For pete’s sake, get a mailbox large enough to accomodate all your mail and quit yer bitching.
And let’s see, the guy is disabled and is still busting ass every day to do a job? KUDOS to him!! Instead of knocking him, how about congratulating him for his work ethic? Or would you prefer he sit on his ass and collect a workmans’ comp check so you don’t have to walk 100 feet to collect your damn Crate 'n Barrel magazines?
Geez.
My husband says yes, they’re required.
I asked him about the OP’s situation - he says get a bigger mailbox, the excuse given by the supervisor sounds bogus, but that he’d need to know more info than he has to make judgements about the package situation. He wagers that someone who’s actually handicapped in a serious way would probably not even be doing driving routes, but rather desk/clerk work instead. Might be an injured person (which somehow affects walking long distances but not driving) on light duty as I suggested.
FWIW, get a bigger box…
I live on a rural route, and I adore my posthumans [they rotate the routes, i get one of 3 different people] If I get a package that is too large for my box, they will put it on the front seat of the truck for me … and one time when they knew I was having problems with pneumonia and a pneumotorax, they saw fridays mail still in the box and I wasnt sitting by the window in my comfy chair they actually brought the mail to the door and made sure I was ok…and I was glad of it… I fugued out the whole weekend from the fever and needed to be reminded what day it was. Our carrier also found the neighbor lady [ok, half a mile down the road, but same difference=)] when she had slipped the night before and couldnt get up.
Hats off, they dont have to care about the people on the route, but they do. My post office gets a good selection of christmas baked goodies every year, and booklets of gift certificates on top=)
FYI, this form, Authorization to Hold Mail, is also available on their website, USPS.com, Find Forms. It’s in .pdf format. Just fill it out and pop it in your mailbox. No need to make a special trip to your post office to get it. 
Slight Hijack, but I gots to know
If the almond orchards are now gone and replaced by residences, where do you get your nuts from?
there is a genitalia joke in here somewhere, but I am missing it. 