To the Editor:
In a recent letter to the Editor a writer expressed frustration that residents of Mattapoisett village do not have mail delivery to their homes and must use a P.O. Box as their address. This causes countless problems getting mail or packages delivered, proving residency and so on. The United States Postal Service which promises to deliver mail through rain, heat, or gloom of night does not deliver to the good citizens of Mattapoisett village and hasn’t for some time.
Having to use both a P.O. Box and a street address is particularly problematical when ordering merchandise from online merchants. Private shipping services have begun transferring packages to the US Postal Service for final local delivery resulting in a proverbial “Catch-22″where mail arrives late or not at all because the USPS does not deliver mail to the street address and the private companies do not deliver to a P.O. Box – a frustrating problem indeed.
The letter writer neglected to mention the additional expense of having to rent a P.O. Box at the Post Office. I live two houses from the Post Office. To paraphrase an old joke … while I can’t see Russia from by back door, I can see the Post Office; yet, the US Postal Service refuses to deliver to my street address. The annual rental cost for a moderate size mail box is $214.00. Even a smaller letter size box costs $82.00. While these boxes can be rented in three month increments, anyone else who gets their mail delivered to their street address or to a rural style mailbox gets it for free. Repeated inquiries at the Post Office as to why villagers don’t get free delivery elicits shrugged shoulders, blank stares, or the offer of an 800 phone number to call Washington, D.C.
I have recently discovered that the USPS Service Manual Section 4.2.1 states that “The United States Postal Service has made no-fee post office box service available to many customers who are ineligible for carrier delivery” by submitting Form 1093 No-Fee Post Office Box Renewal Notice. It might be worth a try.
Dick Morgado, Mattapoisett
The views expressed in the “Letters to the Editor” column are not necessarily those of The Wanderer, its staff or advertisers. The Wanderer will gladly accept any and all correspondence relating to timely and pertinent issues in the great Marion, Mattapoisett and Rochester area, provided they include the author’s name, address and phone number for verification. We cannot publish anonymous, unsigned or unconfirmed submissions. The Wanderer reserves the right to edit, condense and otherwise alter submissions for purposes of clarity and/or spacing considerations. The Wanderer may choose to not run letters that thank businesses, and The Wanderer has the right to edit letters to omit business names. The Wanderer also reserves the right to deny publication of any submitted correspondence.