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Mailboxes don’t have to move

To the Editor:

I’ve heard recently the Postal Service has been telling customers they have to move their mail boxes to a Centralized delivery point and they won’t have delivery to their house or business. Well, to be clear- it isn’t true.

You cannot be forced to change, what is called, your “mode” of delivery if you don’t want to. The Postal Service, like any other Government agency, has tons of Handbooks and Manuals which control its operations. I should know, I’m a retired Letter Carrier and I worked for 28 years in Boone before I retired. The Postal Operations Manual (POM) is the controlling document about this sort of thing and it says specifically;

“POM Sec. 631.6 Delivery managers can go into any delivery territory where delivery has been established for over 1 year and solicit to convert the mode of delivery if it would be cost beneficial to the Postal Service…

…Customer signatures must be obtained prior to any conversion. In single family housing areas (including manufactured housing and mobile homes) where the residences and lots are owned, each owner must agree to the conversion in writing. Owners who do not agree must be allowed to retain their current mode of delivery.”

The Post Office can Solicit – ask – you to change to a Centralized delivery mode, but you don’t have to agree to the change unless you want. If you want to go along and make the change the Postal Service still has to acquire your written consent.

No doubt the Postal Service needs to cut its costs but the reason it is in such a financial condition is because Congress requires it to pay $5.5 Billion a year to the Treasury – not because it isn’t making money selling stamps and delivering our mail. Last year the Postal Service made an operational profit of over $400 Million.

Let Congress fix the problem they created and don’t try to take away Service from the People who pay for it. If you don’t want to have your mailbox moved from your existing delivery “mode” don’t agree to the move – it’s our service and if we want to keep it where it is, then that’s what we will do. Don’t let anyone from the Post Office tell you, “you have to move your mailbox.” It’s simply not true.

Roger Garvey

Retired letter carrier

Webster City

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