Am I loving my new home? Heck yeah!
My furniture is all in place, the large art pieces are hung, the TV and stereo are hooked up, and I’m almost finished unpacking — just a few small boxes of books, framed pictures and knicknacks to go. And I spent last weekend buying lavender plants and an awesome chainsaw wood sculpture for my backyard.
With so much progress being made, I barely noticed for the first week that I wasn’t getting any mail. I’d set my permanent change of address and received emailed confirmation from the USPS website the day I got the house keys, so I knew that wasn’t the problem. Upon further inspection, I realized … I had no mailbox. D’oh!
I walked up and down my street and saw that everyone has their boxes mounted either by the front door, or next to the entry gate if the front yard was fenced. So I went online and ordered a sturdy, aesthetically pleasing mailbox. It arrived a few days later, and with help from my friend Dan I mounted it next to my front door.
And I waited.
A week passed, and still nothing. So I walked into the Hoquiam post office one morning to inquire about it.
“Oh, we don’t handle delivery,” said the clerk. “Aberdeen has been doing that for the past couple of years.”
That gave me pause. Why would Hoquiam even have a post office if…? But I digress.
So, I moved on to the Aberdeen post office and restated my inquiry. The clerk found a bundle of stuff they’d been holding for me (including a few bills and my shiny new driver’s license), and told me it was probably because I didn’t have a mailbox up when they made the initial attempt. She cheerfully said she’s make sure the carrier knew there was a box now, and they’d start delivering.
Easy peasy, right?
Nope.
I got a phone call that afternoon from a USPS supervisor who informed me they were changing the way mail is to be delivered in my neighborhood, shifting delivery from doorstep to curbside.
“It’s for safety purposes,” she said. “We placed a flag in your yard where the box is supposed to be.”
“There’s no flag in my yard, there are no mailboxes mounted on posts on my street, and I have received no notice of this,” I responded. “Are you telling me you will not deliver to the mailbox I paid good money for and mounted exactly where my neighbors have theirs?”
Yes, it turns out that’s precisely what she was telling me. And she added, with no small amount of smugness, that I should have known to check with them before I even put a mailbox up.
Now, people who know me well know that I’m fairly easygoing. It takes a lot to tick me off. But that did it.
So no, I will not be putting up another mailbox anytime soon. I will instead go to the post office once or twice a week to pick up my mail. It’s only a few blocks from my office, so no skin off my nose.
I won’t even complain about them not walking it out to the curb for me.
Kat Bryant is lifestyle editor of The Daily World. She’ll be watching her street for curbside mailboxes to magically sprout up. Reach her at kbryant@thedailyworld.com or on Facebook at Kat Bryant-DailyWorld.
