January 24, 2014
Dear Everyone:
Such a to-do about the mail boxes here where I live.
E*******e Drive is, essentially, a big horse shoe shaped curve, with
residences on either side of the street.
There are four Locations, not quite equally arranged at not quite
the four “corners” of the community, where the mail boxes are located.
Each group of mail boxes is numbered in order to be closely
associated with the residence that goes with that number.
Logical, right? You
don’t want your residents to have to walk all the way across the
community to get to their mail, do you?
A few months ago I suggested that the mail boxes be replaced as many
were un-lock-able, some had the numbers fallen off and generally they
were old and decrepit. The
Association Board agreed and put it on the “To Do” List.
Then a higher priority issue came up (they always do) and the mail boxes
got bumped down a bit. In
the meantime, I got roped into serving on the Board.
I was on the Board of my last Association.
It’s a good way to find out what’s going on in my neighborhood
without having to walk a dog every day.
And it generally doesn’t really take up that much time.
Meanwhile, the mail boxes were still sitting on the “To Do, But Not
Right Away” List. Until
about two months ago when the new “Postmaster” at the
San Ramon Postal
“Service” decided to throw his weight around, figuratively speaking.
He informed the Association president that if she didn’t get the
mail boxes replaced “immediately” he would halt all mail “service” to
E*******e Drive.
Suddenly, the mail boxes were back up at the top of the “To Do” List,
with many, many emails flying around about which vendor to use, how much
the mail boxes would cost, how soon could they get them installed and so
on and so forth. I even went
so far as to make up a list of all the residence numbers, in order,
according to which “Location” the mail boxes were in, so the
manufacturer could be sure to put the right numbers in the right places.
Enter the “Postmaster” who decided to throw his weight around,
figuratively speaking, again.
He informed the Association president that there was no way the
postal “service” would deliver mail unless the boxes were in strictly
numerical order, regardless of where the residences were located.
This might make sense if it meant that the postal “service” could
guarantee that they would, in fact, deliver mail to the correct boxes.
A person might be willing to walk a little further if they could
be sure that their summons to appear in court would be delivered to them
and not to some other mail box entirely.
In fact, so much mail is put into the wrong boxes now that we have a
plastic box on top of our mailbox.
When you receive mail that is not addressed to you, you place it
in the box. Conversely, if
you see mail in the box, you always check to see if might actually be
yours. This box is used at
least three to four times per week.
The “Postmaster” has made it clear that he is not interested in
discussing the issue.
In the meantime, we have had notices posted at all the mailbox
Locations, informing the residents that they are getting new mail boxes
(The Good News) and that some mail boxes will be moving (The Bad News).
And notices delivered by the very same postal “service”.
And notices slipped into doorjambs by our ever-helpful porter.
The other night, at the Homeowners Association Meeting, one question
that kept coming up was: “I
understand that my mail box may be moving; but how do I find out where
it may be moving to?”
The Official Answer: There’s
a list posted on the door to the Fitness Center at the Clubhouse that
shows which location will have which mail box numbers.
And there are lists at each Location showing which numbers will
be there in the future.
What it doesn’t tell you is where the other locations are.
If you always got your mail at Location One and the new mail box
will be at Location Four, how do you know where Location Four is?
Answer: Wander around
until you find it.
Well, really!
I already have a Site Map of E*******e Drive, originally created by the
Developer, which is available on the Community Website.
I pulled that up, copied the map, and dropped it into
Microsoft
Paint, which I used to excise all the unnecessary stuff, like which
floor plan went with which building.
Then I copied that into a
Word Document.
Walked around the Community a few times to figure out where all
the mail Locations are and which numbers would go with which Location in
the future. Plopped all this
data into a spreadsheet.
Copied that into the Word Document.
Printed that out, then added colored stars, left over from some project
somewhere, showing which Locations are where.
Then it was a simple matter to make enough copies to tape on the
Fitness Center door, along with the aforementioned notices-and-list, as
well as each mail Location.
All of which was enough exercise to forego using the Fitness Center.
I’ll be glad when all these new mail boxes are in place.
Right now, you can’t even see through the glass door in the
Fitness Center because it’s plastered with all these notices, etc.
Maybe I’ll suggest installing some kind of “Community Information Board”
at the next Association meeting.
You never know, it might even make it on to the “To Do, But Not
Right Now” List.
Love, as always,
Pete
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