For me, it is that this please sign is on a post that really makes it, such that one could hold it in front of oneself when needing to ask a favor! How could someone say no, then? One could also stick the post in the dirt next to one's outgoing USPS boxes, for example, or to indicate an area of the garden needing weeding!  Invaluable.

17 3/4" t x 9 1/2" w. Stenciled and varnished, I'd guess 1950s or so, some surface wear and a little varnish loss, which seems just right; overall in good shape.