me to collect. Not each experience was worth the excitement. Some packages brought joy, other packages needed to be returned. I would have an idea of what was coming, but I can never be 100% prepared if I’d like it or not.

Sometimes I wish I didn’t have to end up having so many POPStations to collect packages at. Why couldn’t it have been just one location? Why does every other year have to feel so temporary. Why do I have to update my address frequently? Am I comfortable having my address change?

Am I comfortable not having a permanent address in Singapore? After being a resident for eight years.

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BONUS MATERIAL

BTW, what did I collect? My new Toastwire 2020 Calendar. I made an unboxing video.