INC NEWS - USPS backs off mailbox policy (Herald-Sun)

[Caleb Southern]

USPS backs off mailbox policy

By JOHN MCCANN : The Herald-Sun
jmccann at heraldsun.com
Nov 27, 2005 : 10:29 pm ET

DURHAM -- A looming mailbox policy last summer that had Durham residents in
a tizzy never materialized.

But it would have had some merit, the postmaster says.

At the time of the fuss, Durham Postmaster Chris Tinkham was doing an
eight-month fill-in stint for the postal service in Raleigh. Patrick Harkin
was Durham's interim postmaster when letters were sent telling new Bull City
residents to erect curbside mailboxes if their homes -- typically older ones
-- were set up for front-door delivery.

Residents howled. The postal service backed off.

"The story is we are on standard operating procedure," said
InterNeighborhood Council President Mike Woodard.

In July, the INC drew a line in the sand objecting to a forced change.

The philosophy of the U.S. Postal Service is that curbside delivery makes
things easier on mail carriers, saving money that's supposed to skirt the
need for raising the price of stamps -- which, by the way, will increase by
2 cents next year.

That said, Tinkham won't force the issue and make folks pull the plug on
front-door delivery, although some residents actually would welcome the
switch, he said.

There are homeowners who don't want to worry about the dog biting the
mailman. Others just don't want anybody tramping through their yards,
period.

For those thinking the move was mandatory and hustled out and switched their
mailboxes, reimbursements will be handled case-by-case, Tinkham said.

Unfortunately, neither curbside mailboxes nor front-door bins do anything to
thwart bad guys looking for personal information they can use to steal your
identity. Sure, curbside boxes are convenient for crooks, but these bandits
aren't lazy. They will just as easily take the extra steps and hop onto your
porch and rummage around in the drop box by the front door.

Tinkham recommends mailboxes with locks. They can be purchased individually.
But the postmaster said buying one together as a cul de sac or street of
neighbors has more aesthetic appeal, because it would be one centrally
located container.

As a matter of convenience, locked mailboxes forfeit the need to put mail on
hold when you're headed out of town, Tinkham said.

Keep in mind, the postmaster added, mailbox thieves are lurking between the
hours when your mail is delivered and the time you finally arrive home from
work or running errands.

And older people should be especially vigilant. These bandits are drawn to
their letter receptacles like electronic spam to e-mail inboxes.

"Usually, the elderly have a nest egg," Tinkham explained.

Due in part to consumer wariness about online identity theft, the volume of
first-class mail remains high even around here in the academically
progressive and technologically savvy Triangle area, Tinkham said.

When you send those letters, though, particularly if they contain precious
personal information, the postmaster said there's no topping the security of
the big, blue mailboxes scattered throughout the Bull City. They are
old-fashioned, but obviously not outdated.

The inconvenience of locating one is worth the months and years it could
take to recover your financial life from an identity thief.

"They're locked," Tinkham said of the government mailboxes, "and we're the
only ones with the keys."

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