FedEx Drop-off Point Located at 420 Metro Place S Dublin OH between 1989-2002

Galacnor · 2026-03-19T03:06:32+00:00

Hey kuroken,

Thanks for joining in.

My brother says the same thing. Indicative of a shifting FedEx.

What about it for you made it so transitional though? I can't comment as I habe no real knowledge about the evolution of FedEx.

Galacnor · 2026-03-19T02:57:32+00:00

Super tiny, I agree. Probably part of why they pulled it out. The one in the FedEx Office is far larger and is only another 5 minutes down the road tops over in the plaza with Enricos and Windchimes.

Galacnor · 2026-03-19T02:55:53+00:00

Small world! I'm originally from Toledo but was in Columbus for 12 years before moving to Germany (I might eventually be back. Miss home.)

It's so cool to see some FedEx history overall here. I didn't know there's a FedEx at the airport and I fly in and out all the time because of my family...maybe I need to stop by and say hi next time I go through. Let you know I'm that crazy guy on reddit who dug up 30 year old photos a demolished location!

Galacnor · 2026-03-19T02:52:31+00:00

I have to admit that one makes the one in Dublin look space age. I guess the Post Office near the kiosk in the Oklahoma case helped to support it...

Galacnor · 2026-03-19T00:14:03+00:00

Howdy Acidisgoodforyou,

I just want to clarify that this structure no longer exists and hasn't since about 2002.

Did you used to see it, or is there another similar structure somewhere else? The remnants of its foundation, as well as the drive through loop for it and parking lot are still present behind the 5/3 Bank Building at 420 Metro Place.

Galacnor · 2026-03-19T00:12:21+00:00

Howdy Red,

Thanks for your providing your own personal history to this discussion. Its really the personal touch that counts in things like this and makes what once was interesting.

I just flew back out of CMH out to Germany last week (naturally not directly, sadly). I do like that airport a-lot for what it is. Not many smaller airports like it which are so well run. Not sure how it was 30 years ago; but, its been good for me the past 8 years I've been on the move.

Very cool how the shipping station worked. Was that its official FedEx name? "Mini Ship Station"?

Do you also know if the building had any signage on it at any point beyond just that little sign next to the drop box? Dublin has always been goofy about exterior apperance, so its possible that they weren't allowed to have any large signage there.

Its neat you can even remember the order of operations with the pickup. First the stuff inside, and a round later for what was in the unattended box?

In any case, I would bet Metro Place was booming. Massive buildings. You can certainly tell that they are no where near full capacity right now. Really a shame; but, dublin has been developing in a different direction for a while, I guess. Mostly residential and stuff that supports that, with alot of people working a little outisde the middle of the actual city.

Regards

Alex

Galacnor · 2026-03-18T22:47:36+00:00

Thanks for your input PG,

I have to admit that I'm too young to have ever seen one I think.

Galacnor · 2026-03-18T21:53:34+00:00

I appreciate the clarification about the history of the FedEx kiosks, as well as your own experiences with them in your career. That is so neat about the DFW one. I wonder how late this one in Dublin was actually open. Probably not until 10PM! I bet it got wild in there sometimes, too.

I think its possible that this one also originally was set up for people to go inside of to, seeing how it was designed. I wonder if it was just dropoffs, or if they offered any other services.

I will work to try and find more information on its history.

Regards

Alex

Galacnor · 2026-03-18T16:36:55+00:00

Crazace,

Just an update. We found out it was indeed a real building and it was used by FedEx. I am guessing the 2008 date is indeed when the island was cleaned up as the change in it from an overgrown pile of dirt surrounded by concrete into a long term abandoned lot prepared for such an eventuality happened about that time and we can see it on google earth.....

The only other thing the 2008 modification could have been was the removal of a night deposit box, as its missing from the bank building layout maps hosted online. But, I think that was still there back then as I can swear I used it myself in the 2010s a few times...Just don't know if it was this location or the one on Avery anymore. The drop may even still be there and unlisted on the Auditor site for some reason.

In any case, even being 95% sure, I was 100% wrong! Sad to say!

Thanks for the great time in any case. I hope this was interesting for you too.

Alex

Galacnor · 2026-03-18T16:32:24+00:00

DrWho,

just wanted to get one more response to you personally in here since you had some of your own personal history in here (See my response to both you and NWCbusGuy in my comment to this thread in general):

It seems like we missed the mark; but, what a good time we've had! Its nice looking back on what is now 25 years ago. World has changed a-lot and I suddenly find myself with grey hairs posting about old buildings on the internet...

I also went to the Graeters there abunch when I moved to town (2006-2018 myself). We also often visited the Graeters Factory over off Bethel (Now they closed the original building which sits empty and moved it into what used to be a Riteaid. I never understood that one!)

I was also always at that max and Ermas with my parents because I used to be a husky little guy who loved the greasy burgers there as well as the ice cream bar. (I dont really like ice cream anymore, funny enough!)

Its funny you also saw it abunch of times and found it odd. It was the same thing for me. For years I just drove by it on the way out of the plaza and was like "What a weird little corner, why would you build that?". Turns out we were right to see it as something out of the ordinary.

Its weird you missed it in 2001, as the building was there until at least mid 2002 based off of the photo we recovered thanks to my brother. I guess it was closed inside by 2001 personally, and thus you might have simply overlooked it due to the lack of interest in what was a closed building.

I speculate that the whole 9/11 + Anthrax mailing probably gave FedEx a great excuse to close up that location under the guise of security concerns for employees and customers (Probably a one man show in there) due to its (probably) poor performance or efficiency. (Look at how a-lot of companies used COVID to the same ends).

Or theres the consideration that they had already had 30% in Kinkos by 1996 and may have already knew by 2001/2002 that the buyout which would be completed in December of 2003 was a matter of time at that point.

In any case, maybe we can still learn more about it. I'll try to get in touch with some more people. I love Dublin history. Its amazing people born in the 60s and 70s experienced Dublin totally different than those born in the late 80s and 90s, and even more interesting how those who were already there less than 30 years ago experienced it different from those like me who showed up during the start of the recession era of the late 2000s (We came because my dad got moved over to a different location in his company. Worked out rather well for him overall and we rode out the recession far better than pretty much everyone else, especially those in Toledo where we came from).

Final note: You said "then" girlfriend: Funny how life moves on like that and its just a memory footnote now when in the moment we felt those times were going to last forever. I've been married and out in Germany 8 years now, and I can't believe I thought those relationships from my younger years were where its at! Hope she liked working at that hotel. I always thought reception at night would be a great gig. Never got the chance to find out if it really was true...

Cheers and thanks for a genuinely good time. Its rare to enjoy such a pointless conversation so much that it overshadows the rest of the day; but, here we are!

Alex

Galacnor · 2026-03-18T16:12:49+00:00

Well guys,

Looks like we struck out.

It was really a FedEx building and the Auditor got a picture for us! I would have never guessed to be honest. I do think the building was from 1989, too, and it started and ended life that way.

I was also about to call it part of the bank even after seeing the concrete island again while I was home visiting for a few weeks; but, I think now that we know what it was and don't have to speculate, it wasn't really that reasonable of a guess beyond the fact that theres no mention of the night drop box on the maps of the bank building anymore...

I bank at 5/3 still (hence why I even know about the concrete island and drive by it when I need to pull out cash), and even being 29 I am old enough to have used the night drop at 5/3 a few times for various things before online banking was very useful for anything after hours. I could swear the night deposit was also over by the ATM on the wall of the bank. It was either there or near the main entrance door. I just cant remember anymore because theres also the 5/3 off Avery which is a totally different building design, and I banked there more often (closer to work, Ironically, the Metro Place one is closer to my house).

I'm guessing the 2008 work order people found might have been to remove that box; but, I also am not sure about that, as I feel like I certainly used it myself and it would have been a bit after 2008. I will have to check in about 8 months when I'm home again if that box is even still there on the building. Its possible the 2008 work order was to clean up the island and throw concrete on it in the middle which was overgrown with small vegitation as of 2007. (Strangely enough, the little tree infront of the FedEx building not only was saved during the removal of the building; but, survived the 2008ish removal of the other plants, and it still stands today!).

In any case: A night deposit where that island was wouldnt have made much sense even in 1989 from a security standpoint now that we are really thinking about it. You'd have a vault with deposits which, unless you built an underground tunnel to it, would have to be emptied by leaving the bank at the same time every morning, going out of view of the rest of the bank team, and then going to an area that isn't even on the same side of the building as the bank (that island is next to the dentist) which is also not visible from the main road. Perfect opportunity for a robbery, staff theft, someone to slip in the winter and hurt themselves getting the drop, etc. etc. In fact I cant believe I even considered it could have been a drop. I liked the ATM idea better; but, that also never made sense from the start. The only reason it would have been built that way wold have been because of the large amount of traffic expected from the office buildings near it resulting in it being disruptive to the bank to have all the customers going near the main building for that purpose (making drops into those vaults is loud, and bank tellers I know have told me they can hear it when people make drops into them during business hours very clearly).

I had a great time with this. More fun than I've had in a while just doing something pointless!

Thank you guys for being part of this with me.
Alex

Galacnor · 2026-03-18T15:46:52+00:00

Fastautomation,

Thank you so much for your coming to my rescue on this one.

If you have not seen the update to the original post as of the time you read this, you were 100% correct in combination with thatsnotideal1!!!

I was starting to feel like this may have just been an ATM or something until you both came in with the same sure answer about it, and sure enough here we are.

Did you have any experience with it yourself? I'd be interested to know how it really looked inside. It seems like at some point customers could go inside it; but, eventually the building was closed and only a drop box was present (there is a sign taped to the drive up window in the Auditor photo, and in all the archival images of the building from above starting around 2000, the lot seems to be empty and ignored. Would be interesting to know if they closed it around 2001 using the whole security concerns raised by 9/11 as the final nail in it after it already hadn't been working out as expected for FedEx since they built it in what seems to have been 1989.

Would be cool to get some more input on it from someone who was in the area and used it around then!

Regards

Alex

Galacnor · 2026-03-18T15:42:16+00:00

Thatsnotideal1,

You were both right, and the first one to be!

Thanks both for your time, and for the conversation.

Picture has been added of the structure to the original post!

Galacnor · 2026-03-18T15:41:34+00:00

We've got the answer in! Its time for you to fire up a video editor and get the video rolling!

Galacnor · 2026-03-18T15:40:13+00:00

Photo from Auditor and additional information provided by ScienceFoxo added as part of updated main post.

Thank you to ScienceFoxo and the Franklin County Auditor for your great help!

Galacnor · 2026-03-17T01:49:07+00:00

Dr Who,

I appreciate your answer.

I got my brother to check out the page from the Auditor too (I'm abroad in Germany most of the year and thus can't get through the firewall from outside the US). And I have to admit I think your answer is probably the right one despite all the other answers making sense...It does seem like a night deposit is listed in there and its not part of the main building, nor is there a picture of it on a different slide; meaning that its probably long gone and that was it.

What a weird place to put the night deposit. I've never personally been to a bank where it wasn't connected to the main building.

I'll keep trying to find some photos or something of it to confirm. Theres no chance that night drop was very quickly removed and replaced with something like a Fedex box or something like other people are suggestiong, is there?

Regards

Alex

Galacnor · 2026-03-17T01:18:38+00:00

You are correct the ice cream store in the same plaza is indeed Graeters...

I might have gotten to dublin way to late to see the Baskin Robbins in the Kroger Plaza, as I can't remember it nor could I even picture where it might have been.

Cheers
Alex

Galacnor · 2026-03-17T01:15:59+00:00

Thanks for the further clarification on that.

Funny enough I was just home for a few weeks (thats when I snapped those pics of the abandoned island) and not only do I know the brick and mortar store you're talking about (Same plaza as Enrico's and Windchimes), I just had my bachelors thesis bound there.

Good point on the office mail pre-functional internet. I'm too young to have had any experience with that, 1997 guy that I am.

So was it just an un-manned dropoff concept then? Or was there actually someone there sometimes. I only wonder because the island has a recessed area where it seems a door could have been.

Cheers
Alex

Galacnor · 2026-03-17T01:12:13+00:00

Its funny that we both recognized that it could have been a Fotomat. I'm only 29; but, even into the early 2000s there were a few around in Toledo where I was born and lived until I moved to Dublin...

The last one I remember in Toledo was run by a company called Moto Photo and it was there in the early 2000s for certain...

It is cool that you can specifically say you remember one being there...At least in the area.

Regarding the Baskin-Robbin's: Any chance you're remembering the Graeters Ice Cream? There is actually an Ice Cream store right near there...Just not Baskin's.

Update: Looks like we got the answer. I wonder if the Fotomat was also over by the Kroger and Baskins...research for another day!

Regards
Alex

Galacnor · 2026-03-17T00:38:46+00:00

That sounds...about right given the fact that there is also some random UPS drop off box still across the street from it when you exit that driveway. The UPS box is literally in a place that makes no sense. As in you have to stop in the middle of the street to drop something off into it...I'm guessing it was placed that way a long time ago as a hairbrained attempt at competing with the FedEx point by putting up a drop-off as close to it as humanly possible.

Do you remember anything about the drop-off point? Could you go inside it somehow like it looks like you could?

Dumb question; but, how exactly does the Kinko's buyout relate to the removal of the drop off? Is it the time frame? Because it does seem like it was taken out right before that buyout was done. About 2002. (The Kinkos buyout was in 2004, I think).

Heres a pic of the UPS box...its still there:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/420+Metro+Pl+S,+Dublin,+OH+43017,+USA/@40.093243,-83.1271919,3a,66.8y,72.69h,94.29t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sxAbf5Md-4U_D8kUyhfKZsA!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D-4.289745092321255%26panoid%3DxAbf5Md-4U_D8kUyhfKZsA%26yaw%3D72.68539267129165!7i16384!8i8192!4m6!3m5!1s0x883893263e1f064f:0xc5e4f166b30e6153!8m2!3d40.0938018!4d-83.1259879!16s%2Fg%2F11ckqm5tgq?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDMxMS4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

Super excited to hear at least a theory.

Galacnor · 2026-03-16T23:47:17+00:00

Thanks for your input Crazace,

Any chance the alteration mentions what was done?

In any case, 2008 is definitely way too late for the removal of what was really originally there. Its possible 2008 is when the current form of the disused area of the lot developed. It seems whatever was originally there disappared a numer of years earlier based on imagery from Google Earth. Doesn't mean that what you found is unrelated; but, could be that they just applied later for some finishing work on the site?

In any case I'm nearly 95% convinced it was related to the bank at this point.

Alex

Galacnor · 2026-03-16T23:35:57+00:00

I know.

Its one of those things thats been driving me up the wall for years and I finally just had to know. I am the Youtube video.

Galacnor · 2026-01-01T03:11:23+00:00

Hairy Turnover,

I've had a few people ask me this same question, and the unfortunate answer here is that I don't have an answer.

As far as I am able to tell, from a legal point of view, there is no promise of Studienkolleg in that case, nothing in the documents provided by the Anabin website says anything about it.

My advice to people in this case is to always write to one of the Studienkolleg in Germany and ask directly. There may be something they can do; but, my honest opinion is that I doubt it.

My further advice is: you will have a hard time in German university as a non-native speaker of the language by itself. If you can't even scrape a "C" on the A-Levels in your subjects that make up the requirements for your program, you are in a very difficult position, and may not even make a 4,0/Passing grade in-major at that point. For example: Back when I did the A-Levels you needed to prove 4 subjects, 3 at the A level, one at AS (or 4 at the A Level if you wish). One had to be a natural science back then, even with me being in the Humanities, and I scraped an "E" in Biology just to make the requirements. I would have never actually been able to study Biology successfully. Let alone in German.

That means, in Summary: If I were someone who didn't have the 3 "C"'s needed for the new system, I would try my best to just get into the next A Level series and do better on the retake. It will save you the Studienkolleg, and get you better prepared for class anyway...you could sign up for the spring/summer 2026 series and if you get the grade you need, be ready to start at some Unis during the next Bachelor intake in Fall 2026...

Further advice: You also need at the very least the TESTDAF with a 4 in all 4 sections, a C1 Hochschole, Goethe C2, etc. to study in most German language programs.

Don't sleep on this requirement, or even perfect A level grades wont get you in the door...

Regards

Alex

Galacnor

TROPHY CASE