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We're buying a house a little way out in the country at the end of a very short (100 feet or so) unpaved road, with three or four other houses between us and the paved road.
The other houses seem to have addresses and mailboxes on the paved road. Our house address is on the dirt road.
Where should our mailbox be?
Will the P.O. deliver on a dirt road? (They didn't where I lived before, but rules seem to vary from place to place.)
Can I put my mailbox on the paved road, even though it's not my road? I've heard there's an easement where it would be legal to put a box, and there are boxes there now.
How do I tell the post office? I've heard they make you go through a lot of red tape. I've been stuck with a p.o. box for years, I'd really like home delivery.
We're buying a house a little way out in the country at the end of a very short (100 feet or so) unpaved road, with three or four other houses between us and the paved road.
The other houses seem to have addresses and mailboxes on the paved road. Our house address is on the dirt road.
Where should our mailbox be?
Will the P.O. deliver on a dirt road? (They didn't where I lived before, but rules seem to vary from place to place.)
Can I put my mailbox on the paved road, even though it's not my road? I've heard there's an easement where it would be legal to put a box, and there are boxes there now.
How do I tell the post office? I've heard they make you go through a lot of red tape. I've been stuck with a p.o. box for years, I'd really like home delivery.
My realtor doesn't know the answer.
Similar to my current house. Mail is not delivered to the houses on my side road even though that road is the official street address. There are a couple of places along a paved arterial close by that have clusters of mailboxes, but the space is designated by the borough; can't just put a new one up anywhere. Each house on my road has a box, labeled with the house address. I followed and stopped the carrier and asked about putting up a new box or using an existing one that was now vacant. The previous owners of your house might have had one that you can now use. She told me everything I needed to know. Usually, if I have a package that won't fit in the box she'll bring it to the door. YMMV.
You don't tell the post office. The post office tells you where to put your mail box.
When we first moved into our house everyone on the street had to put their mailboxes at the street entrance. The street was still private so the post office wasn't allowed to deliver to individual houses. It had to be a grouping of mailboxes. I hated it as it was about 1/2 mile from our house and not near any houses. It would have been very easy for mail box thieves to steal things. When we received a USPS package we had to drive to the post office (30 minutes away). When the street was finally turned over to the county, the post office began to deliver to individual houses.
I'd call the local post office or walk in and ask them about it.
I know when we've developed new subdivisions, the mailman has given us a map on where the mailboxes were to be placed. We didn't get to use discretion, we had to put them where the map stated. And when we had a problem a few years ago with the mailman continuously hitting our mailpost with their truck and damaging it, we looked into the option of moving it and the post office said no. Also, when we've had rentals on dirt roads, the post office typically put the box at the end, on the paved section, at least if the unpaved section is short with only a few houses, like yours sounds to be.
So I'd be a vote for ask the postoffice, but I'd guess they'd put it on the paved road.
I wouldn't be surprised if they make you put your mailbox up by the rest. At least around here, they are not willing to extend mail delivery routes.
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