Mail delivery won't change without recipients' approval

Mail delivery won't change without recipients' approval

Q: I live in Japanese Garden Mobile Home Park in Clearwater. Since this park opened some 45 years ago we have had our mail delivered directly to our mailboxes, which are attached to each home.

The post office is now trying to change the delivery to a mailbox at the curb or to cluster boxes located throughout the park. We have a lot of elderly people living here and it is difficult for some of them to get outside to get their mail under the current delivery system. For some it would be impossible if a change is made.

My question is, has there been a change in the post office rules and regulations that would allow it to make the change it is trying to make, and what is the regulation that specifies its right to make such a change?

Ed Lee

A: The postal service in your area has no intention of altering the delivery format for your mobile home park, according to Gary Sawtelle, who works with the U.S. Postal Service's corporate communications office.

He spoke to the Clearwater postmaster and said "a couple years ago we did ask them about potential conversion, and we'd be happy to do it if they were interested." Sawtelle reiterated that there are no current plans for that conversion, but if there were, the residents would be consulted before any change was made.

There is "a provision where if you change a mode of delivery, whether single address, like this situation, or cluster boxes," he said, "it would have to be with the approval of the recipient." He says these requested changes are usually a cost-saving tactic, but the delivery mode "will not be changed unless you agree to it."

More mail news

Did you know that you not only have control over your postal delivery method, but you can also control what kind of mail you receive? The Direct Marketing Association has developed DMAchoice to help with your mail preferences.

The DMA is associated with nearly 3,600 companies around the world and is the leading trade association for businesses and nonprofit organizations that send direct mail. The DMA Web site says that direct mail is a green way to shop. "If Americans replaced two trips to the mall each year with shopping by catalog," it says, "we'd reduce our number of miles driven by 3.3 billion, a 3 billion pound reduction in carbon dioxide and a savings of $650 million on gas alone.

"Direct mail is only successful if you're interested in the types of mail you're receiving," and the DMA wants to help you get more of the mail you want and less of what you don't. This is why the DMA created the program, which is free, online and simple to use.

Track your mail for a few weeks to decide what kind of mail you'd like to see more of and what you don't want to see at all. Once you sign up, you can set preferences for receiving mail in four categories: credit offers, catalogs, magazine offers and other mail offers including donation requests, bank offers and retail promotions.

Signup is quick and easy at www.dmachoice.org. Any choices you make will be effective for three years from the date you make them, and you can continuously update your preferences.