On Sat, 23 Jan 2016 06:30:55 -0600, (PeteCresswell) wrote:

Per Ed Pawlowski:
Cutting delivery days is OK by me. Cluster boxes can be a PITA though,
but down from me they do have five to 10 together already.

Anybody know what the procedure is when the box will not hold all the
mail ? I'm thinking packages and junk mail around Xmas.

My carrier leaves the packages on the porch. I don't know about
the junk mail. My mailbox has plenty of room for that.


--
Using Opera's mail client: http://www.opera.com/mail/

On 1/22/2016 8:51 AM, KenK wrote:

I seem to recall that back when I was a kid living or visiting rural
places that the mailbox flag system was just the opposite of that
nowadays. Mailperson put the flag up when you received mail, instead of
putting it down when outgoing mail was picked ip. Makes more sense to me.
Probably amother false memory. Comments?

TIA


Can do both ways. Flag up can mean both
mail going out (when the carrier arrives)
and mail in the box (after the carrier
has passed by).

I was in a small town diner one time. The
waitress would put a slip on the round thing
with the clips and proclaim "order up!" and
the chef would put a plate of food on the
heated transfer shelf and reply "order up!".
Really was irritating. Which is it? Can't
be both.

--
..
Christopher A. Young
learn more about Jesus
.. www.lds.org
..
..

On 1/22/2016 8:58 AM, (PeteCresswell) wrote:
Per Stormin Mormon:

Until it gets wet and freezes?

Has anybody got experience with the mechanical approach?

In my little fantasy world, I would think that a strong-enough spring
and, maybe, polyethylene moving parts would be pretty much
freeze-proof...

I visualize a wand that gets bent over and is secured by a trigger-like
latch that gets released when the box is opened.

i.e. No moving parts save the latch - and that has to release if/when
the box gets opened.

But that's just my little fantasy world and the Real World does not
always get the word...


Works fine if you run 14/2 UF burrial cable to the
mail box, and put on about 500 watt heater.

--
..
Christopher A. Young
learn more about Jesus
.. www.lds.org
..
..

On 1/23/2016 7:00 AM, Dean Hoffman wrote:
On Sat, 23 Jan 2016 06:30:55 -0600, (PeteCresswell) wrote:

Per Ed Pawlowski:
Cutting delivery days is OK by me. Cluster boxes can be a PITA though,
but down from me they do have five to 10 together already.

Anybody know what the procedure is when the box will not hold all the
mail ? I'm thinking packages and junk mail around Xmas.

My carrier leaves the packages on the porch. I don't know about
the junk mail. My mailbox has plenty of room for that.

That's what our carrier does as well, but I think Ed was referring to
one of those "community/central" mailboxes shared by a dozen or so
families.

The one's I've seen have a couple of large (as it 2 - 4 x's the size of
the individual boxes) package bins on them. When the carrier has a
package that won't fit in the individual mailbox, the place it in one of
the bins and place the key for the bin in the mailbox.


This is similar to what they do in the post office itself when an item
arrives that won't fit in the smaller PO Box.

What they do for the occasional item too big to fit in the package bin
is anyone's guess. I suppose they could fall back to the common sense
approach and stop by the individual house, but that would make sense and
we ARE dealing with a government created agency and a union so...

On 1/22/16 5:11 PM, Mark Lloyd wrote:
On 01/22/2016 08:00 AM, (PeteCresswell) wrote:
Per KenK:
Mailperson put the flag up when you received mail, instead of
putting it down when outgoing mail was picked ip. Makes more sense to
me.
Probably amother false memory. Comments?

Around here (suburban, not rural), the flag is always used to signal
outgoing mail and the carrier flips it down when he picks up the mail.

So, pending a conversation with the carrier, maybe the solution is for
the resident to always flip the flag up when they collect mail - whether
there is outgoing or not.... and have the carrier, as usual, flip it
down when they deliver.


I'm in a suburban neighborhood, and the mail carrier usually ignores the
red flag. Doesn't stop unless there's mail to be delivered. Almost never
puts the flag down afterward.


That's about par for a unionized semi-government employee.

--
People are more violently opposed to fur than leather because it's safer
to harass rich women than motorcycle gangs.

On 01/22/2016 08:19 PM, bob haller wrote:

[snip]

fine by me, since the postal service is mostly a junk mail delivery service


Some days, when I get mail a majority of it goes straight to the trash.

--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us/

"My country, right or wrong; to be defended when right and righted when
wrong." -- Thomas Jefferson

On 01/22/2016 09:14 PM, Ed Pawlowski wrote:

[snip]

Seems like Amazon is using the Postal service more and more, even for
Sunday delivery for Prime.

A lot of what I get is sent by some other carrier like UPS to the post
office. Their tracking info will send be a message saying the package
was delivered. What the message DOESN'T say is that it was delivered to
the post office and will be in the mail (not the same day, but the next).

--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us/

"My country, right or wrong; to be defended when right and righted when
wrong." -- Thomas Jefferson

On Sat, 23 Jan 2016 08:31:19 -0500, Stormin Mormon
wrote:

On 1/22/2016 8:58 AM, (PeteCresswell) wrote:
Per Stormin Mormon:

Until it gets wet and freezes?

Has anybody got experience with the mechanical approach?

In my little fantasy world, I would think that a strong-enough spring
and, maybe, polyethylene moving parts would be pretty much
freeze-proof...

I visualize a wand that gets bent over and is secured by a trigger-like
latch that gets released when the box is opened.

i.e. No moving parts save the latch - and that has to release if/when
the box gets opened.

But that's just my little fantasy world and the Real World does not
always get the word...


Works fine if you run 14/2 UF burrial cable to the
mail box, and put on about 500 watt heater.

You just want burial cable because you're afraid you'll be cold in
your coffin.

On Thu, 21 Jan 2016 21:39:54 -0500, wrote:

On Thu, 21 Jan 2016 13:37:04 -0500, Stormin Mormon
wrote:

On 1/21/2016 12:43 PM, KenK wrote:
It would be nice to have something to use with my rural mailbox to tell if
the mail has come when I don't have any outgoing. I oten forget to check by
that late in the afternoon - busy with other things like making my supper.
My delivery time varies, I suspect because different deliverers. Currently
it's late in the afternoon, sometimes after 4 PM.

I'e not tried Googling yet.

TIA


About three decades ago, Popular Mechanix
had a gadget in article. It was a swing
arm. When the letter carrier opened the door,
the swing arm showed over the top of the mail
box. My first thought was the first snow or
freezing rain, and it would not pivot. I can
remember it well enough to draw it on paper,
if you want.

This isn't it:
http://www.amazon.com/AVM-AVM-01-Aut.../dp/B0044V5RTU

but might do your required task.

You never put a blank line between your text and what's before it.

In Canada many rural mail boxes had a red flag on them that the mail
carrier would pop up when he put mail in the box.

That's what I thought would happen in the US until we actually moved
to a place with a rural mailbox. But apparently here, the red is only
to tell the mailman that there is outgoing mail.

On Thu, 21 Jan 2016 22:23:18 -0500, wrote:

On Thu, 21 Jan 2016 22:01:41 -0500, Ed Pawlowski wrote:

On 1/21/2016 9:39 PM, wrote:

In Canada many rural mail boxes had a red flag on them that the mail
carrier would pop up when he put mail in the box.


We use that flag to let the carrier know we have mail to be picked up.

There's something about which way the box is turned too - Long time
since I had to deal with a rural mail box. facing the road=full,
parallel to the road+ empty?

Ours don't rotate.

And I guess I was wrong about the blank line.

On Thu, 21 Jan 2016 15:18:49 -0800 (PST), wrote:

Can't you make sort of a reverse flag that falls down below the box when the postman opens the door to put mail in the box? That's what one of my neighbors has done.

Our mail sometimes comes as early as 2pm, and sometimes as late as 8 pm. It used to be you could set your watch by our mail lady, 3 pm +/- 15 minutes. But after she got transferred to another route, the times went to 5pm +/- 3 hours. No pattern to the variations that we can figure out. And, calls to the Post Office have fallen on deaf ears.

There might be another route or half-route that he does before yours
some days.

When I was a mailman 50 years ago, I didn't know what time to come in
until the previous day and it ranged from 6 to 10. Some days I
started off by sorting mail and other days iirc it was already sorted.

On Fri, 22 Jan 2016 16:11:12 -0600, Mark Lloyd
wrote:

On 01/22/2016 08:00 AM, (PeteCresswell) wrote:
Per KenK:
Mailperson put the flag up when you received mail, instead of
putting it down when outgoing mail was picked ip. Makes more sense to me.
Probably amother false memory. Comments?

Around here (suburban, not rural), the flag is always used to signal
outgoing mail and the carrier flips it down when he picks up the mail.

So, pending a conversation with the carrier, maybe the solution is for
the resident to always flip the flag up when they collect mail - whether
there is outgoing or not.... and have the carrier, as usual, flip it
down when they deliver.

He's not goiung to like that, having to stop to pick up mail only to
find there is none.


I'm in a suburban neighborhood, and the mail carrier usually ignores the
red flag. Doesn't stop unless there's mail to be delivered. Almost never
puts the flag down afterward.

And that will be the result .

On Fri, 22 Jan 2016 17:57:46 -0800 (PST), bob haller
wrote:

On Friday, January 22, 2016 at 8:27:53 PM UTC-5, (PeteCresswell) wrote:
Per Mark Lloyd:
I'm in a suburban neighborhood, and the mail carrier usually ignores the
red flag. Doesn't stop unless there's mail to be delivered. Almost never
puts the flag down afterward.

I'd have a word with whoever runs the local delivery operation.
--
Pete Cresswell

its no biggie because the postal service is about to mandate central mailboxes in neighborhoods nationwide.

thecentral mailbox hold perhaps 50 boxes, which the carrier fills , saving tons of time and money

That will be terrible for me. I have a slot in the door. I can go
away for 9 months and still be able to push the door open when I get
back.

coming nationwide along with mon, wednesday, and friday deliveries only, closing of over 1/2 of all bost offices nationwide

On Fri, 22 Jan 2016 18:58:58 -0800 (PST),
wrote:

bob haller:

Specific news source or other source please.

Take our word for it, that's the plan, at least about the group boxes.
The less frequent delivery is only a proposal afaik.

On 1/23/2016 8:55 PM, Mark Lloyd wrote:
On 01/22/2016 09:14 PM, Ed Pawlowski wrote:

[snip]

Seems like Amazon is using the Postal service more and more, even for
Sunday delivery for Prime.

A lot of what I get is sent by some other carrier like UPS to the post
office. Their tracking info will send be a message saying the package
was delivered. What the message DOESN'T say is that it was delivered to
the post office and will be in the mail (not the same day, but the next).

Do you have a free MYUPS account? App on the phone? Very accurate and
you know where the package is and you can tell them where you want
packages left. If is is sent Smartpost you will know and an accurate
delivery time to the house.

Per Micky:
Take our word for it, that's the plan, at least about the group boxes.

Sounds complicated in the context of the government having to acquire
property or property rights for the space where the group boxes
structure would be erected.

The bit about a separate large-package bin and the key in the mailbox
works for me.

For the scheme in general, I would guess that some people in ill health
will have to work something out.
--
Pete Cresswell

On 1/24/2016 8:27 AM, (PeteCresswell) wrote:
Per Micky:
Take our word for it, that's the plan, at least about the group
boxes.

Sounds complicated in the context of the government having to
acquire property or property rights for the space where the group
boxes structure would be erected.

Shouldn't be a problem. Every "community" mailbox I've seen in
subdivisions are placed on the right of way. Check the survey for your
own home. Chances are you'll find the highway easement extends another
6'-8' into what you think is your yard.


The bit about a separate large-package bin and the key in the
mailbox works for me.

For the scheme in general, I would guess that some people in ill
health will have to work something out.

In the town where our daughter moved to a couple of years ago, the
neighbors warned them about the USPS trying to get them to install a
rural type mailbox on a post in front of their home rather than
continuing to use the box on the house.

Note that they live in town and the home they purchased originally had
one of those mail chutes that would drop your mail (and water from a
garden houseg) in the foyer.

Sure enough, they got a note from the Postmaster pretty much telling
them they HAD to install the curbside mailbox but down at the bottom in
fine print was a notation that such would be voluntary since their
mailbox was grandfathered in.

Small town but certain area residents have taken a stand and refuse to
go with the program. USPS wants to be able to do away with the walking
letter carrier.

On Sun, 24 Jan 2016 08:27:48 -0600, (PeteCresswell) wrote:

Per Micky:
Take our word for it, that's the plan, at least about the group boxes.

Sounds complicated in the context of the government having to acquire
property or property rights for the space where the group boxes
structure would be erected.

The counties in my area of Nebraska own a 66 foot (one chain)
wide strip for the road. Space for the boxes would be between the
counties and the postal service.
A quarter section is usually close to 2600' by 2600' give or
take as a result.


The bit about a separate large-package bin and the key in the mailbox
works for me.

For the scheme in general, I would guess that some people in ill health
will have to work something out.


--
Using Opera's mail client: http://www.opera.com/mail/

On Sunday, January 24, 2016 at 9:27:56 AM UTC-5, (PeteCresswell) wrote:
Per Micky:
Take our word for it, that's the plan, at least about the group boxes.

Sounds complicated in the context of the government having to acquire
property or property rights for the space where the group boxes
structure would be erected.

The bit about a separate large-package bin and the key in the mailbox
works for me.

For the scheme in general, I would guess that some people in ill health
will have to work something out.
--
Pete Cresswell

the cost to deliver to a group box is a fraction of at to a walking or driving carrier..

so paying for a location for the group box isnt a big deal.

i think the elderly or handicapped should still be accomodated

On Sat, 23 Jan 2016 21:37:07 -0500, Ed Pawlowski wrote:

On 1/23/2016 8:55 PM, Mark Lloyd wrote:
On 01/22/2016 09:14 PM, Ed Pawlowski wrote:

[snip]

Seems like Amazon is using the Postal service more and more, even for
Sunday delivery for Prime.

A lot of what I get is sent by some other carrier like UPS to the post
office. Their tracking info will send be a message saying the package
was delivered. What the message DOESN'T say is that it was delivered to
the post office and will be in the mail (not the same day, but the next).

I havent' noticed that.

Do you have a free MYUPS account? App on the phone? Very accurate and
you know where the package is and you can tell them where you want
packages left. If is is sent Smartpost you will know and an accurate
delivery time to the house.

I may have registered for something, I can't remember, but for the
first time this time, UPS sent me an email saying the package is
comign tomorrow, and tomorrow, when I was upstairs, they sent me an
email saying it was delivered.

That's great. What's not great is that the second email said he
put it on the patio (where it couldnt' be seen from the street) but in
fact it was right in front of the front door, where it could be seen
by someone who walked by. No one has ever stolen any package** but I
want to keep it that way. And since the big tree fell down blocking
the path across the shallow part of the stream, almost no kids walk by
where they can see my front door. But almost every package to me has
"Hide from view" or "Hide to right of big square thing", which only
requires putting it 3 feet to the right, but almost no one ever does
that.

**No package has been stolen but once two gas push lawnmowers were
stolen. I'd tried all summer to make even one of them work, stealing
parts from one for the other. So I thank whoever took them away for
me. Also an old bicycle was stolen. I had removed the seat and the
post to get a longer post, but real bike stores didnt' sell posts in
that diameter, because the bike was so cheap. They'll never find a
post that fits either, so they're stuck with that too.

On Sun, 24 Jan 2016 08:43:11 -0600, Unquestionably Confused
wrote:

On 1/24/2016 8:27 AM, (PeteCresswell) wrote:
Per Micky:
Take our word for it, that's the plan, at least about the group
boxes.

Sounds complicated in the context of the government having to
acquire property or property rights for the space where the group
boxes structure would be erected.

Shouldn't be a problem. Every "community" mailbox I've seen in
subdivisions are placed on the right of way. Check the survey for your
own home. Chances are you'll find the highway easement extends another
6'-8' into what you think is your yard.

Well this might be good for me. Because we own our own streets, not
the government. We also have to pay for them to be repaved. (We
might be able to give them to the county if we ever pave them to be
thick enough, but I'm not sure if only the blacktop has to be thick,
or if an underlayer has to be also. We're not redoing what's
underneath the blacktop.

Sure, when you're feeling well, when you're up and around anyhow, and
it's not raining or cold, it's little trouble to get tthe mail at a
center box, but when your sick, when your snowed in, or the weather
stinks, it's a pain, and for me and my mail slot, when I'm out of town
for 3 days or 2 months, I don't have to cancel the mail or do anything

The bit about a separate large-package bin and the key in the
mailbox works for me.

For the scheme in general, I would guess that some people in ill
health will have to work something out.

In the town where our daughter moved to a couple of years ago, the
neighbors warned them about the USPS trying to get them to install a
rural type mailbox on a post in front of their home rather than
continuing to use the box on the house.

Note that they live in town and the home they purchased originally had
one of those mail chutes that would drop your mail (and water from a
garden houseg) in the foyer.

Sure enough, they got a note from the Postmaster pretty much telling
them they HAD to install the curbside mailbox but down at the bottom in
fine print was a notation that such would be voluntary since their
mailbox was grandfathered in.

That would be good.

Small town but certain area residents have taken a stand and refuse to
go with the program. USPS wants to be able to do away with the walking
letter carrier.

OT, btw, there are rural mailboxes here on a street that's been
widened more than once, and the openings no longer face the street.
They had to turn them 90^ so cars woudn't hit them as they drove by.
Now they don't extend past the curb at all.

On 01/24/2016 08:43 AM, Unquestionably Confused wrote:

[snip]

Shouldn't be a problem. Every "community" mailbox I've seen in
subdivisions are placed on the right of way. Check the survey for your
own home. Chances are you'll find the highway easement extends another
6'-8' into what you think is your yard.


Here, the water main runs down this side of the street. The gas main is
on the other side. Would that be a problem, or could they put it over
one of them?

[snip]


--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us/

"If Jesus was a Jew, why did he have a Spanish name?" [Bill Maher on
"Politically Incorrect"]

On 1/24/2016 2:38 PM, Mark Lloyd wrote:
On 01/24/2016 08:43 AM, Unquestionably Confused wrote:

[snip]

Shouldn't be a problem. Every "community" mailbox I've seen in
subdivisions are placed on the right of way. Check the survey for your
own home. Chances are you'll find the highway easement extends another
6'-8' into what you think is your yard.


Here, the water main runs down this side of the street. The gas main is
on the other side. Would that be a problem, or could they put it over
one of them?

Not positive but I don't believe it would be a problem. The "community
boxes I've seen are mounted to a concrete slab and I believe those may
be prefabricated. So they'd remove a couple of inches of sod and be
done with it.

YMMV

Per bob haller:
the cost to deliver to a group box is a fraction of at to a walking or driving carrier..

But if I want a PO box at the local USPS office, I have to pay for it -
right?

If that is the case, one would think that they are missing a bet by not
providing free PO boxes...
--
Pete Cresswell

On a side street a short drive from my house all of the
curb-mounted mailboxes are on only one side of that
street(the side with odd address #s if memory serves.

The side they are on allows the postal jeep driver to
deliver the mail there in a direction that returns them,
after a right turn at the stop sign at the end of that
street, back toward their post office.

The only inconvenience is that even #d residents must
cross a sometimes wet or snowy street to access their
box.

HOA(Home Owners) in play here?

On 01/25/2016 09:33 AM, wrote:

On a side street a short drive from my house all of the
curb-mounted mailboxes are on only one side of that
street(the side with odd address #s if memory serves.

The side they are on allows the postal jeep driver to
deliver the mail there in a direction that returns them,
after a right turn at the stop sign at the end of that
street, back toward their post office.

The only inconvenience is that even #d residents must
cross a sometimes wet or snowy street to access their
box.

HOA(Home Owners) in play here?

We live in a subdivision with no HOA, but the mail-box arrangement is
the same: all the boxes on one side of the street -- on our street the
odd-number side, but I can't swear that it's the same on other streets
in the same subdivision.

Twenty or more years ago we visited family in a much newer subdivision,
and they had mail-box clusters.

I am familiar with two adjacent small office complexes with just one
mail-box cluster serving both of them -- and when there is mail in the
wrong box there is no way of putting it in the correct box because there
are no mail slots.

Perce

On 1/25/2016 9:33 AM, wrote:
On a side street a short drive from my house all of the
curb-mounted mailboxes are on only one side of that
street(the side with odd address #s if memory serves.

The side they are on allows the postal jeep driver to
deliver the mail there in a direction that returns them,
after a right turn at the stop sign at the end of that
street, back toward their post office.

The only inconvenience is that even #d residents must
cross a sometimes wet or snowy street to access their
box.

HOA(Home Owners) in play here?


Nothing to do with HOA. That is the way the post office works. Take
notice if you are driving along a motor route, the boxes are all on one
side. Make s sense as to deliver to each house the route would be twice
the distance and twice the time.

posted for all of us...



On Thu, 21 Jan 2016 13:37:04 -0500, Stormin Mormon
wrote:

On 1/21/2016 12:43 PM, KenK wrote:
It would be nice to have something to use with my rural mailbox to tell if
the mail has come when I don't have any outgoing. I oten forget to check by
that late in the afternoon - busy with other things like making my supper.
My delivery time varies, I suspect because different deliverers. Currently
it's late in the afternoon, sometimes after 4 PM.

I'e not tried Googling yet.

TIA


About three decades ago, Popular Mechanix
had a gadget in article. It was a swing
arm. When the letter carrier opened the door,
the swing arm showed over the top of the mail
box. My first thought was the first snow or
freezing rain, and it would not pivot. I can
remember it well enough to draw it on paper,
if you want.

This isn't it:
http://www.amazon.com/AVM-AVM-01-Aut.../dp/B0044V5RTU

but might do your required task.
In Canada many rural mail boxes had a red flag on them that the mail
carrier would pop up when he put mail in the box.

That is what I saw on the show "Holmes Makes It Right" I didn't understand
until he showed a pic with the little flag. I like this better than the USA
but I know it ain't gonna happen...

--
Tekkie