Should I spend more and not use USPS

[Sparktrician]

Not sure how much we can bash USPS. Just like most things in life, customer service is dependent upon the person and service has been undercut due to cost cutting and efforts to build efficiencies with deliveries. In some cases, there are good people striving to serve the best they can and others who are just trying to get home and do the bare minimum (this happens in every field). USPS has also been underfunded and beat up by private competition for decades. Further, business has been drying up with less and less paper mail being sent (killing revenue) and other legacy/operational costs (e.g., pensions, gasoline, etc.). Add to this the average $18/hr pay and it’s no surprise that we get mediocre service.  I also feel that we all, at some level, drive these changes through our own consumer habits, desire for speed, and complaining when we actually have to pay real costs for our goods and services. As they say garbage in, garbage out.

One thing that infuriates me is that we can "unsubscribe" from junk email, but we can not stop the incessant flow of junk paper mail, including that really stinky paper "advertrash" masquerading as a newspaper, never mind the political advertrash.  Around here, one can visit a post office and have a hard time finding a postal employee that can speak coherent English.  [mad]  And right down the street, there's a Postal Plus franchise run by an Indian-origin family of hard-working people that is a true pleasure to visit, while visits to the local USPS location leave one feeling as if they need to go home and take a shower. 

 

[ChuckM]

In Canada, we just need to put a "No Junk Mail" label/note in the mailbox to get rid of any unwanted/unaddressed flyers, ads, etc. (with some exceptions such as election materials, etc.).

 

[Packard]

Years ago, there was a news story (back when we got our news from a newspaper).

A resident was tired of the teens driving by with baseball bats and trashing his mailbox.  Apparently they would trash every mailbox on the street.

Since he was an accomplished welder, he fashioned a mailbox and post from a demolition-proof gauge of steel.

Shortly after he installed the newly bullet-proof mailbox, the vandals struck again.  All the mailboxes on the street up until his were destroyed.  His was not, nor were any of the mailboxes after his.

It turns out that the kid was using an aluminum bad, and it bounced back off the mailbox so hard that it broke his arm.

The reason it made the papers, was that the kid was suing the owner of the newly built mailbox.  The lawyer stating that he unduly subjected the public to risk by making it so robust.

This was about 30 years ago.  So some of the details are vague.  What was not vague, was the teen’s chutzpah.

Note: “Chutzpah” is a Yiddish word for a very special grade of audacity.  It is sometimes illustrated by this example:  Chutzpah is the teen who shoots to death both his parents, and then asks for the mercy of the court because he is an orphan.

 

[Sparktrician]

Years ago, there was a news story (back when we got our news from a newspaper).

A resident was tired of the teens driving by with baseball bats and trashing his mailbox.  Apparently they would trash every mailbox on the street.

Since he was an accomplished welder, he fashioned a mailbox and post from a demolition-proof gauge of steel.

Shortly after he installed the newly bullet-proof mailbox, the vandals struck again.  All the mailboxes on the street up until his were destroyed.  His was not, nor were any of the mailboxes after his.

It turns out that the kid was using an aluminum bad, and it bounced back off the mailbox so hard that it broke his arm.

The reason it made the papers, was that the kid was suing the owner of the newly built mailbox.  The lawyer stating that he unduly subjected the public to risk by making it so robust.

This was about 30 years ago.  So some of the details are vague.  What was not vague, was the teen’s chutzpah.

Note: “Chutzpah” is a Yiddish word for a very special grade of audacity.  It is sometimes illustrated by this example:  Chutzpah is the teen who shoots to death both his parents, and then asks for the mercy of the court because he is an orphan.

A friend I worked with several years back mentioned that his uncle who lived in upstate New York had a problem with the state plow drivers taking out his mailbox every time it snowed.  Since he was retired from the railroad, he got some of his buddies to bring over a used section of rail and a hole digger.  They drilled down 10 feet and set the rail inside a 12" tube form, got it plumb and filled the tube with concrete to 36" above ground.  When that had set up, his uncle cut off the rail at the appropriate height and welded on a flange to which he bolted a 3/16" thick steel mailbox.  He painted the concrete with a black-and-yellow barber pole design and waited for the snow.  Sure enough, he heard the plow coming up the road.  There was a loud BANG and silence.  The plow truck was towed away with a bent frame.  No more problems with plow drivers.  [big grin]

 

[serge0n]

Years ago, there was a news story (back when we got our news from a newspaper).

A resident was tired of the teens driving by with baseball bats and trashing his mailbox.  Apparently they would trash every mailbox on the street.

Since he was an accomplished welder, he fashioned a mailbox and post from a demolition-proof gauge of steel.

Shortly after he installed the newly bullet-proof mailbox, the vandals struck again.  All the mailboxes on the street up until his were destroyed.  His was not, nor were any of the mailboxes after his.

It turns out that the kid was using an aluminum bad, and it bounced back off the mailbox so hard that it broke his arm.

The reason it made the papers, was that the kid was suing the owner of the newly built mailbox.  The lawyer stating that he unduly subjected the public to risk by making it so robust.

This was about 30 years ago.  So some of the details are vague.  What was not vague, was the teen’s chutzpah.

Note: “Chutzpah” is a Yiddish word for a very special grade of audacity.  It is sometimes illustrated by this example:  Chutzpah is the teen who shoots to death both his parents, and then asks for the mercy of the court because he is an orphan.

Great story! What happened with the kid, did he lose in court? I hope he did.

Coincidentally, my friend just told me a story about his mailbox woes. A few years ago he moved to another apartment building where all the mailboxes are in a separate mudroom right before the lobby. There are no cameras there. All mailbox doors are made of some thin gauge metal.

One day someone decided to smash several mailboxes by punching them with a fist - the fist left a clear mark, that made it obvious the door was punched. This vandalism was random, but started happening daily from Monday to Friday and my friend's mailbox was messed up every time. He tried to find out who was doing it, talked to many neighbors, talked to the building management about installing a camera, but it didn't bear any fruit.

Eventually he got tired of fixing his mailbox door. My friend is a welder, so he cut several pieces of 1/4" steel into triangles and welded them to the floor of his mailbox, sharp ends pointing out. He also fabricated an exact copy of his mailbox door made from super thin tin. Next evening when he got back from work he saw his mailbox door smashed again and a lot of blood all over the floor of the mudroom. A few days later he saw a young neighbor from a floor above him sullenly smoking outside with his right hand covered with bandages. He didn't confront him for the obvious reasons, but asked how was his hand and where did he manage to injure it.
Mailbox doors remained undamaged from that day on.

 

[xedos]

I don't know what "you" should do , but for me.................USPS and my mail carrier are at the top of the pile in my ATL neighborhood.

UPS (headquartered here) is 2nd and FedEx is absolutely the worst.  They have a facility north of town that get all the "special" packages (read lost , damaged, too lazy to deliver) that I've dubbed the land of misfit toys. 

 

[p9002194]

Snip..  I asked what if it didn't fit at all, what would you do. He said he would bring it to the door.  Snip.

Can one make the mail box bigger, or is the size regulated?

This
The directive specifically states that all curbside mailboxes must accommodate mail measuring 7 inches tall, 13 inches wide and 16 inches deep.

 

[Ron B]

13" wide does not sound right.  I am sure the measurements have changed over the years, but even those giantatic mailboxes from the 1950's were not 13" wide. 

 

[Rick Herrick]

Snip..  I asked what if it didn't fit at all, what would you do. He said he would bring it to the door.  Snip.

Can one make the mail box bigger, or is the size regulated?

This
The directive specifically states that all curbside mailboxes must accommodate mail measuring 7 inches tall, 13 inches wide and 16 inches deep.

Actually we are the only ones on our street who actually followed all the guidelines when we had to put in a new box a few years ago.  We did get a larger than normal mailbox because my wife was doing some shipping business and normal box size was too small.  The package in question here was from WP and it was some rulers, one of which was 24", so yeah, it would have stuck out from pretty much any residential mailbox.

 

[rustym]

My son is a letter carrier and he said if it doesn't fit in the box take it to the door.  That's what my carrier always does.