Going Postal

For nearly three months I have been living in my Mom and stepfather's spare bedroom. It's a cheap way to get by before I begin seminary in the fall. Anyway, the main topic of late has been mail delivery. Or should I say, lack thereof.

Now, most of the time, I greatly admire postal workers. It has to be a stressful job. Sorting indecipherable letters and packages, I'm sure, can fry one's nerves. And then there are the letter carriers. What's the creed? "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds." And I think until I moved in here, I believed that.

At my previous address, we had a letter carrier who walked door to door and deposited the mail in the boxes. Here, the carrier doesn't get out of his truck, because the boxes are on the curb.

So why would this topic be popular with my mother and her husband? Because often, the mail doesn't come. And just as often, when it finally arrives a day or two late, it has written on it "Box Blocked."

Blocked by what? I'm glad you asked. The grown-ups that own this house both have individual vehicles, as do I. I park in the back yard, Mom parks in the driveway (with room for only her car), and Jerry parks on the curb. This is typically how it works. Is it possible that his truck is what blocks the box?

The issue was taken up with the post office after the first couple incidents. My mother was told there needs to be 15 feet of space on either side of the mailbox. From that moment hence, they have been very careful to keep a distance when parking on the curb, even going so far as to giving it a tape measure treatment. And yet, the mailbox still gets skipped.

Now, this wouldn't bother me normally, but now it's my mail that is being delayed too. Since I'm living here temporarily, I must receive mail here as well. And I would feel pity for the letter carrier who can't seem to fit his 8 foot long truck into a 30 foot space (15 on either side of the mailbox), if it weren't for the fact that I know other letter carriers who get a little exercise and walk from house to house. Despite the rain, or snow, or heat, or gloom of night.

Actually, I don't see too many letter carriers delivering at night. Maybe they should replace that part with "heavy traffic" or "parked vehicles."