I can move my mailbox? Really?

[ZenBeam]

I just got around to reading the mailbox mailbag (heh) and noticed this mischievous line (bolding mine):

So you could effectively deny him access by taking your mailbox off the fence post and replacing it with one attached to your house …

I don’t think postal customers can arbitrarily move their mailboxes closer to their houses. If Dee Aye follows your advice, (s)he’ll likely get a nastygram from the mail delivery person, and no more mail until it’s put back where it was.

[Gfactor]

@ZenBeam

I just got around to reading the mailbox mailbag (heh) and noticed this mischievous line (bolding mine):
I don’t think postal customers can arbitrarily move their mailboxes closer to their houses. If Dee Aye follows your advice, (s)he’ll likely get a nastygram from the mail delivery person, and no more mail until it’s put back where it was.

Heh. You might be right, although none of the USPS representatives that I talked to said there would be a problem. Here’s what I found.

@DMM 508

2.1.3 Customer Maintenance of Receptacles
Customers must provide authorized mail receptacles or door slots,

But Congressman Hulsof cites some different authority here:

* As a general rule, mailboxes can be moved only for individuals who have physical conditions that inhibit their ability to retrieve their mail. However, the USPS considers mailbox placement requests on a case-by-case basis. [cites no rule--but heck, he's in Congress and all]
* According to USPS regulations, a curbside mailbox must be placed to allow safe and convenient delivery by carriers without leaving their vehicles. The box must be on the right-hand side of the road in the direction of the carriers travel on any new rural route or highway contract route, in all cases where traffic conditions are dangerous for the carriers to drive to the left to reach the box, or where their doing so would violate traffic laws and regulations. (USPS Regulation DO41, 2.7) [the link is dead, I couldn't find a regulation with this title, but it matches another one in the DMM.] 

http://hulshof.house.gov/ConstituentServices.aspx?Section=39

There’s a bit more to it, too. Tomorrow is a crazy day, but as soon as I can, I’ll call a spokesperson and ask.

BTW–I asked all three of the people that I talked to if I could simply remove the mailbox and they all agreed I could do that. So the probable consequence of removing the curbside box and putting in a door slot or one on the porch would be that she wouldn’t get mail. Which would still suck.

[Gfactor]

Here’s a topical article that I’ve only had time to skim:

It is true that the postal service is trying to move toward, but not compel, customers having a curbside mail box," Rizzo said. Moving the point of delivery may not be convenient for the customer, he said, but if it’s possible, postmasters encourage them to do so.

http://www.greenwichtime.com/news/local/scn-gt-a1postalmar31,0,6293938.story?coll=green-news-local-headlines

and another: http://www.myplainview.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18183251&BRD=517&PAG=461&dept_id=473182&rfi=6 (the DMMs make clear that the postal service can provide a receptacle at its own expense, as is discussed in the article).

Still gonna call as soon as I can.

[DrDeth]

Out here in Silicon Valley there have been scads of complaints about Mail Carriers refusing to leave mail at all if the curbside mail box is blocked by a car, thus requiring the Carrier to get out of the little jeep car and walk six steps over to the box. *Apparently, they *can *actually refuse to deliver your mail under these circumstances, but it somewhat depends on the amount of control the mailbox owner has over the dudes who are parking there.

So it looks like the USPS can- in certain cases- more or less prevent you from moving your mailbox. (I consider “getting no mail” a powerful deterant.)

• In their defence, it appears on certain routes they are on such a tight schedule that if they do so more than a couple times they won’t make their assigned route time and they can be reprimanded or fired for that failure. Of course the real problem is schedules which are unrealistic.

[Gfactor]

Actually, that’s part of a specific rule.

@DMM508

3.1.4 Clear Approach
Customers must keep the approach to their mailboxes clear of obstructions to allow safe access for delivery. If USPS employees are impeded in reaching a mail receptacle, the postmaster may withdraw delivery service.

You’ll notice the rule indirectly referenced in the first article in my last post. It applies equally to door slots. If you’ve got an angry dog between the deliveryperson and the slot, they can refuse to deliver as well. This particular rule doesn’t cut one way or the other.

Regarding curbside boxes there’s also this, though:

@same source

3.2 Curbside Mailboxes
3.2.1 Manufacturer Specifications
Manufacturers of all mailboxes designed and made to be erected at the edge of a roadway or curbside of a street and to be served by a carrier from a vehicle on any city route, rural route, or highway contract route must obtain approval of their products under USPS Standard 7, Mailboxes, City and Rural Curbside. To receive these construction standards and drawings or other information about the manufacture of curbside mailboxes, write to USPS Engineering (see 608.8.0 for address).

So you can’t set up a curbside box and set it up on a post ten feet away from the road. The carrier has to be able to serve it from a vehicle.

[Elendil_s_Heir]

All of the mailboxes on my street are mounted directly on people’s houses; I don’t know of any curbside boxes here. Maybe it has to be all of one thing, or all of another, so that the carrier isn’t ping-ponging back and forth between curbs and houses?

[Gfactor]

@Elendil's Heir

All of the mailboxes on my street are mounted directly on people’s houses; I don’t know of any curbside boxes here. Maybe it has to be all of one thing, or all of another, so that the carrier isn’t ping-ponging back and forth between curbs and houses?

That’s the vibe I’m starting to get from what I’ve found online, although the article I linked is ambiguous on that point. I’ve just finished with court, so I’ll probably have a chance to call a USPS spokesperson soon.

[Gfactor]

Call placed. Voicemail left.

[Cervaise]

@Elendil's Heir

All of the mailboxes on my street are mounted directly on people’s houses; I don’t know of any curbside boxes here.

That’s also true in my area; boxes are mounted next to the front door of every house. I strongly suspect it has something to do with my neighborhood dating from the 1940s, which means narrow streets, few driveways, and crowded curbside parking. Mailboxes mounted along the curb would be largely inaccessible at any hour of the day; they’d have to (a) make the mailbox side of the street a no-parking zone to keep the boxes serviceable by a carrier in a vehicle, which would precipitate an armed riot; or (b) bunch up all the mailboxes at the end of the block so they can be serviced at once, requiring everybody to walk up to fifty yards to retrieve their mail every day, which would result in similarly unhappy residents. In our area, we get the carrier who parks mid-block and walks house to house, and given the layout of the neighborhood it’s extremely unlikely to change anytime soon.

[Gfactor]

@Elendil's Heir

All of the mailboxes on my street are mounted directly on people’s houses; I don’t know of any curbside boxes here. Maybe it has to be all of one thing, or all of another, so that the carrier isn’t ping-ponging back and forth between curbs and houses?

That’s it, according to Ed Moore who is in media relations with the USPS:

No they cannot move their mailbox from curbside to door delivery. It has been set with that community and the Postal Service that the residences will receive curbside delivery. That is how the carrier’s route is set. Since that person does not have a disability then it would disrupt that carrier’s flow of his route. Routes are set up with a method that includes time, number of deliveries etc.

I’ve passed the info on to Ed for an edit to the report. Thanks to ZenBeam, Elendil’s Heir, and everyone else who contributed to fighting my ignorance.

[Una_Persson]

I’m not terribly worried about the location of the mail box (other than for academic reasons) as the Post Office becomes more and more irrelevant each month for me. As all my bills are paid online, and I get online statements, and only get electronic versions of magazines, investment statements, bank balances, etc., and I communicate with people via phone or e-mail, the contents of my post in a typical week consists of:

• Junk mail: approximately 40-70 items.
• Advertisements/coupons/car-rt-sort: approximately 5-10 items.
• Duplicates of online statements: approximately 1-10 items.
• Actual post which needs attention or has interest or value: 1-3 items.

If my box could withstand the mass of junk mail, I would only need to pick it up once a week at most.

[Gfactor]

@Una Persson

If my box could withstand the mass of junk mail, I would only need to pick it up once a week at most.

This one might do it: http://www.steelmailbox.com/html/veeders_stainless_steel_mailbo.html

[DSYoungEsq]

@Una Persson

I’m not terribly worried about the location of the mail box (other than for academic reasons) as the Post Office becomes more and more irrelevant each month for me. As all my bills are paid online, and I get online statements, and only get electronic versions of magazines, investment statements, bank balances, etc., and I communicate with people via phone or e-mail, the contents of my post in a typical week consists of:

• Junk mail: approximately 40-70 items.
• Advertisements/coupons/car-rt-sort: approximately 5-10 items.
• Duplicates of online statements: approximately 1-10 items.
• Actual post which needs attention or has interest or value: 1-3 items.

If my box could withstand the mass of junk mail, I would only need to pick it up once a week at most.

Where do you get your five at a time Netflix rentals??? :eek: