Mail to the ceilling! RaNt against the P.O. Box- the slacking of the US Government!

We had SOOOO Much mail today! Can I just say that one of the worst things in a world is a P.O. Box? And I don't mean a P.O. Box that you chose to have. I mean the "small town america 'If you don't get a PO Box, you don't get any mail' box" You small towners know that.

Your town is so small and the USPS won't pay a person to deliver the mail to your home, and usually their excuse is that a rural carrier has to drive right past your house to be able to have a mailbox in your yard. That means that the rural carrier would have to drive by your house on their way out of town. Yet for some reason, in Wyanet, all the people on Walnut street, and on King street, have mailboxes. Now here is the scoop. Walnut street doesn't GO out of town, it just leads back to King street. So the rural carrier is essentially going up that street "extra" to deliver mail. How does that follow their supposed policy??

And there is also another street (which I can't name by name) that runs in front of the park and crosses king and walnut, where there are also persons receiving mail by a rural carrier. Now here's the other deal. I live on the corner of North Street and Wyanet/Walnut. (yes, come and get me, I know I am asking for it. But be advised I have two very large and mean dogs, a husband with a gun, and I know judo.) Because my house faces North street, I have that as an address. Now the kicker is that we have a driveway on Wyanet/Walnut AND A driveway on North Street. EVERYONE on Wyanet/Walnut has their mail delivered to their house.

But I am not allowed to have a mailbox on Wyanet/Walnut without the permission of the person on Wyanet-Walnut, because the mailboxes are ACROSS the street from our house. So I asked the lady across the street one day, nicely, if she would mind us putting a mailbox next to hers. I even offered to purchase the exact same box as hers so it would look nice, and to do all the work, and landscape around the bottom of it like hers is so it would look nice. She said, and I quote "I don't like the way mine looks in the yard so I am sure I wouldn't like it even more if there were two mailboxes there. I am afraid my answer is no." OH MY GOD was I angry. I tried my best to stay cool. Overall she is a nice lady and her daughter and granddaughter live next door to her, also just across the way, and they are also super nice, but this was in my opinion, a little too anal. I could not believe her answer.

The other thing is that the AREA where her mailbox is sitting is technically along a county blacktop, and is the property of the county as it is in the right of way. So, I asked the post office nicely if I could put a mailbox in my own driveway, and the nice rural carrier could pull into my driveway to deliver the mail. They said no because she would have to back OUT of the driveway which is a hazard in her job that they avoid if at all possible. I thought about asking if she could BACK into the driveway, and then she could pull out forward, but I suppose Backing into the driveway would be a hazard, eh?

So the post office window opens at 8:30am and closes at 4:30pm. If I work from 8am-4:30, and the window is also closed for almost TWO HOURS over lunch, when will I make it in to the post office? If I have a package, I often have to go in on Saturday, and I have to get up EARLY because they close at 10:30am on Saturday. What Kind of CRAP is that?? So I may not get my mail for 6 days while it sits inside, because a package won't fit in my PO Box.

Then there are the 50000000 million papers that I have to fill out each year to prove I am not some terrorist living in Wyanet with a PO Box. Last time I had to give them the VIN number on my VEHICLE! How insane is that? They fell just short of asking for fingerprints, urine samples, and blood tests. I mean for god's sakes, I DON'T WANT A FREAKING PO BOX! I want my own mailbox by my own freakin driveway, and I want you to DELIVER my mail because THAT IS WHY PEOPLE PAY YOU MONEY FOR SHIPPING AND STAMPS! TO DELIVER THE MAIL TO MEEEEE! Not to hold it in your office and make me come get it. How well would UPS or FedEx do, if everytime the package is supposed to be delivered they just called you up and said "your package is here, come and get it!

No WONDER the Government is losing their ass over the post office. They don't even DELIVER the mail anymore. This is a far cry from the pony express, let me tell you! What happened to rain or shine, sleet or snow? Seriously, how long would it take the rural carrier to deliver mail to a town of 500 people? An hour? Maybe Two? Not to mention that there are practically 2-4 in every house, so they are really only going to make about 150-250 stops, all right next to each other, and they wouldn't even have to get out of their car? This has been pissing me off for FIVE YEARS and I am just now getting to vent about it. Is there a solution? I feel like writing to congressmen. I feel like contacting the President of the USPS. I feel slighted. Cheated. And at the chance of hurting the feelings of the many gypsies who may be reading this- GYPED!