Venting: City Politics :(

Our city of  apparently has a water leak, and they can give us no idea when it will fixed. They have had the spot in front of our mailboxes (ours and several others) for over two weeks now blocked off. Claims have been made that the mail truck can't get to it safely because the ground is soft. Alright, I get that. Now we are told that the postal carrier is not allowed to "dismount" out of his vehicle to put the mail in the boxes. What does this translate to for those who  have boxes there? The mail is kept at the post office.

This is all good and well, if not for the fact they [The Post office] now have limited hours. We can't even get our mail today, because they are not available on Saturdays to hand mail through the door. To get the mail during the week, I have to go to the post office in our recent 100+ degree heat, which should not be happening. With my ankles, I do good to walk to the mailbox everyday. Being physically disabled, you would think between the city of Savoy and the Postal Service,  there would be some degree of efficiency. Next step: Media. DH is contacting the news as we speak.Hopefully some negative media attention will yield results....

What would you do? It's just so irritating!

How annoying.  I wonder why the mail carrier isn't allowed to dismount from their truck.  They certainly are allowed to when they come to apartment buildings - they load everything into a big box and take it inside where they fill the mailboxes.  My mail carrier has mixed houses and apartments so she is in and out of the vehicle rather often.  

I would call whoever represents your section of your city in the local governing body.  If that doesn't work, take it to the county level. If that doesn't work, call your state rep.  I've even known people who call their member in Congress over such things, though that might be taking it a bit far.  Still the USPS is a quasi-federal agency so they would probably hop to if they got a call that high up.  Members of Congress have people on staff to deal with complaints from the people they represent, I imagine city, state reps and county reps also have people who can make a call. 

Honestly I can not think of a reason why the mail carrier should be told s(he) can't dismount from the vehicle unless it is a matter of time.  The mail carrier may be on a very tight schedule and going to your box may put him or her onto overtime, which is probably not in the budget.    And  I think there is a regulation that access to mailboxes has to be clear so they might use that to justify holding the mail at the post office.  I know what a nightmare it is these days to go to the post office - the lines are horrendous.    However considering  you are disabled, they should be willing to work with you.

Yeah. We are a rural route technically, so regulations say it must be clear.

Our mail carrier only gets out of the truck if she has to bring a package to the door.  Our mailbox has been hit three times this year!!  So that's been 3 disruptions to our mail service.  If we don't have a package; we don't get our mail till the box is fixed.  If we do; she has used a rubber band to secure our mail to the package.  One time I was out watering my flowers so I was able to meet her at the road to get my mail.  I think it helps that she knows I am always home; so she isn't afraid to leave things out.  

I think I would try to see if something can be done.  it's interesting that your technically on a rural route for mail; yet it's city water responsible for the leak?

MoochNNoodles said:

Our mail carrier only gets out of the truck if she has to bring a package to the door.  Our mailbox has been hit three times this year!!  So that's been 3 disruptions to our mail service.  If we don't have a package; we don't get our mail till the box is fixed.  If we do; she has used a rubber band to secure our mail to the package.  One time I was out watering my flowers so I was able to meet her at the road to get my mail.  I think it helps that she knows I am always home; so she isn't afraid to leave things out.  

I think I would try to see if something can be done.  it's interesting that your technically on a rural route for mail; yet it's city water responsible for the leak?

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Interesting and frustrating. Suppose you had important mail (example, I'm waiting on important financial aid and bank, school info..) are you able to go retrieve it from the post office? One problem is, the mailbox is not in front of our house. It is across the highway from us. They do not actually go to our road. here is a picture to give you an example.

You aren't getting the full story from the city but that's no big surprise. In the heat of Texas during the end of July any minor water leak would evaporate daily, and if it's a bigger leak the water would run down into the ditch that is right there. Either way, a little gravel would make the top dry enough to walk or drive on.

If the area is dangerous with sewage or some dumped or leaked chemicals, then it makes sense to make it off-limits. But then the city has an obligation to clean it up immediately - unless they act like they thought it was only water.

At any rate, what you are being told doesn't make sense, so it can't be the whole truth. I wouldn't count on the media finding out, either, these days they report what they are told to report.

Could be worse - we don't ever get Saturday mail here. To mail a letter, you have to go to the post office (you can't leave it on your mailbox). You have to pay close to $100 to have your mail forwarded when you move (it costs $1 in the US to do this). And home mail delivery is being phased out completely, so in a few years everyone here, including the elderly and disabled, will be schlepping to neighborhood mailboxes if they want their mail.