Letter to the editor: Relegation of mail carriers

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After not receiving mail, or any notification of why, on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday (last week); even with a clear and safe, albeit six foot, path to my mailbox, I went down to the U.S. Post office, 06403, on Friday.

I met with the Postmaster, who politely informed me that the “carrier cannot dismount the vehicle to deliver your mail”.

Consequently, I spent some quality time with a steel shovel and “pick-ax” on Saturday morning, to narrow the gap between the frozen snow pile along the road, and curb / mailbox. Apparently to no avail though, as the mail carrier drove right by my mailbox and raised flag, later that afternoon.

Upon some research and some reflection, I’ve come to a few realizations.

The phrase “Neither snow, nor rain … nor gloom of night” is, obviously, not the official creed of the U.S. Post Office, it is an inscription on the wall of New York City’s main Post Office, zip code: 10001; and thus, falsely, attributed as the U.S. Post Office motto.

Leaving us with well meaning carriers, who “cannot dismount their vehicles”, likely as a result of some OSHA, Union, or other regulatory encumbrance.

So, much like the milkman and paperboy, the postman has been relegated to an iconic Norman Rockwell image, from a bygone era.

James Hagan
Beacon Falls