I think that it’s the age of the neighborhood that determines it. If an older house burns down and is rebuilt, they aren’t going to make the new house switch to a different mailbox system than its neighbors.
We used to get mail at my parents’ house (built in 1973) addressed to “Occupant” and the address would be “Rural Route 3”. Do you think that the mailbox-by-the-curb thing grew out of the fact that these newer neighborhoods were very likely carved out of areas previously served by Rural Free Delivery? I suppose that the mailman doesn’t want to walk a route that he previously drove in his truck, even if he doesn’t have to drive as far between houses now.
A $200 mailbox, Shark? Ugh. I saw the plastic one that’s at my house at Home Depot for $4! Sure, that doesn’t include the pole it sits on, but come on! What kinds of fancy-schmancy features does a $200 mailbox have?
The reason I googled the question “do i have to have a mailbox on the street?” and ended up on this thread was that my postal deliverer doesn’t close the door on my mailbox all the time. It seems to be left open on the rainy days more. The mailbox door works just fine but I’ve watched how the deliverers shut it by just flipping it up instead of taking to the time to close it properly. I’ve even talked to the lady who delivers my mail and she ask that I put a note taped inside the box door to reminder her. So, I wrote a note saying “please close, thank you” and came home that day to find it sitting open. My next step is to add to the note, “pretty please”.
I was hoping if that didn’t work then maybe I could just remove my box on the street and put a box next to my front door like in the old days. Of course, the most practical solution is to buy a new mailbox in hopes that it suits the postworkers technique of closing mailboxes. It seems a shame to throw away a perfectly good mailbox though.
Oh, by the way, the street that I live on has a dead end. That means that the postal deliverer drives back by my house with the mailbox sitting open .
My husband is a mail carrier and I asked him about your issue. He basically said that while he obviously has no idea what the condition of your particular mailbox is, it is a fact of life that a lot of people have crummy, substandard mailboxes that just don’t want to stay closed after you close them, and he’s usually under enough time pressure that even if he sees the mailbox door fall open as he drives away, there’s no way he has time to stop back at that house and re-close the door. (To perhaps explain why your carrier drives on seemingly blithely, right past your open mailbox door.)
He also said that based on the details given it’s impossible to say whether the problem is that your carrier is just lazy or whether your mailbox has a problem, but it probably wouldn’t hurt to either fix your current mailbox so that it latches more easily, or get a new one that latches more easily. He suggested perhaps asking your mail carrier for examples of mailboxes that stay latched, if you need pointers.
And yeah, as has already been mentioned (9 years ago ) in the thread, if your carrier has a driving route, you can’t just move your mailbox to the porch.
What about where the mailboxes are clustered? My mailbox is one of a group of four. Could I decide I don’t want to walk the extra 50 feet, and put in a mailbox on its own post, right by my driveway? The mail carrier will still drive right by it.
I live in San Jose Calif and have curb side delievery. House built in the 1970’s. Next block over it is front door delievery. Houses built in the 1950’s
After we purchased this house the next sub division the mail boxes were grouped 4 in one location. My son lives in S Calif His whole block has their mail boxs at one stand. It is one of theose apartment style with keys to each box.
What about where the mailboxes are clustered? My mailbox is one of a group of four. Could I decide I don’t want to walk the extra 50 feet, and put in a mailbox on its own post, right by my driveway?** The mail carrier will still drive right by it.[/**QUOTE]
You need to contact your local Post Office before moving your mailbox or mailbox support, because your mailbox needs to be approved by the Postal Service. "
Sometimes, yes. But sometimes the driver will stop the truck and get out and deliver the package to your door, then get back in the truck.
MrWhatsit has told me that when they have a lot of packages (like around Christmastime) that would mean the mail carrier would be significantly delayed if he had to deliver them all, they’ll assign someone to a special package-delivery route for that day. So your regular mail carrier might come along with your mail in the mailbox, and then sometime later (or earlier) the package-delivery guy might come with your package.
For us, for packages that don’t fit in the box, they bring them to the door.
But they are not allowed to get out of the truck to deliver regular mail to the boxes if they are bocked, for example. In the past, she’s come to our door to ask whose car is blocking the boxes (our neighbor’s guests used to be bad about that), but couldn’t just get out to put the mail in the boxes.
Many newer apartment buildings or condos have a few large mailboxes that will accommodate packages, usually located below the regular mailboxes. The mail carrier puts your package in one of these, and puts the key (with a big marked tag) into your regular mailbox.
So when you find that key in with your mail, you know you have a package in whatever big box matches the labeling (usually a letter) on the tag. So you use that key to open it, take out your package, and leave the key in the box.
Seems to work quite well. I imagine the same thing could be done at the collection of boxes streetside.
Actually, I think the current postal regulations DO require picking up that mail.
And even if regulations don’t, the pressure from the union & fellow mail carriers will ‘require’ picking it up. They all know that people sending mail are the customers keeping them employed, and they certainly do not want to make it any harder for people to mail letters. Not given all the competition from email, faxes, etc. They will even take packages, if they’re small ones.
Even more: an elderly neighbor left a small package at her door, with a note asking the postman to tell her how much postage would be for it. The package disappeared, and the next day she had a note from the postman: “I mailed it. Postage was $2.24. Please leave the cash in this envelope.” Exceptional service, indeed!
My parents’ neighborhood was built in the fifties. Just a few months ago, the USPS required everyone to move their boxes out to the street. Since this is a neighborhood of 1/8 - 1/4 acre lots, it really uglied up the whole area.
Actually, the regulation pertains to house mounted mailboxes that do not have incoming mail that particular day. The reasoning being that some of these mailboxes are mounted in places where you can’t see the outgoing mail as you are walking by and they don’t want carriers wasting time walking to boxes just to check for outgoing mail.
Nitpick–most mail carriers will pick up the mail anyway if they notice it, but customers like to hide it. Most customers clip the outgoing mail to the inside of the box. Not only is it hard to see, but it’s near impossible to remove with the two fingers the mail carrier has left with your mail in his hand.
I wonder what keeps the USPS from doing this everywhere? Is there some kind of grandfather law preventing them from sending a notice to neighborhoods saying “As of May 1, 2011 the USPS will only delive to a street located box”? Do local goverments have a say in the matter?
With the USPS pinching pennies in every manner possible you’d think they’d press to make this mandatory.
The first 2 letters of their name: “US”. Meaning United States, meaning it is a government service, meaning it is in the end under the control of our elected officials, who respond to the voters. So the Postal Service knows that we would complain mightily about such an arbitrary change, and our Congressmen/women would respond, and they would have to reverse it.
Also, in most cities where they do door-to-door delivery, there is no convenient place to put a blocks’ worth of mailboxes – the sidewalk boulevard is filled with trees & flowers and owned by the Park Board, the street is used for parking cars (so the PO truck would often have difficulty locating a nearby place to park), and the owner of whatever house you put this in front of would object to the traffic & mess there.
Also, I’m not sure it would save them that much. In suburbs with 1/8th acre lots and houses far apart, sure; but in cities with houses set close to each other, and sidewalks between them?
Finally, in a business already facing tough competition from email & faxes, cutting services to your customers while keeping the same price is not a good idea. That often leads to what is called a ‘death spiral’ and ends badly for the business.
) in the thread, if your carrier has a driving route, you can’t just move your mailbox to the porch.