Raising my postal mailbox.....???

[Dennis Peacock]

I've lived here for over 13 years. I replaced the old rotted mailbox about 4 years ago. I raised the mailbox up 6" higher than what it was at the old height. I get a note in my mailbox today saying that I have to raise my mailbox to a minimum of 50" high and I have until 3 Nov to have that done or they will send my mail back to the sender. Now....my mailbox is not low...I can very easily get to my mail from the drivers window of the LOML's minivan.
I can't just "raise" my mailbox...I have to dig it up and replace the thing.

I'm asking here...but I don't have a choice do I?

[Matt Meiser]

Kind of unclear.

This link (https://www.usps.com/manage/know-mailbox-guidelines.htm) says 41-45" above the curb. According to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curb) curbs are 4-8". So if you don't have curbs, it would seem reasonable that 45-53" is the range. If you are at 44, might be kind of tough to argue much.

Plus we're talking about a government agency. They'll do whatever they want and there's not much you can do about it.

[Dennis Peacock]

OK...so I'll work towards fixing up my mailbox.

[Gordon Eyre]

Sure you can raise it without digging it up, Just build a platform to fit on top of the old one and remount your mailbox. :)

[Scott Shepherd]

Dig a 6" hole in front of it :D

[Val Kosmider]

Just happen to be going through the exact same thing myself. I am going with the 41" up from the curb, which is about six inches high. I went around my neighborhood to see what others were doing, and let's just say that there doesn't seem to be any 'standard' height.

Again, you are dealing with a gubment agency. In my last neighborhood, they put a little bar code in my mail box and the carrier had to scan the code when he drove by so they could keep track of his 'production'. If he stopped to say hello, it slowed him down, and the bar code system tracked the 'delay'.

Now, about that $17 trillion deficit......

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

It depends upon the carrier delivering the route on whether or not you have to fix it. I had the same problem years ago at the old house after the carrier took out the mailbox during an ice storm. I put the same post in the same spot that the previous mailbox had been for years. A few months later, a new carrier took over the route and left one of those notes. I was able to talk to the new carrier and ask what the problem was. We talked it over and since almost all the mail went to the PO Box in town, she said it wouldn't be a problem.

Now at the rental property we have been in (different town), we replaced the rotting mailbox with a new mailbox & post and did it according to their regulations. Appropriate height, distance from road, etc. and virtually in the same spot it had always been, but according to their code. The carrier left one of those notes. My LOML questioned the carrier and showed the regulations we printed out from the web site. The carrier didn't care. He said it was too low for his unmarked vehicle and refused to deliver mail until we raised it.

[phil harold]

Now at the rental property we have been in (different town), we replaced the rotting mailbox with a new mailbox & post and did it according to their regulations. Appropriate height, distance from road, etc. and virtually in the same spot it had always been, but according to their code. The carrier left one of those notes. My LOML questioned the carrier and showed the regulations we printed out from the web site. The carrier didn't care. He said it was too low for his unmarked vehicle and refused to deliver mail until we raised it.
time to file a formal complaint

http://www.prc.gov/(X(1)S(wt4i4h3g24w1yx2n5brcslvv))/prc-pages/about/offices/office.aspx?office=pagr&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1

[Matt Meiser]

time to file a formal complaint

At least one agency already knows. ;)

[Steve Rozmiarek]

The most ironic thing about the post office, is they still don't realize stupid stunts like that cause the customers they so desperately need to survive, avoid them.

[Jim Laumann]

We live on a gravel road - have lived here 30 years. Have gone thru a number of carriers, currently, we have two carriers - might be either of them on any given day, both guys. One drives a full size truck, the other a Ford Ranger.

We are on our 2nd post - there should really be a 3rd - the current one got sheared off by the township grader several years go when we had a bad winter - the operator was trying to open the road, and nailed the post w/ the graders wing. I cobbled it back together using two steel T posts (barb wire fence) and a couple lengths of chain - drove them in the ground when we thawed that spring.

It's been that way since. No complaints from the carriers. Height varies - lower to the road surface in the winter due to snow pack, higher in the warm months.

Jim

[Kevin Bourque]

2 years ago I received a letter from the newly hired local postmaster telling me my mailbox was "unstable" and needed to be fixed withing 30 days or they would stop delivery.

I told them in a letter that I live on a farm and my mailbox needs to be removable for when we cut and bale hay. That's pretty standard around here.

They sent me another letter that pretty much told me to, "fix it or else!!!"

[Brian Elfert]

Why would having a curb or not affect how high above the road surface a mailbox should be? The road the truck drives on is the same distance from the mailbox no matter if the road has a curb or not.

[George Bokros]

Where I lived previously I was not permitted to put my mailbox in front of my house. There was a street almost straight across from my driveway. My box had to be on the corner of that street. The mail man delivered to houses on my side of the street up about four houses away. Those four houses had to have their box on the other side of the street. The mail carried drove right past those four houses and mine then went down a u shaped street just past mine delivered that mail then exited the street almost across from our driveway then went back up the street in the direction he originally came. He just did not want to make the stop for the four houses plus mine and that side of the street.

I spoke to the postmaster and he told me that it was at the carriers discretion of where my mailbox needed to be.

George

[Charles Wiggins]

This link (https://www.usps.com/manage/know-mailbox-guidelines.htm) says 41-45" above the curb.

Shouldn't the guideline be height from the street level in areas where they deliver by vehicle?

[Matt Meiser]

Shouldn't the guideline be height from the street level in areas where they deliver by vehicle?

You think logic applies to a government standard?

According to their drawing if you have a 2' curb, your mailbox must be close to 6' off the road. :D

[Myk Rian]

Common misconception is that the PO is a government agency.
They just want you to think they are. They would have a .gov URL if they were.

[Charles Wiggins]

Common misconception is that the PO is a government agency.
They just want you to think they are. They would have a .gov URL if they were.
39 USC § 201 - United States Postal Service
There is established, as an independent establishment of the executive branch of the Government of the United States, the United States
Postal Service.
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/granule/USCODE-2011-title39/USCODE-2011-title39-partI-chap2-sec201/content-detail.html



The North Carolina Government website is also a .com - http://www.ncgov.com/
Drives me crazy.

[Brian Elfert]

Common misconception is that the PO is a government agency.
They just want you to think they are. They would have a .gov URL if they were.

The USPS actually does not want people to think they are a government agency. The original USPS website was usps.gov. They ditched the .gov and went to usps.com as they didn't want people seeing the .gov and thinking they are a government agency.

I created a website for a large soccer tournament operated by a non-profit some years ago. I registered their domain as .com and after a year or two they wanted it changed to .org. They thought people might think they are running a for-profit organization. I pay no attention to what three letters a domain ends with. Companies sometimes register as .org, .net, or even .us as the .com was already taken.