Have you ever wanted to share your fun photos, offbeat stories, and positive postal news and experiences? Rules of the road? Keep it upbeat, be considerate, and keep it clean.
Interesting idea. With some tweaks it might work in some areas of the country where there is no snow & ice. By placing relay boxes at intervals so the carrier can pick up the mail to be delivered and possibly having large parcels delivered by other carriers it would work similar to "walking" routes that use no vehicles. It would have to be done in areas where there are curbside boxes, though. Faster than walking but more environmentally friendly & cheaper than vehicles.
In places where delivery content is less like rural places electric bikes makes sense and in remote rural locations where very few deliveries happen even that does not make sense. Using a van to such small deliveries is luxury with lot of money to spend.
Not to change the subject but is there a reason all households cannot use rural boxes placed at the foot of their steps? This would save the carriers time of climbing steps and be a safety asset also.
I worked in a supervisor detail when they tried to get all neighborhoods to install curbside mailboxes to save carriers time and often the customers had a fit. The same with NDBCU boxes. Apparently most Americans are so lazy they can't even walk to the curb or down the block to get their mail. (BTW, when my parents moved to a condo with an NBCDU my Mom griped and my Dad is a retired city carrier!! I set her straight:) Then they complain when carriers walk across their lawns, too, and don't bother to shovel sidewalks or steps. Usually the post office would back down and allow door-to-door delivery but now that we're in a financial bind we may have to insist on more economical delivery methods. If customers complain to their congressional delegates we'll have to educate Congress on our reasons. I understand some elderly or handicapped people need doorside delivery but there is a form that can be completed by their doctor requesting an exception. Eventually customers will need to understand that unless they want exorbitant postage prices or to support the USPS with tax dollars they will have to accept some small changes in their service. As an economics professor used to say "There's no such thing as a free lunch."
6 comments:
Interesting idea. With some tweaks it might work in some areas of the country where there is no snow & ice. By placing relay boxes at intervals so the carrier can pick up the mail to be delivered and possibly having large parcels delivered by other carriers it would work similar to "walking" routes that use no vehicles. It would have to be done in areas where there are curbside boxes, though. Faster than walking but more environmentally friendly & cheaper than vehicles.
In places where delivery content is less like rural places electric bikes makes sense and in remote rural locations where very few deliveries happen even that does not make sense. Using a van to such small deliveries is luxury with lot of money to spend.
Are we still using the Segway electric scooters? Could be a good fit for those delivery areas where its practicial.
Carriers injuries would increase 10-fold. Walking seems to be tough enough for them.
Not to change the subject but is there a reason all households cannot use rural boxes placed at the foot of their steps?
This would save the carriers time of climbing steps and be a safety asset also.
I worked in a supervisor detail when they tried to get all neighborhoods to install curbside mailboxes to save carriers time and often the customers had a fit. The same with NDBCU boxes. Apparently most Americans are so lazy they can't even walk to the curb or down the block to get their mail. (BTW, when my parents moved to a condo with an NBCDU my Mom griped and my Dad is a retired city carrier!! I set her straight:) Then they complain when carriers walk across their lawns, too, and don't bother to shovel sidewalks or steps. Usually the post office would back down and allow door-to-door delivery but now that we're in a financial bind we may have to insist on more economical delivery methods. If customers complain to their congressional delegates we'll have to educate Congress on our reasons. I understand some elderly or handicapped people need doorside delivery but there is a form that can be completed by their doctor requesting an exception. Eventually customers will need to understand that unless they want exorbitant postage prices or to support the USPS with tax dollars they will have to accept some small changes in their service. As an economics professor used to say "There's no such thing as a free lunch."
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