This page last updated 11/22/00
The Post Office hates competition, and they are working to stifle it yet again.
My current rant has been triggered by a new regulation being pushed by the United States Post Office. You can get huge amounts of detail on this at http://www.postalwatch.org . The new regulations require that people who hire commercial mail receiving agents (CMRAs) have to conform thier address to a new format, which more than a few places simply cannot accomodate for various reasons. Think the year 2000 problem was bad? Imagine people who have to convince business with 3-line addresses baked into all thier applications to change to a 4-line form in less than a year.
The Postal "Service" claims that this is an anti-fraud measure, I don't believe them for a minute. The USPS has a long history of protecting thier monopoly with all the charm and subtlety of a rabid Rottwieler. CMRAs exist because of some fairly severe deficiencies on the part of the USPS. One of the biggies is that the USPS will not accept deliveries from competing services to a post office box. At most offices you are limited to retrieving your mail when the facility is open. There are some that have extended hours or 24-hour box lobbies, and even 24-hour full-services in large cities, but not many. CRMAs are largely the other way around, most have 24-hour box lobbies, and usually have a couple of special boxes for over-size mail. True, this often means calling them or leaving a note because of getting a note in your box, adding a day to the recieving time, but at least your item is stored somewhere reasonably safe, as opposed to being left on your doorstep, with a neighbor, or tangled up in difficult/impossible delivery situations. ("I work for a living, how am I suppossed to get to a Post Office that opens after I get to work and closes before I leave?") This can also apply to private delivery services. I've been waiting for it to occur to some of them that a night delivery system would make a lot of individuals happy.
The post office currently gets away with things that would make a private delivery firm a target for industrial Darwinism. It is not unusual for me to receive packages that have passed through postal crushers. It is very unusual for me to receive damaged packages sent any other way.
If I am paying for delivery service, I expect delivery to happen unless it is physically impossible for the delivery to happen. If delivery cannot be accomplished, I expect fairly good reasons to come back with the item. "No one named Zaphod Beeblebrox lives here" or "the building burned down" or "that street/number/unit does not exist" are reasons for non-delivery. "Not deliverable as addressed" is something I put up with from the post office because I have to, lacking an alternative. Any private company that returned a package with just that notation would drop down my list to somewhere below "carrier turtle".
If you are in the delivery business, you are generally expected to deliver anything for which sufficient information to find the location is given. While the post office has things like "Rural Route" delivery (at least until such time as the 911 system forces a standard address on every building in the US), private delivery services delivering to such areas can find the address space on the package filled with directions because no numbered address is available. (A family member once worked for an airline tickets-by-mail office, and overnight services did get directions in place of an address on occasion.)
My reasons for using a CMRA are fairly typical for a non-business. I get parcels on a regular basis, the only truly weatherproof mailbox is inside a building, barring REALLY severe weather that collapses buildings, and some areas might have the security issue. The new cluster boxes that the post office is putting in (no more home delivery in any new development) are lockable, but weatherproof is not among thier attributes. A good storm can drive water in. In areas where curb delivery still exists, it is possible to get weather resistant curb boxes, but water can still get in. The closest thing to weatherproof mailboxes are in areas where mailboxes are attached to houses and can be shielded by an awning, or the very old mail-slot-in-the-door.
If I read the current rules correctly, I am unable to receive mail of certain classes, like registered or COD. The post office will not deliver these to CMRAs and I can't realistically visit offices while they are open.
This page has been composed over time, and I have learned a thing or three as I've gone along. The post office has caved in to the extent that they will allow addresses of the form:
Zaphod Beeblebrox
1234 Sirius Way #42
Somewhere, ZZ 12345-6789
As well as
Zaphod Beeblebrox
PMB 42
1234 Sirius Way
Somewhere, ZZ 12345-6789
Well, this is nice, but I cannot control what others put on thier addresses for me, and a whole lot of businesses seem incapable of having four-line addresses or anything for a unit number other than an APT designation.
[updates in progress...]