Streetside mail on way out (Post Office phasing out home delivery)

[Thom Little]

The U.S. Postal Service plans to eliminate house-by-house mail deliveries in newly built subdivisions and require developers to build central mail stations, officials said.

.......

Postal officials say the change is being enforced to increase efficiency. "It keeps costs down and it's more efficient," said Larry Dingman, Postal Service manager of field communications for Alabama and Mississippi.

In addition, Dingman said the cluster boxes provide additional security for customers because they are locked.

"Nobody can just walk along and take anything out of their mailbox," Dingman said.



http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1134209986150600.xml&coll=2

[Missy M]

1. The way of our country is PAY MORE, GET LESS!!

[DS1]

2. Here's an idea

Eliminate shit mail.

[alfredo]

4. Shit mail subsidizes first class mail. Eliminate it and

the price of first class will have to go up.

[DS1]

12. I'm perfectly okay with that

If mail cost 50 cents per peice, I'd happily pay that if it meant not getting flooded with junk catalogs, flyers, and other assorted wastes of paper and fuel.

[alfredo]

15. But that increase in postage will have ripple effects through

society. It will also put the poor at a disadvantage, higher postage rates means more to a person making $12,000 than a person making $120,000 a year.

[DS1]

25. Oh well

Sooner or later we have to get away from this paper-based information transfer routine.

[hippywife]

67. Which also

puts the poor at an even greater disadvantage.

[leesa]

45. So the answer is wasting tons of paper on junk mail that no one wants

that goes straight into the trash? What kind of bizarre logic is this?

[ShockediSay]

26. Careful, I heard that sometime back, a postage piece of legislation

called the CapOne Bill was passed into law; this subsidizes the junk mail like pre-approved credit card mailings and the rest of the junk mail.

I'd also be careful about reading too much into this story and jumping to all kinds 'knee jerk liberalism' kinds of conclusions (which is just what the freepers want us to do).

As I read the story it's like an apartment house having all their mailboxes in the lobby, or a condominium, having all their mailboxes in one place.

[alfredo]

36. Junk mail is advertizing, so it is a tax writeoff. Junk mail is not

handled the same. First it gets a bulk discount, second it isn't as high a priority as first class, and it doesn't get forwarded.

It's a lot cheaper to handle than first class, even at it's lower price to the consumer.


I just googled capOne, Cap One, Cap 1 capOne bill, Cap One bill, Cap 1 bill and found nothing about it. Details please.

[ShockediSay]

41. Start w/ NSA enabling, for openers

http://www.usps.com/news/2002/press/pr02_079.htm


NSAs tie discounts to volume growth and benefit high-volume customers by offering flexible prices and services targeted to meet their specific needs. Potter expressed hope in the Postal Rate Commission approving a recent Capital One NSA so the option can be extended to other mailers.

[alfredo]

47. Congress expects the Postal Service to make a profit.

The USPS has always cut volume deals for the big mailers. It appears this is just another change or standardization of the process. Because first class has dropped over the past decade, the Post Office has to work harder to keep bulk business mail volume high.

Getting back to the subject line. Bush and congress has taken money out of the Postal Service, making it harder to make the required return. Then if the Post Office goes in the Red, the privatization talk begins.


HR 22 passed, it is now before the Senate.

[kysrsoze]

53. Even though junk isn't prioritized, it still gets there fast anyway

Ever get something via standard mail? It comes in pretty much the same time.

[SusanF_CA]

59. We just moved

and I can tell you that junk mail does get forwarded--At least from the Orangevale, CA post office.

[LostinVA]

70. Yup, it certainly does get forwarded, although it's odd that

many of my magazines seemed not to...

[kysrsoze]

52. Agreed. I used to work with mailers. It's all going to, umm...everywhere

and they're already going everywhere. Yeah, postal mail is cheap. I can't think of anything under $.50 and it's not as if you're having to mail a lot these days with email and online billing. Look how much a FedEx package runs.

[Jose Diablo]

56. I don't think 'shit mail subsidizes first class mail'

Last time I checked, bulk rate mail was priced about 1/2 first class mail per piece.

Please give your reason for believing that bulk rate mail somehow subsidizes 1st class mail or supply the cost breakdown that justifies the postal service charging 1/2 the rate for pre-sorted and bundled (by destination) mail.

From where I sit, I see it the other way around. The increased costs to the post office to handle about 3 times the individual pieces at the destination distribution and sorting ends far exceeds the cost benefit obtained from just originating-end bundling. It is the 1st class mail that is subsidizing the bulk mailers.

If it were not for the bulk mailers the amount of total pieces handled would be about 1/3 what it is today. The far higher volume requires large investments in equipment and personnel throughout the delivery system. Thus it is the bulk mailers that are receiving the subsidy.

Thats why we get so much junk mail, the postal system is discounting the delivery of the junk mail. Thats why we get so much of it via the mailbox. If this were not happening then other cheaper ways would emerge to deliver the junk, the bulk mailers would use other ways to deliver the junk if they were paying the full costs to the post office to do that delivery.

It is the bulk rates that need to be raised closer to the actual costs to eliminate the bulk rate subsidy.

[alfredo]

58. Recently, the Post office said that bulk mail was 40% of their

income. Bulk mail is touched much less than a piece of 1st class. Automation has brought down the cost of handling 1st class but can't remove the human touch. Bulk mail is delivered to our door. It is bundled as to route in sequence, if addressed. The carrier just picks it up and goes. No muss, no fuss.

When I left the post office 50% of the first class was presorted, ready to be carried to the route as is. the rest has to be handled by several clerks before it even reaches the carrier who then has to sort it into a walk sequence.

Many man hours are spent on maintaining the letter sorters. The software, QNX, is excellent, but the machine itself is quite touchy. Alignment and cleanliness is very important. Before the machines, a dust mop is all that was needed to clean up. Now a blower is needed to clean the machines. The operator has to wear a mask to protect his/her lungs.


One down side of the machines I must mention. The nature of the machine is that it kicks up a lot of dust. This worked against the Post Office that processed the Anthrax letters. The machine turned the envelope into a bellows, blowing the spoors around the office.

[alfredo]

3. So the very old and disabled will not have

easy access to their mail.

Sometimes the mail man is the only person checking up on the home bound and elderly.

[Robb]

6. Yes and no

I live in a smallish rural community without home delivery, and nothing says "check up on Earl" like mail collecting in his box at the post office. Usually gets a phone call right away, especially if "Earl" was the kind to get his mail every day.

I haven't had mail in a mailbox outside my home for almost ten years now, and I don't miss it one bit. I always, always come back from the post office more informed than when I left. Now, this new plan for new developments may not have a "postmaster" or what-have-you, but if designed with the social aspect of a rural post office in mind, I'd say this could be a real positive thing.

Of course, I have been accused of living on gumdrop lane in candy-cane mountain, so who knows. ;)

[MuseRider]

10. "gumdrop lane in candy-cane mountain"

is where I am desperately trying to go. The church (I will not be attending) the post office and the feed store are where all the news and socializing get done. If you are into that kind of thing then it is wonderful. Add me to the gumdrop lane lovers group, no mountains in Kansas. ;)

The only problem for me would be that our PO only stays open until noon and I hate to go anywhere in public dressed in my farm clothes, even when everyone else is. I guess I will have to get used to it.

[VegasWolf]

20. Wow! Best of luck to you! That sounds like a jumping off place to me!

:toast:

[Tesha]

73. I'm pretty sure that "Pluggers" says...

> The only problem for me would be that our PO only stays open
> until noon and I hate to go anywhere in public dressed in my
> farm clothes, even when everyone else is. I guess I will have
> to get used to it.

I'm pretty sure that "Pluggers" says that this is okay, as long
as you're wearing your *GOOD* Deere hat and not the old shabby one.

Cartoon shown just for reference, not the one I'm thinkg of:



Tesha

[alfredo]

14. The problem is, even if a carrier notices the mail is stacking up

they won't have the personal connection that will tell them the person is very old or disabled. a lot of able-bodied people don't pick up their mail for days on end.

I used to be a mail carrier.

[NashVegas]

18. I'm One of Those

Able-bodied, check the mail once every week or two.

And it's specifically because of junk mail.

[alfredo]

35. I noticed the smaller the mail box, the less likely

the customer checks their mail daily.

[serryjw]

66. I lived 10 years ago

in a major condo complex in the burbs of Atlanta and the PO office made us go to central ( 6 scattered a cross 10 acres) boxes. Everyone drove to their mail box on the way home before going to their condo. It really wasn't any big deal.
I got flamed a few months ago when I suggested the PO should discontinue Saturday delivery.

[FlaGranny]

77. You should try to go to any one of my local post offices:

Long lines (to mail), but worse is the full parking lots and heavy traffic in and out, I guess from people who don't have mailboxes. I don't know, but in my area, if everyone went to the post office, they'd have to build a half dozen more of them, and they'd be overcrowded too.

It is obvious that in a place like where I live, if we did not have mailboxes at the curb, 3/4 of the people here would be converging on the central mail box in their cars at approximately the same time each day. That would be helpful. Like others, I'd be happier to pay more for my mail to avoid this.

[proud2BlibKansan]

11. Only if they move

The post office will still make house to house deliveries, won't they?

In my area, new housing is getting centralized mailboxes. They stopped putting mailboxes on new houses more than 10 years ago.

[HereSince1628]

55. Just curious...can you open the box from a sidewalk or do you stand

in the street?

I had service at a cluster when I was in Bryan Tx 20 years aga and there was no sidewalk. It created 2 bad situations...1 cars stopped too close to the corner, obstructing the view of the intersections, and 2 people would pay more attention to their new mail than they did traffic.

[proud2BlibKansan]

57. Yes that seems to be a problem here too

It doesn't always appear that they are in a safe place.

[trogdor]

69. I generally support this.

Potentially vast savings in fuel and wear-and-tear on vehicles is a good thing, and if I have to pick up the mail from the street corner, then so be it.

My fear is that if I'm getting some kind of package, say from Amazon.com, and it won't fit in the box (they'd have some kind of gizmo that premeasures these things), instead of having the carrier bring it to the front door, I'll get a yellow slip in my box and I'll have to find time to run down to the post office to pick up the damn box. It kinda defeats the whole purpose of e-commerce by robbing it of its convenience.

My other fear is, we'll have to have some kind of neighborhood-wide system to make sure the central box cluster stays free of snow (or chip in to hire some kid to do it - maybe the town property tax system can be utilized for this purpose). We get shitloads of it up here in the Lake Effect Zone (central New York), and town/village/city snowplow operators have been known to crush mailboxes if they're too close to the street, or bury them if they're not.

Then there are the elderly people on my street, one of whom drives a big Cadillac gas guzzler. I wouldn't expect her to walk 3/4 of a mile to the mailbox. She's driving the Caddy down there, guaranteed. So much for the fuel savings realized by not going house to house on our street.

[PSPS]

5. No security problem with my mail slot

Every time I buy a house, I make it clear to the realtor that I'm only interested in houses where I can "get my mail in my underwear." My houses all have a mail slot that puts the mail safely inside the house where I can "pick it up in my underwear."

These central boxes you see in new developments are a security nightmare. I've seen lots of them pried open and rifled.

[Horse with no Name]

7. My mom has one of those big community boxes

Last time I sent her a package...it was opened and sorted through.
They took a very expensive book on birds but left the card I sent and another dime store novel. Somehow I don't think crackheads would take a book on birds...
I can get my mail in my nightgown and wouldn't have it any other way either.

[goclark]

13. We changed our mail slot and we love it!

We installed a mailslot on our front door. It is wonderful and the best thing we ever did to collect the mail.

The mail drops down directly onto our floor.

We always tell them to hold the junk mail when we are out of town and deliver the real mail to us.

When we get home, our mail is right there on the floor and waiting for us.

The security is so much better than a stuffed mail box with over flow.


Probably cost us about $20 to do 15 years ago.

[Boomer]

28. One problem with mail slots

My Lab attack the mail that drops through the slot.

No big deal when he shreds a catalog I never wanted anyway, but he's managed to put his teeth through a video mailer and actually punctured the VHS tape. And a lot of my bills are little ... tattered when I send them in.

[goclark]

37. LOL I have a little 10 lbs bow wow, no problems so far nt

[Raine]

39. One time my dog was sleeping

just under the mail slot and when it came thru it landed on her she got so mad that she tore up some of it.:o It only happened that one time and not too much was damaged cause I hurried over and got it scraped up. I couldn't help but laugh cause she looked so cute attacking that mail. :D

[Another Bill C.]

17. About mail slots.

I once had to fill out an accident report for a letter carrier who pushed some heavy mail through a slot and had his fingers grabbed by a dog on the other side. The door was locked so he had to wait until the dog got tired of gnawing on his fingers.

I filled out another accident report for a carrier who pushed the mail through the slot on a door that wasn't quite latched. Subsequently, the door opened and the dog rushed out to bite him several times.

In both cases the dogs were silent before the incidents.

You've got to be careful with those slots.

[Hand]

34. Oh, dear...

I'm giggling... :spank: to me.

[calico1]

8. No more home delivery means

no need for mail carriers. Yet another industry that has found a way to eliminate lots of jobs. :(

[alcibiades_mystery]

22. If the jobs are unnecessary and inefficient, why should they exist?

I've never been clear on this concept. Do you propose that we simply pay people to do unnecessary jobs simply as a way to pay them? Is that the argument. Seriously. I'm not being snarky. I really am confused. :shrug:

[sadiesworld]

33. Many posters on this thread, myself included, do not see these

jobs as unnecessary and inefficient. DUers have pointed out various advantages to home delivery, e.g., a check on the elderly, more security, ease for the disabled. And yes, it is more convenient. Heaven forbid that the Average Joe get a bit of benefit for his tax dollar while also providing decent-paying jobs w/ bennies.

[SoCalDem]

Commerce makes the world go 'round

When postal workers are phased out, what do they do then?? When postal workers are employed, they spend their money in the local economy..

When post offices buy robotic sorters (to speed things up), they pay for the machine, but the machine does not collect unemployment, disability, ask for days off, take vacations, call in sick,etc. The cost of the machine is probably deducted anyway..

The machine does not spend money at dry cleaners, movie theatres, grocery stores, it does not buy cars, houses, furniture.. It does not enroll it's robo-kiddies in Karate class or gymnastics.

It makes sense to make sure that PEOPLE have decent jobs, because by them "demanding services and products" . it creates MORE jobs for MORE people..

[newyawker99]

63. Why not ask a letter carrier this question? As efficient

as the new procedure is, a person will lose
his/her job. And we know just how easy
it is to find a job these days.


:sarcasm:

[alcibiades_mystery]

65. Seems rather beside the point

You ask me...no sarcasm

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

9. Union Busting...

...the Letter Carriers union is one of the most powerful in the nation, this is just another attempt to ruin career jobs and fill them with "part-time flexibles", and "casuals" who have no rights to union representation and work for a flat rate with no benefits.

[Occulus]

23. Check with your local

I'm assuming you're a regular as well as I. At my local, we're (cheerfully) awaiting an arbitration award over the whole "casual-in-lieu-of" class action grievance. It is my understanding that three of these were handed down in the union's favor in PA, and one already here in MI at the local in Grand Rapids. I don't know if NALC is pursuing it, but the APWU has gotten several multimillion-dollar awards (well over $10M apeice IIRC) because of that exact thing.

Right now their new trick in my plant is to work the casuals- and often the regulars- alone on the machinery. I, for example, spent SIX HOURS alone on a tray sorter a week ago.

Not that that's dangerous or anything. :sarcasm:

[OldSeahorse]

16. Huh?

And this is new? They have been doing this in my area for at least ten years, maybe more. In fact, if you haven't had your mailbox ON your house on the regular street deliveries here they won't let you put it there. Many hang their mailbox on a fence or put up rural mailboxes on the city streets out near the end of their driveways here. The Postman just walks along and puts the mail in the street side boxes and only old, established mail recipients get their mail delivered to their door anymore.

[sendero]

19. As long ago as the late 70s..

... many new subdivision in the suburbs of Dallas were being build with one multi-mailbox per block. It was on the sidewalk, and opened on the street side for the postman and the sidewalk side for homeowners.

It wasn't that bad. I can't tell from the article if that is what they are talking about or something even more concentrated.

[kath]

64. In snowy, icy areas it's a real pain in the arse to have to go a couple

of blocks to pick up your mail. Also very difficult for the elderly and disabled.

BAH on the USPS for increasing this practice!

[alcibiades_mystery]

21. I've seen plenty of places where this already happens

You have a central mailbox area that everybody goes to.

How this is different from the mailbox set-up that has prevailed in apartment buildings for decades is a mystery to me. In any case, I think some of these sub-division folks should probably walk a little more, and may even get a better sense of community if they have to go out and see their neighbors at the mail slot.

This is win win. I don't see the downside.

[VegasWolf]

24. Here in new divisions in Las Vegas they have those central mail boxes.

They are made of cheap aluminum and can easily be popped open with a screwdriver. There are news reports about mail vandalism constantly. After the boxes are broken a few times they don't even bother to repair them. Yeah for progress.

:sarcasm:

[uncle ray]

42. gee, have you noticed any "regular" mail boxes?

that have NO lock whatsoever? a three year old could rifle through my mailbox. ANY lock is better than no lock.

[VegasWolf]

49. Your choice. You want to live in a big complex where there is no

security for your mail and the boxes are broken and all kinds of people can rifle through your mail. It's seems to be a problem here and is on the news, but, hey since you apparently don't care what happens to your mail, why don't you move into one of those complexes? There aren't hundreds of people normally picking up mail at "regular" mailboxes where it would be easy to disguise rifling activity. Gee!

:bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce:

[FlaGranny]

78. Is someone who breaks into mailboxes

more likely to break into mailboxes all clustered into one area, or is he more likely to take them on one by one over a longer period of time and with less chance to hit the jackpot?

In other words, would you more likely be able to steal 10 piles of money within the space of a square yard or 10 piles of money spaced 50 or 100 feet apart?

[Nevernose]

60. I take my mail to the main PO on Sunset...

...for that very reason. It's the goddamned junkies, I'm tellin' ya. On the big outdoor blue boxes, they use a stick with chewing gum on the end. Checks, money orders, credit cards, cash -- they're all in there, and coming or going are equally useful.

[VegasWolf]

61. Cool! It's great to meet fellow DU'ers form Vegas. We live in Green

Valley are are fortunate that we have our own mailbox in a gated, guarded community!
We'll have to keep in touch!

:toast:

[kineneb]

27. some areas never had delivery

such as where I live. Everyone goes to the post office to get their mail. Some of the "roads" would not be accessable by a postal vehicle, so they don't bother. But try explaining this to companies who insist on "we do not deliver to P.O. boxes," yet they ship via USPS.

Hello- we do not get delivery, no matter what they mail. Duh. I wind up putting my P.O.B. number as the second address line so things will get to me. Our P.O. people are remarkably nice about screwed up addresses; they mostly remember our street addresses and will put the mail in our box.

[Blue Diadem]

38. Our town only has P.O.Boxes..never has been home delivery

I understand what you mean about always using POB #'s as 2nd line. It still ticks me off that I can't participate in some free offers and contests..POB's not being allowed.

The reason they give here is that not enough mail is delivered to the town to warrant home delivery. They used to lock up the entire Post office everyday at 5:00pm and people couldn't get into the box area to get their mail..and we were all charged an annual fee for the boxes. After much griping and letters to the main post office they now give us free boxes..charging only for oversize ones and they leave the box area open for people to pick up their mail after work.

[FlaGranny]

29. Post office wanted my community

to install central mail at our clubhouse. Since we are a senior community with a percentage who are too old to drive and some too old to walk, we said "no." It is 1/4 mile from some homes to where the mailboxes would have been and some of the people would not have been able to get their mail themselves.

[wookie294]

30. Empire's a bitch

Empire costs money. I expect domestic government services to get worse since America has decided to use its money to manage the world.

[cap]

31. for an aging population this isnt good

it's a long walk for my MIL down her normal sized driveway to get her mail. The newspaper man shoots the newspaper right up to her front door.

[IndianaGreen]

40. Or for people that are impaired

and the ones that are young and healthy are only too resigned to paying more for less.

[yorkiemommie1]

32. this was rough on my mother in law

who was confined to her home and knew no one. my brother in law drove from his house in the next town to pick her mail up around the corner from her house.

how do people put their outgoing mail under this system? i mail my bills from my office, even though i have a mailbox by my front door.

[Gman]

43. This is so friggin' lame:

"In addition, Dingman said the cluster boxes provide additional security for customers because they are locked."

They have to come up with some kind of lame "what's in it for you" line and that's the best they can do. So now, you have to get into your car get your mail like you lived in an apartment complex.

[yorkiemommie1]

44. i have a locking mailbox

attached to my house, mr. dingman.

[LizW]

54. Yes, you can buy a locking mailbox

for outside your home. I've seen them in my neighborhood. The mail goes in a slot at the top and drops down to a compartment the owner opens with a key. They look pretty sturdy.

[NVMojo]

46. They started that rule in my town over ten years ago.

Everyone in a new subdivision has to go to a "gang-bang" mailbox to get their mail.

[1932]

48. A lot of those subdivisions don't have sidewalks.

[Lugnut]

50. We've had a cluster mailbox for 20 years

The post office installed mailbox clusters when they were closing our small local post office. We've never had door-to-door delivery. Larger package delivery still comes to my front door. Smaller packages are put in package lockers where the cluster is. The only complaint I have is that the individual boxes are too small for the occasional instances when the mailman jams a small package into the mailbox.

[nolabels]

51. In any and all cases what ever the heck they do, our house a net winner

Our plow of a dirt road could hardly be called a street at any rate. Yet other than a few less than note worthy utility bills the ole mail box is mearly just a pre-circular file for junk mail.

Viva la revolution el postal, electronic mail is the only rage :woohoo:

[napi21]

62. They alread had that in the subdivision we lived in in Texas..

Our house there was built in 1990, and the Community was HUGH! We were actually lucky because the mailbox xluster was right across the street, but some had to walk or drive a couple of blocks to pick up or drop off their mail.

It does have at least one BIG atvantage! No one can steal mail from your box! A close friend of mine, who lived in a condo community about 3 miles away put all her payments in her mailbox one morning on her way to work. Someone stole all of them and tried to cash the checks. She was notified by the Manager of the local HEB who caught it when he was preparing the nightly deposit. There was no loss to her (that time) but certainly inconvenience. I don't know how often things like that happen, but cluster boxes eliminate the possibility.

You folks are probably too young to remember when mailboxes were actually on the side of your house next to your front door and the mail carrier had to walk up to each individual home to drop off the mail. That was changed a LONG time ago and mail boxes had to be placed at the street.

This is really NOT a bad idea.

[nolabels]

68. That was some good entertainment every once in while

The mailman was afraid to deliver to our house. We had a sneaky little sheltie dog that would often sneak out the back yard and hide in the bushes by the box. She wouldn't attack other people who came to the door but as soon as someone with a suit touched the mailbox the dog was in full attack mode. Instinctively shelties only take little nips as they were bred for herd dogs. Them little nips are quite compelling but mostly never break the surface of the skin.
It was embarrassing for us but the neighbors got a big kick out of it :shrug:

[gkhouston]

71. actually, they still do door-to-door delivery in some areas

We have a mail slot in the door and some of the other neighbors have boxes next to their front doors. No mailboxes at the curb in our neighborhood.

[progressivebydesign]

72. I have mixed feelings about this. Locking boxes is good..

I support the idea of locking mailboxes, as mail theft is rampant everywhere right now. I hate the idea that postal employees don't walk the neighborhoods anymore... I was happy to see some that still walk their routes up here in the Pacific Northwest.. but it's rare.

We moved into a neighborhood with the locking community mailboxes... probably 12 or 18 per community box. It's nice in that you see your neighbors when you get your mail, and it forces you to get out for a walk, but I miss having my own mailbox, which was roomy.

First the postal employees made it so they didn't have to get out of their car anymore, now this..

[bleedingheart]

74. To be honest I would be okay with home delivery being reduced

to every other day. I really don't need to get my mail every day...nothing is really that urgent.

Only problem for the mail service would be storage.

Postal system has some interesting issues at work regarding logistics.

[gasperc]

75. already got one

we just moved into a new house in May and it has a central station for our street. All the new developments in this complex have them. The republicans on the street(has Bush stickers and stuff) hate it and want us all to petition the post office to go back to door to door.
they bitch about high taxes and the governments lack of efficiency but can't walk across the street to get their mail. Literally, they are the closest to the central mail station, what fucks.
Oh, and by the by, they don't let their dogs out to go to the bathroom. They let them go in the basement. We crate our dogs inside her in MI but I make sure to let them out 5-6 times a day!!

[Redstone]

76. They've been doing that around Montreal for a long time.

It doesn't seem to bother anyone.

I can't figure out if it saves fuel overall, though; the mail trucks will use less, but people will leave their cars idling while they get their mail on the way home from work...

And of course there WILL be lazy bastards who will DRIVE from their house to the mailbox and back, even if the weather's good.

Redstone