#618 Going Postal

Surprise. According to today's Kingston Freeman newspaper, "Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds" is NOT the motto of the US Postal Service. The US Postal Service, in fact, has no official motto. Turns out the words were written by the Greek historian Herodotus, describing the couriers who carried military orders during the war between Greece and Persia. Apparently it was the independent decision of the architect to add it to the (1913) facade of the James Farley Central Post Office on Eighth Avenue in Manhattan. Just decoration.

This little gem was in an article about how the local PO in Kingston is requiring that city addresses must begin using curbside mailboxes, just like us country folks, so that the mail carriers can shorten their routes by not having to walk up to every door, and can deliver the mail faster. Money-saving measure. No mention was made of delivering by vehicle.

I'm confused. The photographs accompanying the article show the (standard rural) mailboxes right up against the curb, facing the street. Now, if the carriers are still delivering on foot, wouldn't it make sense for the mailboxes to be at the edge of the lawns, facing the sidewalk, or between the sidewalk and the curb, facing in? If the carriers are delivering by vehicle, uh, does this mean no one can park on the street any more? Out here in the countryside, there's plenty of room between mailboxes, and nobody much parks on the roads anyway. But in the city, almost everybody parks on the street, and there's very little space between the mailboxes. The article didn't explain it.

Won't this enormously increase vandalism and mail theft temptation?

I don't understand.