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I have no problem with having a cluster mailbox location within the neighborhood.
However, my neighborhood is older and has only 45 lots. With so many neighborhoods like mine, I doubt those would change but if so, I'd be ok with it.
Brand new neighborhoods COULD change and the builder would be responsible for the cluster mailboxes, which may be less costly than the brand new mailboxes at each home that they currently install. I guess the HOA would then maintain the mailboxes?
Brand new neighborhoods COULD change and the builder would be responsible for the cluster mailboxes, which may be less costly than the brand new mailboxes at each home that they currently install. I guess the HOA would then maintain the mailboxes?
Vicki
Thats a good point- although many new neighborhoods do have an HOA, not all do. In that case who would coordinate the maintenance?
I think it's a really good point that we simply don't use mail services anymore. Most people get not only personal letters (email, text, etc) delivered to them electronically, but also bills. Why not go to an every other day system. Or even 2-3 times per week. How much mail really is time sensitive anymore? If we no longer need services that we pay taxes for, get rid of the services and use the revenue for something else.
I live in a new development and have a clustered mailbox shared with the other people on my block. Some people here have mailboxes and others have shared/central boxes. Whenever there's something that won't fit they drive around to the front and knock/leave it on the porch.
My dad was a mail carrier for years and it's kinda sad seeing how the job has changed. He loved his walking routes where he was able to be outside, get some exercise, and get to know the neighborhood he worked in. Where I live would be perfect for a walking route, but instead it's operated as a car route, with a lot of clustered boxes, and you can tell the carrier is just in a huge hurry trying to stay on schedule. I get that the USPS is losing money and efficiency is king... but it's still too bad the job has changed so much.
I think there's a lot of things they could do to tighten up, including charging much higher rates for those junk mail coupons reducing the amount of non-essential mail, deploying a single truck with a few dudes on bicycles to deliver the mail quickly and without stop and go jeep fuel waste, deliver 2 days a week only, etc. But the USPS is not known for creative solutions.
i read this in the paper today.
Out here in Riverwood, we have to go to a central mail room. It is like the PO box side of the post office. They never use the parcel boxes for packages so the mail carrier brings them to the house and puts them on the porch-and picks up my outgoing ones (have to request a pickup).
If the PO wants to save money, i dont see why they are trying SUNDAY delivery of parcels! They were talking of doing away with Saturday mail, but one Sunday my bell rang and it was the USPS with a package. talk about wasting money-drive all over to deliver a few packages that could wait and go out with Monday's mail?
The central boxes don't bother me, but I don't always get the mail daily like I did when I lived with a mailbox on my house. And our mailroom is locked for at least 2 hours/day while he stuffs the boxes.
Why not go to an every other day system. Or even 2-3 times per week. How much mail really is time sensitive anymore? If we no longer need services that we pay taxes for, get rid of the services and use the revenue for something else.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jmcstef
But the USPS is not known for creative solutions.
If you read up on USPS' efforts, you will find out that politicians have stymied various USPS' efforts to attain some modicum of financial stability. Without the political will, government spending isn't easy to curtail whether it's postal services, defense, etc.
Why don't they move toward 2 or 3 day a week delivery instead?
Now you're asking for folk to have hours cut or even layoffs. I don't see anything wrong with idea especially since it's not a new concept in this country or state. Apts, condos, town houses all do it for the most part.
I seem to remember hearing or reading something about it on a national news site about a year ago, along with the talk about stopping Saturday (or some other day with low mail usage) delivery but didn't know it actually went through.
I can see how it will be helpful to USPS and hopefully bump up efficiency and boy do they need to do something to keep afloat.
I wonder what they'll do about packages? Are the cluster mailboxes going to have to be covered? Be large enough for bigger boxes? While leaving a package at someone's front door isn't exactly the most secure thing, I wouldn't feel right about having parcels left out in the open, public space where anyone could come and grab them. That said, I live in a condo right now and most of the time our packages are left in our tiny lobby area near the mailboxes, but at least the lobby is key and code controlled and (supposedly) only residents and guests are passing through.
Edited to add: Also, this quote from the article kinda made me laugh. "'We view this as a fundamental right of the citizen, to be able to get the mail delivered to our homes," said a new resident of Holland Farm."
LOL. Could this guy point me to the constitutional protection for home mail delivery? If so, I'll file suit and dagnabbit, my mail carrier will come to my front door too!
Packages will be handled the same as if you have a mailbox at curbside. Deliver to your home if not there then pickup at PO.
UPS now subcontracts delivery of some package service to USPS. I found out the hard way one day on an amazon package I was awaiting so I had to trace it through both carriers with two separate tracking numbers. What a pain.
I believe USPS is also doing it for fedex as well.
Now you're asking for folk to have hours cut or even layoffs. I don't see anything wrong with idea especially since it's not a new concept in this country or state. Apts, condos, town houses all do it for the most part.
While I don't want to see anyone lose their job, that is a much more common solution to an ailing organization than asking every homeowner to walk a half mile or whatever to a community mailbox every time they want to check their mail.
Besides what do you think the effect of that would be? A net reduction in the need for mail carriers. The layoffs / pay cuts would go hand-in-hand with that solution, anyway, that's the whole point of doing it : reducing costly human labor.
If that strategy were successful and accepted by their customers, the next phase of cost reduction would be to remove delivery entirely and let everyone who wants their mail go stand in line at the post office, eliminating carriers entirely.
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