Here's the lastest on the shipping question per Rob - "Most of them will go first class or priority, no media."

Simple as that.  

burntwire brothers wrote:Could you also ask Rob to write or stamp the packages "DO NOT BEND".

Otherwise, they will get crammed in my mailbox.

I've actually taken to putting a note on my mailbox stating such - you never know what kind of putz you going to get delivering the mail. Most of them are pretty good, but I've had some that made my blood boil.

We went one step further, actually:  we put a large metal bin on our porch, and covered up the mail slot with a sign saying "please put mail into bin"---that was after a 3.x Dragon magazine got mangled (at least it wasn't anything too important ).

Badmike wrote:
We tried that and didn't get any mail delivered....and was told by the postal authorities it was considered "tampering with federal property"...apparantly in my neighborhood/city, you aren't allowed to alter in any way the existing set up you have for recieving mail.  Morons.  After going round and round for months, we just ended up having all our mail delivered to the PO box, end of problems.  I still give the finger to our postal carrier dumbass whenever he putt putt's by in his little truck, always being rewarded with a puzzled look on his bovine face....

Mike B.

I dont get it?  I understand that the mailbox is technically federal property but as long as you dont use the mailbox for anything other than mail delivery and you dont cause obstruction of said delivery you should be able to do whatever you want.  Luckily I have a fairly decent carrier but I have had several packages crammed into my mailbox before and there is no way I can do anything that will change their behavior.

However, I have thought about removing my clunky old metal mailbox and building a brick one.  But I was thinking instead of putting in a standard mailbox to go into the brick tower, why not go a bit further and put a metal door in the backside and a thin slot near the top, similar to the drop boxes at the post office?  This way the packages that will fit into the slot will drop into a bin and not get bent up.  Any packages that wont fit will have to be taken to the porch, which they do anyway.  Might cost a bit more but it seems like a good idea to prevent problems like these.  And I dont see how the federal government can prevent me from doing something like that because I am not tampering with mail of preventing the delivery of mail.

grodog wrote:Maybe I'm misunderstanding here, but our mailbox is a mail slot in the outer wall of my home, that goes into our office.  It's not a free-standing mailbox, or in our front door.  

I certainly don't consider that slot in my house wall USPS property  

We don't have mail slots around here...just freestanding boxes, or open boxes near the front door.  The USPS considers them technically their property...your item must meet approval in this county if you want to install it, and they will simply say no to anything that is not a freestanding mailbox.

You would not be allowed to build a mail slot into your door, or wall, or whatever in our county.  The USPS would simply not deliver there.  They have broad powers about what they will and won't due, and the new thing is to have all mailboxes either a large locked metal container that holds an entire block, or freestanding by the curb.  They have grandfatherered in all mail boxes located near a front door, but house builders are not allowed to include them anymore.  Their model is to never have the postman leave his little jeep, or have to get out of his car except to set a package on your front porch (at least in our city/county; I was told so proudly by the head postmaster of our region many times in person and through the mail)

The draconian excesses of our local post office have been fought by myself at length the last decade.  But in the end, if they wish, they will simply choose not to deliver your mail, and you are the one who is not getting your bills, checks, magazines, packages, etc...they basically beat you down and wait you out.  Thus the PO Box is used.

Mike B.

FormCritic wrote:
The local post office sent me a note asking permission to move our mailbox from a spot on our front porch to a box on a post out by the curb.

In other words...I would now be a target for theft of my mail (which I saw happening just across the street) in order to save the mailman a short walk across my fenced yard.

I didn't give the permission.  No way.

Good for you Mark.  That's one of the reasons we won't use our outside box. Mail theft is pretty bad in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, and made even easier by the fact the mailboxes are right on the street.

Mike B.

Badmike wrote:
We tried that and didn't get any mail delivered....and was told by the postal authorities it was considered "tampering with federal property"...apparantly in my neighborhood/city, you aren't allowed to alter in any way the existing set up you have for recieving mail.  Morons.  After going round and round for months, we just ended up having all our mail delivered to the PO box, end of problems.  I still give the finger to our postal carrier dumbass whenever he putt putt's by in his little truck, always being rewarded with a puzzled look on his bovine face....

Mike B.

That guy was an idiot.
YOUR mailbox is NOT federal property.

However; All mailboxes, including public and PRIVATE Mailboxes are REQUIRED to meet federal guildlines as to structure and volume, and general shape to be legal to hold mail, but the PRIVATE mailboxes themselves do NOT belong to the federal government.

As for "set-up" for delivery of the mail, those are almost ALWAYS covered under CITY ordinances, most times under the subdivision, building and/or zoning ordinances.

One specific example of a "Set-up":  The common curbside brick structures with an approved metal mailbox built inside with the opening facing the curb of the street and the opening being at window level of a normal vehicle as it drives up to the box.

In your case, I am quite certain that the city had made the subdivision developers create the standard curbside brick boxes for curbside mail delivery via mail vehicle so that the mail can be picked up or delivered by truck and not on foot.

This makes mail delivery far faster and much more efficient, since a mail truck can certainly go faster than your chubby mail carrier could on foot.

BTW: In some cases Mail slots (In the door) for residential, or commercial buildings are still used on new construction builds in Texas and they are quite legal. They simply have to pass muster with the City Council and before them the City's planning department approval. The planning department and City Council work WITH the local mail office to insure that the planning regulations cover the federal and local mail delivery reqiuirements.

The thing is that the City government AND the local mail office in town wants each neighborhood to have the exact same setup for all the homes in that specific neighborhood. They don't want one house to have the mail slot in the door and next door the mail gets placed into a curbside box. The City in all good conscience seeks to make mail delivery as easy as possible for everyone involved, the mail carriers AND the public both.

I spoke to Rob again on Sunday or Monday night, and he continues to sound better.  I'll try to post an update to the PPP site tonight or tomorrow with some additional details.

Badmike wrote:..........  But most of them have been absent so far from this thread unless you count Aneoth, who has two Limited Edition Bottle Cities he's waiting for, and Jaybird, who is INTIMATELY connected to the situation at hand.  I think both of those guys have a dog in this hunt.
Mike B.

Right and I am still hoping they come in.......... and even more hopefully not bent in half and stuffed into the small mail box by my local postal worker in her little postal truck driving by the standard Bricked up federaly approved and locally regulated mail receptical.

Signed, Aneoth
Charter member of TAMU