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Postal Service Removes Drop-off Mailboxes to Cut Costs
It looms on the post office community bulletin board like a notice from the Wild West.
“Wanted By U.S. Postal Inspectors,” the poster reads in large, red letters, and even offers a $10,000 reward. All that’s missing is a mugshot of a perpetrator of “residential mailbox attacks.”
The U.S. Postal Service takes mail theft, which is a felony offense, very seriously. It was not as outspoken, however, with the disappearance of local drop-off mailboxes.
The removal of lesser-used boxes was an attempt to save money, according to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service office in Pasadena.
The boxes were removed months ago, but were not taken out haphazardly, said a Santa Barbara post office supervisor, who wasn’t authorized to give his name.
In a two-week survey, mail carriers counted each piece of mail in the boxes to find which had the most use, he said. Those that didn’t make the cutoff — with an average of fewer than 50 pieces a day — were removed.
“Like everyone else, we’re downsizing,” the supervisor said.
People have been calling the post office and posting comments on Noozhawk wondering about the mailboxes.
“We’ve put a couple of them back because people requested it,” the supervisor said. In addition, a street-side drop-off box was added in front of the Anacapa Street post office downtown.
Other cities have been employing the same strategy in efforts to cut back during the economy’s downturn. The Los Angeles area had more than 900 mailboxes removed in late February, according to the Los Angeles Times. Like Santa Barbara, box traffic was evaluated, and those receiving fewer than 25 pieces a day were deemed economically unfeasible.
— Noozhawk staff writer Giana Magnoli can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
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» on 09.21.09 @ 05:18 AM
The amount of $ saved is negligible compared with the actual COST of picking up the mail by an employee who is in the area anyway. Nowhere NEAR the cost of bonuses to managers of a bankrupt USPS.
» on 09.21.09 @ 06:06 AM
The box near our office had its schedule reduced to one mid-morning pickup per day, dropping the traditional late afternoon pickup. Then, of course,no one hardly used it!
» on 09.21.09 @ 06:21 AM
If the USPS wants to save money they should eliminate some of their bloated management. Some of these people even in mid-level management are making over $100,000, plus bonuses. Check it out at datauniverse.com
» on 09.21.09 @ 06:38 AM
Has anyone realized that part of what makes the USPS a GOVERNMENT agency…is the fact it answers to the public…through Congress! If they have not been asked to PROVIDE the SURVEY proof that each and every box was actually monitored as stated by Management (although statements were SO official as to have been made under identity hiding!)...MAKE THEM DO IT!
BTW, anyone else notice the drawn line in the sand was not even CLEAR! It is 50 or less mailpieces in one area…and 25 elsewhere!
» on 09.21.09 @ 11:30 AM
Its a shame that the Postal Service is solving its revenue problem by downsizing and reducing services. There is a better way for the Postal Service to ensure future revenue and longevity. The Obama administration is searching for a way to finish the unfinished US mass transit system. Swiss people travel further on mass transit than any other people…in a country the size of New Jersey! They use mass transit because it goes everywhere regularly thanks to the Swiss Postal Service which uses special postal service buses to transport both mail and people to places not served by rail or normal buses http://www.flickr.com/photos/stumm/82886450/.
Ironically, the first mass transit in the United States was US Post Office contract. Both Butterfield Stage Lines and Wells Fargo were started on postal contracts. Drivers had the title of mail carrier. They delivered mail but also people. Prior to that many of the ships that transported the settlers to the new world were mail ships….that is what RMS means, Royal Mail Ship. Now that we need a mass transit system that delivers to all towns, it makes sense for the postal service to reclaim this old role.
Best wishes, R. Lane Anderson,
retired letter carrier USPS, NALC Humanitarian of the Year 2006 http://www.nalc.org/news/precord/ArticlesPDF/0906-heroes.pdf , former President Branch 290 National Association of Letter Carriers and former shop steward, public relations officer and newsletter editor
Currently candidate for Santa Barbara City Council
http://www.laneanderson.org http://www.smartvoter.org/2009/11/03/ca/sba/vote/anderson_r/
» on 09.21.09 @ 03:34 PM
I live on the Mesa and I have to drive over half a mile to find a drop off box at the Lazy Acres shopping center. This uses up gasoline and pollutes the air. How is this helping our world?
I live in a big condo complex on Miramonte Dr. I live across the street from the old drop off box location and I have seen many people use the mailbox. We now no longer have a convenient drop off box for large envelopes. I think the box removal was penny wise and pound foolish.
» on 09.21.09 @ 04:06 PM
I still don’t understand the reasoning behind removing the drop off mail boxes. There are mail trucks on the streets/roads all day every day. It woud seem to me that when they are finished their routes, they could have a route back to the post office to pick up mail from drop boxes. OR be assigned certain drop boxes and pick it up anytime during their day that they pass it? What is so unreasonable about that. Just a little pre-planning on a map by their supervisor!Duh.
» on 09.21.09 @ 06:54 PM
Aside from saving money, the removal of collection boxes is the best thing to happen, let me explain why. Illegal drug users, excessive gamblers, etc. typically target US Mail because it contains checks and personal identifying information which can be used to obtain funds and/or is used as a resource to commit identity theft used to support their habits.
What many postal customers do not realize is collection boxes are a conduit to mail theft. The collection boxes located in front of Post Offices are particularly susceptible to mail theft because of the volume of mail deposited into them. The Postal Service has gone to great lengths to secure the mail deposited into collection boxes, but the bottom line is the mail is vulnerable, and so are the customers that continue to use the collection boxes.
Instead of grumbling about the inconvenience of disappearing collection boxes, you should be thanking the Postal Service from potentially saving you from becoming an unsuspecting victim.
A word of advise, take a few extra minutes and drive or walk a little further and deposit outgoing mail inside of a drop box located inside of a Post Office. This will ultimately protect you from becoming a victim.
» on 09.21.09 @ 07:18 PM
Drop boxes are tapped by the regular carrier on that route every day. Or at least they are suppose to. :-| No set time. Then some boxes are tapped again by a collection carrier in late afternoon / early evening at set times. The box labels are scanned, and a report downloaded at end of day, to prove they were there and collected the mail. By getting rid of boxes, it is more so to downsize/eliminate the afternoon/evening requirement of collection, thus downsizing gas, hours, etc.
» on 09.21.09 @ 07:32 PM
anyone else notice that their mail is only delivered 3-4 days per week? i have checked with the neighbors, and there are days where at least 5 people on my street get no mail at all…extremely unlikely.
» on 09.21.09 @ 07:56 PM
The Post Office can’t manage to keep costs under control while continually raising our rates? Is this how healthcare will be - hey let’s remove a few old people, and people in comas, they aren’t “economically feasible”.
» on 09.21.09 @ 08:02 PM
HA HA HA HA that one must have been written by the postmaster general.. hilarious! HA HA ROFLMAO!
» on 09.21.09 @ 10:18 PM
I guess they’re slowly phasing out mail service. NO other reason to remove the mail boxes other than to discourage people from mailing. Go online for all your bills; write e-mails instead of letters.
» on 09.22.09 @ 09:49 AM
After a long day at work and on my way home, I have taken all my outgoing business mail to the drop box usually after 5 PM only to find out that it won’t even get picked up by the post office until 3 PM the next day. This is not business friendly.
» on 09.22.09 @ 11:16 AM
I read complaints regularly that the post office should be run by a business.. well, this is what a business does when revenues are reduced (the internet has greatly decreased my sending/receiving physical mail—and I suspect yours, too. most of my banks have gone to electronic statements/payments.) what businesses HAVEN’T downsized lately.. even before the economic problems.
» on 09.23.09 @ 08:35 PM
Folks whiners and Such,
Your mailman still comes around to your mailbox once every day 6 days a week. Quit your belly aching and if you dont want to walk to a box, leave it for your daily mailcarrier. If you miss em, they will be back around tomorrow.. What whiners.
» on 09.28.09 @ 04:31 AM
If the nearest post office box is half a mile away Cheryl, get out of your condo, hop on a bicycle and drop off the mail that way instead of firing up your gas guzzler just to drive half a mile. Geez.
» on 12.17.09 @ 07:19 PM
Whats up with our federally run postal service?I cant believe at forty one cents per letter this company cant make a profit.Is it management?Is it that their overpaying their help?Are they delivering the mail in hummers are just employing to many incompetant people to do a job that I’m quite sure isn’t rocket science.I just can’t understand how a company that could deliver a letter sixty years ago for one penny and make a substantial profit can’t do it today at forty one cents per letter. maybe some investigating and revamping is in order.
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