2 ms·

My friend, you are living in the past. My parents live in a golf community in Arizona (shocker :). It is not a gated community, just windy streets where all the

by rsj_hn 6y ago

My friend, you are living in the past. My parents live in a golf community in Arizona (shocker :). It is not a gated community, just windy streets where all the houses were built by the same developer. It is not some unincorporated area, it's in Scottsdale, a major city, and the houses were built around 2000. There are no vicious dogs nor is there anything dangerous about delivering mail to people over the age of 50. It is not a rural area, it's suburbia. The USPS will not deliver mail to their door, they only deliver to a set of postboxes for the whole community about a mile away. My parents have to drive their car to the where the PO boxes are each day. Everyone in the community does. I worry what happens if they get too old to drive, as they wont be able to get mail. I asked my parents about it and they said this was common in this part of Arizona to cut costs -- like the USPS gave up on solving the last mile problem. When a housing development is built on, say, 100 acres, the USPS just picks one area and says "we'll only deliver here" and that's where they build the mailboxes for all the people that will live on that hundred acres, even if it's like 5000 people. If someone is foolish enough to send a package to them that doesn't fit in the small mailbox, my parents will get a slip to pick it up from the local post office, which of course requires a farther drive. Meanwhile Fedex, Amazon, UPS deliver right to their door. The quality and level of service of USPS is atrocious, and all over America they are cutting back on their last mile commitments while private companies continue to deliver right to the door.

jermaustin1 6y ago
I'm not living in the past, that has been how it has been for decades. In new communities they create a hub or mailroom. It isn't typically the post office that designates that, it is the HOA. They don't want ugly mailboxes in front of everyone's house. An old boss of mine successfully lobbied to get mail delivered to the house since everyone was pissed at having to drive a mile or further to the club house to get their mail. Since around 2013, though, the USPS HAS mandated new communities get a single mail hub, but it still satisfies their rule of delivering for every address.
- rsj_hn 6y ago
  You just made my point exactly with your last sentence: "Since around 2013, though, the USPS HAS mandated new communities get a single mail hub, but it still satisfies their rule of delivering for every address." This in no way satisfies delivering to every address. It is a clear break from this commitment.
  - jermaustin1 6y ago
    No, it has always been this way. As long as I have been alive new communities (gated and non, apartments/condos, and houses) have opted for their own mail room. The USPS has just decided in the last 7.5 years to go along with what was already standard practice. If you build a new house outside of a community/neighborhood and properly have your address registered you will get mail delivered. You can also require TO home delivery (but you will have to fight your HOA), if you are elderly or infirm. The handful of times HOAs have allowed this, there has typically been backlash toward the resident (anecdotes, not data).
    - rsj_hn 6y ago
      This is obscuring the difference between a community choosing to have reduced service and, since 2013, the postal service mandating that service be reduced. No, it has not always been the case that the USPS mandated a reduced level of service to new housing developments. That is a big deal. They are effectively saying that they are not going to support door to door delivery to any housing community in America, regardless of what that housing community wants.
      - jermaustin1 6y ago
        But the end result is the same, the resident doesn't have the choice (except in a few circumstances) to get mail delivery to their door. Their choice is the same today as it was 30 years ago, move into a neighborhood and get mail at a central mailbox, or don't move to a neighborhood. Living in NYC, my mail wasn't delivered to my door. Living in Houston, TX, my mail wasn't delivered to my door. Living in Webster, TX, my mail wasn't delivered to my door. Living in Pasadena, TX my mail wasn't delivered to my door. My cabin in a small town in Colorado, mail is delivered to a letter box attached to my door (well used to, I have told the USPS to refuse all mail). My house in a small town in upstate NY, mail is delivered to the letter flap in my door. My friend who lives in a neighborhood in NJ built over 30 years ago, has to drive to get his mail because the community board chose no mail boxes. The end result is the exact same, the USPS just decided to codify exactly what was already happening, so that they could standardize how they were supposed to use those mail rooms. You are overly simplifying the cause and effect, mailbox down the road != usps delivering mail to everyone, thus I'm living in some fairy tail land that no longer exists.

by rsj_hn 6y ago

jermaustin1 6y ago

I'm not living in the past, that has been how it has been for decades. In new communities they create a hub or mailroom. It isn't typically the post office that designates that, it is the HOA. They don't want ugly mailboxes in front of everyone's house. An old boss of mine successfully lobbied to get mail delivered to the house since everyone was pissed at having to drive a mile or further to the club house to get their mail. Since around 2013, though, the USPS HAS mandated new communities get a single mail hub, but it still satisfies their rule of delivering for every address.

rsj_hn 6y ago
You just made my point exactly with your last sentence: "Since around 2013, though, the USPS HAS mandated new communities get a single mail hub, but it still satisfies their rule of delivering for every address." This in no way satisfies delivering to every address. It is a clear break from this commitment.
- jermaustin1 6y ago
  No, it has always been this way. As long as I have been alive new communities (gated and non, apartments/condos, and houses) have opted for their own mail room. The USPS has just decided in the last 7.5 years to go along with what was already standard practice. If you build a new house outside of a community/neighborhood and properly have your address registered you will get mail delivered. You can also require TO home delivery (but you will have to fight your HOA), if you are elderly or infirm. The handful of times HOAs have allowed this, there has typically been backlash toward the resident (anecdotes, not data).
  - rsj_hn 6y ago
    This is obscuring the difference between a community choosing to have reduced service and, since 2013, the postal service mandating that service be reduced. No, it has not always been the case that the USPS mandated a reduced level of service to new housing developments. That is a big deal. They are effectively saying that they are not going to support door to door delivery to any housing community in America, regardless of what that housing community wants.
    - jermaustin1 6y ago
      But the end result is the same, the resident doesn't have the choice (except in a few circumstances) to get mail delivery to their door. Their choice is the same today as it was 30 years ago, move into a neighborhood and get mail at a central mailbox, or don't move to a neighborhood. Living in NYC, my mail wasn't delivered to my door. Living in Houston, TX, my mail wasn't delivered to my door. Living in Webster, TX, my mail wasn't delivered to my door. Living in Pasadena, TX my mail wasn't delivered to my door. My cabin in a small town in Colorado, mail is delivered to a letter box attached to my door (well used to, I have told the USPS to refuse all mail). My house in a small town in upstate NY, mail is delivered to the letter flap in my door. My friend who lives in a neighborhood in NJ built over 30 years ago, has to drive to get his mail because the community board chose no mail boxes. The end result is the exact same, the USPS just decided to codify exactly what was already happening, so that they could standardize how they were supposed to use those mail rooms. You are overly simplifying the cause and effect, mailbox down the road != usps delivering mail to everyone, thus I'm living in some fairy tail land that no longer exists.