NEITHER SNOW, NOR RAIN...
nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these courageous couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.
So goes the postal carriers motto. Books, however, seem to be a different matter.
Over the past few weeks, Sean and I have been doing a bit of ordering from Amazon.com. Nothing outlandish - maybe three, four books a week. And twice - twice - several books have arrived on the same day. And the carrier, who usually just drives by the mailbox (which is in a short row with three or four neighbor's boxes along the roadside), actually had to drive up to our house (a distance of about forty feet), get out of his or her vehicle and leave the books on the front porch.
So on Friday, I get the following notice stuffed in with the mail:
Dear Sir:
This letter is being sent to you to request that you provide us with a larger mail box for the delivery of your mail.
The carrier is having a problem delivering your mail and packages. Your mail box is not large enough to receive all the packages that you are receiving. Mail boxes should be large enough to accommodate all your packages, with an occasional dismount by the carrier for larger packages.
We appreciate your attention to this matter. Any questions, please call...
They like the word "packages".
Anyway... sorry, postal carriers, but our mailbox is quite large enough for at least 300 or so of the 306 deliveries you might have to make each year (assuming that something arrives every day you deliver). Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but don't you charge more postage for anything a bit more substantial than a business-sized envelope? And doesn't part of that charge actually include delivering such packages - even if it means an excruciating "dismount"? Once you start charging $.44 for the delivery of a book, I'll get a bigger mailbox into which it can get stuffed. Meanwhile, you may do so yourselves.
So goes the postal carriers motto. Books, however, seem to be a different matter.
Over the past few weeks, Sean and I have been doing a bit of ordering from Amazon.com. Nothing outlandish - maybe three, four books a week. And twice - twice - several books have arrived on the same day. And the carrier, who usually just drives by the mailbox (which is in a short row with three or four neighbor's boxes along the roadside), actually had to drive up to our house (a distance of about forty feet), get out of his or her vehicle and leave the books on the front porch.
So on Friday, I get the following notice stuffed in with the mail:
Dear Sir:
This letter is being sent to you to request that you provide us with a larger mail box for the delivery of your mail.
The carrier is having a problem delivering your mail and packages. Your mail box is not large enough to receive all the packages that you are receiving. Mail boxes should be large enough to accommodate all your packages, with an occasional dismount by the carrier for larger packages.
We appreciate your attention to this matter. Any questions, please call...
They like the word "packages".
Anyway... sorry, postal carriers, but our mailbox is quite large enough for at least 300 or so of the 306 deliveries you might have to make each year (assuming that something arrives every day you deliver). Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but don't you charge more postage for anything a bit more substantial than a business-sized envelope? And doesn't part of that charge actually include delivering such packages - even if it means an excruciating "dismount"? Once you start charging $.44 for the delivery of a book, I'll get a bigger mailbox into which it can get stuffed. Meanwhile, you may do so yourselves.