Developers urged to put mailboxes in clusters
Saving the letter carrier a few steps could help save the U.S. Postal Service a few million dollars.
Charleston Postmaster Tim Shaw made an informal plea Tuesday to a crowd heavy with residential real estate developers, urging them to consider clustering mailboxes as they plan new housing projects.
"We're the forgotten utility," Shaw said at the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce Developers Council forum. "No one thinks about mailboxes."
In a sprawling residential development, a centralized delivery system might group eight to 16 mailboxes in one spot, plus an outgoing mail slot. It can make a big difference in a mail carrier's workday, Shaw said.
A letter carrier doing door-to-door delivery by foot can make between 250 to 450 stops each day. That method is the most expensive and least safe, Shaw said.
Freestanding roadside mailboxes boost a mail carrier's route to between 450 and 650 stops a day, he said, while a centralized system allows them to reach up to 1,250 homes and businesses daily.
Shaw said the method is not only faster, it's safer. "Less dog bites, less spider bites, less bee stings, less snakes in mailboxes," he said.
Post office officials do not require single-family home subdivisions to implement centralized delivery, though most multifamily buildings and commercial centers with more than one business need to have group mail.
Rather, Shaw said, the idea could save the Postal Service money at a time when it needs to watch every penny.
The agency's only revenue comes from postage, Shaw said. Faxes, the advent of e-mail and safety concerns that arose after the 2001 anthrax attacks have slowly chipped away at the amount of mail that the Postal Service handles. Meanwhile, fuel costs have soared.
Making matters worse, Shaw said, the number of Charleston postal workers hasn't expanded along with the local growth.
The push behind centralized mail delivery isn't entirely a cost-cutting measure. For example, it could help deter identity thieves who target mail boxes. There's also a social aspect to the idea, Shaw said.
"It's very common to see people standing by the mailboxes together chatting," he said.
Reach Katy Stech at kstech@postandcourier.com or 937-5549.
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