Post Office telling neighbors to put mail boxes on others property .

So the post office is telling people to install Mail boxes on other peoples property . The old couple that lives across the street will have to walk across the street in the winter to get their mail this is in town not on a country road . Postmaster is a decent guy He's looking into a solution if there is one .

I was told we own everything to the middle of the street If the County/government claims to owns it and can do whatever they want to it then they need to maintain it and my taxes need to be lowered . During the winter the street gets banks of snow from the snow plows not to mention the Ice . To make a elderly couple deal with that isn't right .

I also asked with no good answer If the box is on my property and a tree branch fall's on someones head or someone falls and it's my property who get's sued me or the Federal postal service ?

If the Fed's own the boxes and the 6 square inches that surrounds them on government taken property them I should be getting rent .

Tried not to rant but getting a knock on the door from a neighbor asking if they can install a mail box on your property is kind of WTH in my book .

a reply to: Ravenwatcher
Profits BEFORE Service.

Monopoly so someone want's to streamline it, cut the number of employees delivering the mail to a bare minimum and minimise the time they then spend delivering the mail by making the CUSTOMER do half the work of the DELIVERY.

Sound's like there may be a legal case there for breach of contract in which the Post Office is the one in breach if there is a contract moral, written, implied that they should deliver those good's, parcels and letters to the address they are sent too.

And as for that Address there is an actual black and white breach of contract there if they do not then deliver what they have been paid to deliver to where they have received and accepted payment TO Deliver.


There is a counter argument but it is still breach of this implied (And written and paid for with that payment accepted by the contract breaker) contract and that is that Mail is not making as much profit as it once was since many people now rely on emails for the majority of there written communication.

But if your Post office is still state owned then it becomes a matter of policy, a good and competent contract lawyer however should still be able to wipe the floor with them.

Not at all unusual and has been the case for over 200 hundred years now. On most any rural road mailboxes are on one side of the street only, thus only one pass needed by the mail truck. Half the people on the road must walk across it to get to their mail. In my own neighborhood there is a cluster of mailboxes at the head of a small feeder road that goes back into the woods. Residents must walk a considerable distance up the road to get the their box. And that's nothing considering the same people must drag their garbage cans to the same spot--uphill. In my previous residence the mailbox cluster was over 1/4 mile away from the house. Both these areas are suburban, not rural.

And lest you think this is only for "poor" or rural areas, in "gated" communities with sometimes several dozens of huge new houses the mailboxes are in one cluster close to the gate, more akin to apartment house mailboxes, far enough away that elderly residents are basically forced to drive to the mailbox area.

Compared to the two examples I cited above, which I have personally witnessed, your problem appears rather trivial.

a reply to: schuyler

Not really my point I live in a Town not on the out skirts pretty much down town and the Architecture doesn't call for the Government confiscation of my property for said not my mail box .

Interesting, because around here, even in town, we don't own 3 feet FROM the edge of the road. Even though in town, you still have to maintain that strip of grass between the road, and the sidewalk. Out here in the country, technically, our mailbox is in the neighbor's yard. (across the street)

There are all kinds of screwy issues. We found out a few years ago, that our road is crooked. The neighbor beside us was having a land survey done, that actually gave us 15 more feet back, from where our property line was. Didn't make the neighbor on the other side happy, since he owned it.
But again, Technically, the neighbor across the street owns the road.

Good thing we are all friendly out here. Legally, it could be a sticky situation I guess.

Most towns and cities have easement rights to a portion of your property that connects to the road. They don't need your permission to dig it up for the installation of underground cables, sewer, etc. but you do need their permission before you dig.

Phone service was disrupted to a large portion of our town, and the cause was a guy installing fence posts on his property last fall- which just happened to cost him a $10,000.00 fine. "Call before you dig" signs were clearly displayed, and ignored.

Very true, I worked for a municipal public works for years and lots of people are shocked to find out that the curb and 6 feet or so of their yard isn’t actually theirs. I mean we try to be a least disruptive as possible doing digs because moving less earth saves money but safety comes first so sometimes when your digging a roadway a portion of the connecting yard(s) comes down too before people enter for repairs.

Same with trees that hang out into back ally’s. It was my job to trim them flush to peoples property lines if they didn’t do so themselves after being givin notice. Everyone gets the notice stuck to their door, no one ever does anything about it. They all say they never got the notice and they all get mad when you cut their trees and bill them. Fun job….
a reply to: nugget1

a reply to: Ravenwatcher

May not apply...but in some cities, the easement (small strip of grass between the street and walk unless rural), belongs usually to the municipality/city.

They usually own that strip their boxes sit on...the Federal Government really does. Like my house that strip is my prop...but the city 100% controls it: trees, curbs etc.

a reply to: nugget1

Holy cow, thanks. I just said that a-bove!!.
(As Above, So Below)

I need to start looking UP before posting...

a reply to: Ravenwatcher

You don't own the street. Local government owns 5 to 10 feet of frontage.

a reply to: Ravenwatcher
Not living under American law, I find the whole "own to the middle of the road" concept a little bizarre.
Has it occurred to you that at least one lane of car-drivers must be on your property by the same principle? Why isn't that an issue?

originally posted by: Ravenwatcher
a reply to: schuyler

Not really my point I live in a Town not on the out skirts pretty much down town and the Architecture doesn't call for the Government confiscation of my property for said not my mail box .

You complained that old people had to walk across the street. That is obviously part of your point. You don't have exclusive rights to "your" property when it is subject to an easement. That includes roads, sewers, electrical lines, etc. And when "your" vegetation infringes on that easement, the city has the right to cut it down.

a reply to: Ravenwatcher

"one . "

PLEASE stop this braindead trend of putting a space before punctuation. Space belongs ONLY after punctuation, NEVER before. It makes your text illegible, grammatically wrong and untrustworthy. I would NEVER, ever trust anything anyone has to say that can't type proper punctuation.