Back in the day, letter carriers rarely made a mistake in delivering the mail.
They had, or at least seemed to have, pride in what they did.
Apparently, that no longer is the case.
My house number ends in “80.”
My mail often ends up in a mailbox with the number “84” on it.
“84” is next door to “80” (this scrivener had nothing to do with the numbering scheme).
Two or three times a week — every week — my next door neighbor, like me a senior citizen, rings the bell and hands me an envelop sent to my address but that ended up at her address.
I sometimes get mail addressed to my neighbors on the north side of my house, but mostly the SNAFU — and, sadly, it IS “Situation Normal” — is mail to my neighbor to the south.
I have Informed Delivery, a USPS product that scans most standard-size mail and sends an email with scanned images so I’ll know — more or less — what should be in my street-side mail box before the carrier arrives.
Informed Delivery includes an option to notify the post office when a mail piece fails to arrive.
UNFORTUNATELY, although I all too frequently report missing mail via Informed Delivery, the misdirected mail continues as SOP: Standard Operating Procedure for the letter carrier assigned to the route,
One day out of six I can depend on getting all my mail at a reasonable hour; that day is when the regular carrier is replaced by an alternate.
A manager at the facility from which my mail is delivered promises — again and again — that she will “talk” to the carrier.
Given Civil Service, talk is about all she can do.
The careless carrier apparently has sufficient seniority to claim what must be an easy route; all deliveries are to roadside mail boxes. No walking in the warm Florida sun; no wading through puddles when it rains.
I confess I am spoiled.
I’m old enough to remember letter carriers who knew almost everyone on their route.
Even with motor routes, the carriers knew their customers.
My three kids, now adults, used to run out to greet Vic, our letter carrier in another town and, apparently, another time. ‘Course they used to wave to the trash collectors — who in turn would toot the big truck’s horn. (Something about small kids and BIG trucks.)
The regular letter carrier on my route is surly. My neighbor frequently reports on the carrier’s unkind attitude to the neighbor.
Admittedly, times have changed. Now it is not uncommon to see a package tossed over a decorative fence — no dogs anywhere — because it was too far to walk from the vehicle to the residence door; too much of a bother.
I am tempted now and again to “go electronic”; to do my banking and bill paying online. But, both my Spouse and I are reluctant to trust our payments' security on the Internet. There simply is too much ID theft and “misdirection” of funds and we are capable of either taking our outgoing mail to a letter box (which may not be safe) or directly to the merchant.
- Has anyone else noticed that some banks — notably Bank of America — have discontinued drive-through service? Canceling the drive-through probably put several people out of work at each location. For a handicapped person, the loss of this service is sorely missed.
It is one thing to lose a service, e.g., the bank’s drive-through, but it is another to lose decent service for a critical product: the U.S. mail. For the former, blame “cost-cutting” and The Bottom Line; for the other, there is no excuse.
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