Mail is delivered to the mailbox next to our driveway. The mail carrier drives up in her mail truck, puts our mail in the box, and drives off. There have been a handful times over the past nine years when a car was parked in front of the box. Usually the mail is delivered, along with a note asking that we not block the mailbox. As I said, this has only happened a handful of times in nine years. We’re conscientious about leaving room.
One day we had workmen at the house, and their truck was in front of the box. I saw the mail carrier just drive by. I got in my car and chased her down. She said that if she had to get out of her truck for everybody, she’d never finish her route. :rolleyes: I’m pretty sure ‘everybody’ doesn’t have someone parked in front of his or her mailbox. I’m not sure how long this woman has had this route, but she’s been on it for years and knows that it’s quite unusual for out mailbox to be blocked. After all of the consideration we’ve shown her, making sure the box isn’t blocked, couldn’t she show some consideration this one time and see that there is an unusual situation and deliver the mail?
(To be fair, she usually delivers to the door if there’s a box to deliver. Although she doesn’t always, and the the Post Office had a little trouble finding a box when she failed to fully fill out the failed-delivery notice.)
We have room to park three vehicles on the street, though only two if we want to keep the mailbox clear. A couple/few months ago I had to park a second car at the street, and it was a little too close to the mailbox for the mail carrier. We got a note in the mailbox asking that we not park so close to the mailbox. (Again, this was not a usual situation.) The note complained that she had to put her vehicle into reverse! :eek: She took more time to write her little nastygram than took for her to move her shift lever.
I can almost understand her reluctance to deliver mail if the box is blocked. Almost. It’s almost never blocked, and if I were delivering mail I’d get out of the truck on these rare occasions. But to get bent out of shape because she had to back up enough to pull out? Not so much.
My husband is a mail carrier. Putting your vehicle into reverse is apparently a Big Deal to the post office higher-ups for some reason. They are supposed to avoid it when possible. Also, he is not allowed to leave his mail truck without shutting the engine off and locking the doors, so parking the truck to get out to deliver to someone’s blocked mailbox is more of a pain in the ass than you would think. He is on an extremely tight schedule.
You have room to park two vehicles on the street. Except on Sundays, and, starting in August, Saturdays.
Anyway, I sympathize with you, but mail carriers have to put up with a lot of administrative bullshit about how they handle their vehicles and when and where they can deliver, etc., so I’m not faulting your mail lady too much for this one. If she’s delivered your mail in the past when the mailbox has been blocked, she’s already gone above and beyond what she’s required to do, and probably inconvenienced herself fairly significantly in the process.
At least she’ll occasionally get out of her car. We have one delivery woman who, when she has a package that won’t fit in our mailbox, drives up our driveway and honks the horn until someone comes out and gets the package.
She once mumbled something to me about being afraid of dogs, though why that would stop her from dropping packages on my front porch is beyond me (other carriers do that - most packages don’t need to be signed for.)
Here they do not lock the doors. They don’t even shut them.
A handful of times in nine years. Getting out of her vehicle is part of her job. People get boxes, have to sign for things, etc. (It still mystifies me why she’ll bring a box to the door, or come for a signature, but leave the letters in the box.) It just kills me that she took the time to write a note complaining she had to back up two feet. That’s more inconvenient than simply doing it. As I said, we do make an effort to keep the mail box clear.
When I was a kid, mail carriers had to tote a heavy leather bag full of mail, and put the mail into a slot in the front door. The Mail Lazy has it easy. But then, I try to deliver more than expected in my job, and in my previous jobs.
Who’s “they”? This is not a local regulation. If your local mail carriers are leaving their mail trucks, with mail inside, unlocked on a public street, they are in danger of losing their jobs if anyone reports it to the postal inspectors. This is a big deal. I can cite the USPS regulation for you if you want.
Also, mail carriers still haul around giant mail satchels on walking routes, just like in the good ol’ days. My husband does this every single day, in rain, wind, sleet, etc. Half of his route is walking and half of it is “mounted,” i.e. driving. And he tries to do a good job every day even when people are bitching at him for things that are their own damn fault, such as blocking a mailbox.
But anyway, we’re apparently in the middle of National Hate On the Post Office Week and I’m starting to take it way too personally, so I should probably just leave this alone.
‘They’ are the mail carriers around here. Note that I’m talking about residential carriers that deliver to homes or central mail boxes, and that there are no apartment buildings where the truck would be out of sight.
No hate for the Post Office here. I like the Post Office. It’s inconvenient that they’re not open Saturdays, but if I have something very important that needs to go out I can drive the 25 miles to the one that is open. (You want hate? Let me tell you about the UPS guy when I lived in L.A.) It’s just this one mail carrier who delivers here, who is not as conscientious as previous or substitute carriers.
Ha! I’d love it. But the Post Office would not permit it. At least my box is in front of my house, and not mounted on a rail with a bunch of others down the street.
My dad was a mail carrier. There have always been, and still are, mail routes where the carrier totes a leather bag full of mail. There have always been, and still are, routes where the mailboxes are on the street and the carrier drives up to each one and doesn’t get out. It’s very possible that the carrier isn’t allowed to get out of his vehicle when the mailbox is blocked, and he/she probably doesn’t like the rule any more than you do. But they are subject to being watched by supervisors at any time without notice.
I have gotten, in my ordinary mail, the little pink notice that says that they tried to deliver something in person but I wasn’t home to receive it, and I have to pick it up at the Post Office. More often than not, this is BS, and there has never been the attempt to deliver it personally. I work from home and am usually home all day. If they had tried, they would have succeeded.
She’s lucky she doesn’t deliver on our street. Almost every mailbox is blocked by cars and even if they aren’t blocked the driver still has to back up. He doesn’t turn off the engine and lock the door though, it’s only maybe 2 steps to the mail box.
When a blind woman lived across the street he had to get out and take her mail up to the box by her door.
Of course if he came through earlier in the day instead of close to 5pm he’d have more of a clear shot down the road.
Our mail carrier pulls into the drive to drop off a box, honk, then get out of the running, door open vehicle to deliver it. But she’s not in the street when she does that.
We moved across our neighborhood a couple of years ago and she’s been diligent about our mail still getting to us even w/ the old address on occasion; I show my appreciation by giving her a treat bag at Halloween and Easter, and a unique gift in a tin w/ a gift card inside at Christmas. It doesn’t take much to let folk know you appreciate what they do for you. Yes, I know she gets a paycheck, but all of us need some encouragement once in awhile.
This happened to me recently. It was a saturday and I was home watching tv on the couch. I got up to pee and when I came back there was a note saying they tried to deliver. No you didn’t. If you would have knocked or rang the bell I would have poked my head out the door and yelled, “Be right there.” and then finished up and ran to the door.
Luckily though he came back later that day while I was on the couch again and he gave me the box. I did thank him for stopping back by because I know they don’t have to.
