Neighborhood Parking issues

[asta]

My neighbor has 5 cars at their house on a regular basis, and another 3-4 that come by on Sundays. I had to ask them to stop parking in the space in front of my house during the week because the mailperson wouldn't deliver if they couldn't reach the mailbox. Their driveway can park 4 if lined up in two rows; same with mine, and my other neighbor has room for 6 single file.

The way our houses are set is on a small semi-circle. there is the road coming in, and the road going out set at a 90 degree angle, and we are on the point. It's so close, for the front yards. it's like this:
their mailbox, their driveway, my mailbox (about a foot from their driveway), my driveway (a foot from my mailbox), a foot of grass, then another neighbor's driveway.

There is room to park on the incoming streets, but not in our circle.

The mail would be the real issue for us. If the mail person can not drive up to the mailbox they will absolutely not deliver the mail. I can put up with no mail for an occasional party but would not be able to put up with it on a regular basis. The only time I ever said anything about parking in front of my house was to the lawn service that took care of the property across the street. I really don't know why they always parked in front of our house but I just explained that we were not getting mail delivery and they stopped.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Public street = anyone can park wherever.

Typically, in private neighborhoods, most homeowners feel the spaces directly in front of their houses is "theirs". But it's not.

We live on the outside of a curve in our neighborhood. The curb directly in front of our house used to be red. When our sons got their cars, they started parking across the street from our house, as the next closest places to park (in "front" of our house) were two houses down in one direction, and around the corner in the other.

One of them got a nasty (unsigned) note on his windshield one day, apparently from some one living in the condos on that side of the street, telling him to "park in his own space". Also said, the curb space was for "condo residents only". Yeah.....no. We ignored it.

We have since petitioned the city to remove the red curb. Turns out it was put there after a previous owner of our house felt he didn't want random cars parked in front of his house.

Now we have the issue of cars parking in front of our mailbox. Like a previous poster, if the mailbox is blocked the mail is not delivered. But the mailman will put a note on the offending car to not block the mailbox. We have just enough space to park our son's cars with (in theory) less than a car length in front of the mailbox. Doesn't stop others from parking in "our" spot.

 

[Poohlove]

In our town there is no overnight parking on the street so between the hours of 2-6am your car needs to be in your driveway. If you have more cars than your driveway holds you need to park the one that doesn't fit somewhere else. They do allow for occasional call ins but track them in the event that someone abuses the privilege. I don't mind so much that someone parks in front of my house until when I come home I can't do it so we have to do a vehicle shuffle and all because my neighbors for whatever reason have decided that their car is better off somewhere other than in front of their own house or in their driveway. They get uptight if I park in front of their house which makes me giggle, I told the wife the one time she said something that I had to park there because her car was at my house. She failed to see the humor.

 

[Soldier's*Sweeties]

I get annoyed when neighbors who KNOW that my husband and I park in front of my house park in our spots. I would never say anything though since it's public parking. The only time we have said something was when DH snowblowed our spots last week. In the time it took him to come in and get a drink, the woman across the street parked her car right in the middle of our two spots so that we couldn't even get one of our cars there!

Not much they can do though OP, it's public space.

 

[bcla]

The mail would be the real issue for us. If the mail person can not drive up to the mailbox they will absolutely not deliver the mail. I can put up with no mail for an occasional party but would not be able to put up with it on a regular basis. The only time I ever said anything about parking in front of my house was to the lawn service that took care of the property across the street. I really don't know why they always parked in front of our house but I just explained that we were not getting mail delivery and they stopped.

They won't walk? In my neighborhood there are very few curbside mailboxes. Most homes have mail slots either near the front door or many in garage doors. Our carrier typically finds a place to park and then walks mail to 3-4 houses. If one house was blocked they'd just find an empty spot or even double park. In some urban areas I'll see them pushing along a mail cart or walking the entire mail route.

 

[DaisyJ]

They won't walk? In my neighborhood there are very few curbside mailboxes. Most homes have mail slots either near the front door or many in garage doors. Our carrier typically finds a place to park and then walks mail to 3-4 houses. If one house was blocked they'd just find an empty spot or even double park. In some urban areas I'll see them pushing along a mail cart or walking the entire mail route.

In most suburban areas, mail carriers deliver mail from vehicles to mailboxes on the street. If those mailboxes are blocked, they can't get to them with their vehicles.

 

[bcla]

She will have to deal. It's a PUBLIC street.

People are funny with their "front of my house " territorial crap.

I could care less of someone parks in front of my house, just don't block my driveway.

My wife was complaining that I park partially "in front" of our next door neighbor's property. If you drew a line from the property line to the curb, I guess my car would be maybe 1/3 in front of their house. They don't care, but once they did ask me to move since I was barely in front of their driveway.

 

[DaisyJ]

I get annoyed when neighbors who KNOW that my husband and I park in front of my house park in our spots. I would never say anything though since it's public parking. The only time we have said something was when DH snowblowed our spots last week. In the time it took him to come in and get a drink, the woman across the street parked her car right in the middle of our two spots so that we couldn't even get one of our cars there!

Not much they can do though OP, it's public space.

You don't have a driveway?

 

[bcla]

In most suburban areas, mail carriers deliver mail from vehicles to mailboxes on the street. If those mailboxes are blocked, they can't get to them with their vehicles.

I live in a suburban area. There aren't many mailboxes right on the street. We have a mail slot on our garage, and the the carrier has to get out of the vehicle and walk over the driveway to the slot. Our neighbors across the street have a traditional mailbox, but it's set against their house. The carrier has to open a gate and walk along a path to get to it.

My parents have a mailbox right along the street. They live in a neighborhood with few sidewalks. The carrier has never refused to deliver because a car was parked in front of the mailbox. In my experience, USPS employees will get out of their vehicles and walk.

 

[bcla]

I got curious about this thing about where a mailbox is placed, and I can't find anything that says mail won't be delivered if a vehicle is blocking a box. They say that a box can be attached to a house, but the carrier needs to be able to "reach it easily". They also have standards for mail slots, which most homes have in my neighborhood.

https://www.usps.com/manage/mailboxes.htm

If you are attaching the box to your house, make sure the postal carrier can reach it easily from your sidewalk, steps, or porch.​

 

[Heidict]

You don't have a driveway?

Ugh, I lived at a place that didn't have a driveway once. I HATED IT!!!! Parked where ever I could find a spot on the street. Didn't matter if it was in front of my house or somewhere else.

I live in a suburban area. There aren't many mailboxes right on the street. We have a mail slot on our garage, and the the carrier has to get out of the vehicle and walk over the driveway to the slot. Our neighbors across the street have a traditional mailbox, but it's set against their house. The carrier has to open a gate and walk along a path to get to it.

My parents have a mailbox right along the street. They live in a neighborhood with few sidewalks. The carrier has never refused to deliver because a car was parked in front of the mailbox. In my experience, USPS employees will get out of their vehicles and walk.

I can't even get mine to drive up the driveway to knock on the door. Just the slip in the mailbox that states 'we tried to deliver, but no one was home" or whatever it says. I also live on a VERY busy street, with no sidewalks. There is no way they are going to walk their route. It's in their little vehicle of it's nothing.

 

[jrmasm]

Public street, too bad so sad.

 

[DaisyJ]

I live in a suburban area. There aren't many mailboxes right on the street. We have a mail slot on our garage, and the the carrier has to get out of the vehicle and walk over the driveway to the slot. Our neighbors across the street have a traditional mailbox, but it's set against their house. The carrier has to open a gate and walk along a path to get to it.

My parents have a mailbox right along the street. They live in a neighborhood with few sidewalks. The carrier has never refused to deliver because a car was parked in front of the mailbox. In my experience, USPS employees will get out of their vehicles and walk.

Not in mine. If the mailbox is blocked, they drive right past.

 

[Soldier's*Sweeties]

You don't have a driveway?

We have a one car driveway and my husband's other one is in it.

 

[bcla]

Not in mine. If the mailbox is blocked, they drive right past.

In the US? They're supposed to get out of the vehicle and make a delivery. If the blockage isn't under the control (i.e. someone else's car) of the customer, they can't simply refuse a delivery. Even then, there has to be a warning.

https://www.nalc.org/news/the-postal-record/2011/october-2011/document/officers-1011_Layout-1-13.pdf

It seems that some post offices have a policy of skipping delivery to mailboxes when they are blocked by a car, a trash can or some other obstruction. Carriers are told to bring the mail back and mark it as “box blocked” or something similar. The mail is then reattempted the following day. Often, mail will go undelivered to a box for several days until the obstruction is removed. This practice is wrong and should be stopped.

Postal regulations require that carriers dismount to deliver to a box that is temporarily blocked. Postal Operations Manual 632.14 states:

The customer is responsible for keeping the approach to his or her mailbox clear to facilitate delivery. Where the approach to the mail receptacle located at the curb is temporarily blocked by a parked vehicle during normal delivery hours for the area, or snow or ice hampers the approach to the mailbox, the carrier normally dismounts to make delivery. If the carrier continually experiences a problem in serving curbline boxes and where the customer is able to control on-street parking in front of his or her mailbox but does not take prompt corrective action after being properly notified, the postmaster may, with the approval of the district manager, withdraw delivery service. (Emphasis supplied.)​

The above regulation makes it clear that if a box is temporarily blocked, the carrier must dismount to deliver the mail. The USPS Standard Training Program for City Letter Carriers (p 16.2.3) instructs: “If the approach to the mailbox is blocked, delivery must be attempted by dismounting where it is safe to do so.” This applies whether the box is blocked by a vehicle, a trash can or even snow or ice.

Delivery can only be withheld if the problem is continual.
Note: Continual means repeated, not intermittent or occasional. Additionally, the customer must also have some control or ability to do something about the obstruction. In most places, on-street parking is not under the control of the resident/patron, unless it happens to be his/her own vehicle that is blocking the box. Even if it’s the customer’s vehicle, delivery can only be withheld if the customer fails to remove the obstruction after being properly notified and only if the postmaster has the approval of the district manager.

Where this policy exists, NALC branches should request, either by letter or through a labor-management meeting, that management change the local policy to conform to POM 632.14. If they refuse, a grievance should be filed. Management may try to argue past practice claiming, “We’ve had this policy for years.” As we have mentioned previously, a past practice cannot override clear contract language. It doesn’t matter how long it was done that way; if it’s against postal regulations, it must cease.

Some carriers may not be happy about this, as they consider it a hassle having to park the vehicle and dismount to make the delivery. As with the other similar scenarios, point out to these carriers that they will get paid for each second it takes to dismount to make a delivery. As letter carriers, we work for a service-oriented company. All we have to sell is our service.

Dismounting to make such deliveries is not only required by regulation, it provides good service to our customers. In most instances, customers cannot control the on-street parking in front of their mailboxes, nor can they control where the garbage collectors leave their trash cans. So why should your customers be denied their mail because of something someone else did that they have no control over?

Think about how you feel when you are the recipient of poor customer service, especially when it would only take a few seconds to correct. Is that how you want your patrons to feel about you and the Postal Service? Now, think about a time when you were a customer and some employee went out of their way to help you. How did that make you feel about the company and the employee that was assisting you? That is how we want our customers to feel about letter carriers and about the Postal Service. It’s just good common sense. Think of it as preserving your job, one delivery at a time. And besides that, it’s the decent thing to do.​

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Not in mine. If the mailbox is blocked, they drive right past.

My husband is a former mail carrier. If a mailman is delivering mail via mail truck (mailboxes are on the curb in our development), they can't "just leave the truck and walk up to the door". They have to park it, lock it, and then they can go up to the door.

If an area has mail boxes/slots at the door, then the deliver person typically drives the mail truck to a central location, and then walks the area with a mail bag. Leaving the truck legally parked and locked.

That's one reason many developments are going to the central mailbox locations now. Makes it easier for the post office.

 

[DaisyJ]

In the US? They're supposed to get out of the vehicle and make a delivery. If the blockage isn't under the control (i.e. someone else's car) of the customer, they can't simply refuse a delivery. Even then, there has to be a warning.

Yes, in the US.

 

[bcla]

My husband is a former mail carrier. If a mailman is delivering mail via mail truck (mailboxes are on the curb in our development), they can't "just leave the truck and walk up to the door". They have to park it, lock it, and then they can go up to the door.

If an area has mail boxes/slots at the door, then the deliver person typically drives the mail truck to a central location, and then walks the area with a mail bag. Leaving the truck legally parked and locked.

That's one reason many developments are going to the central mailbox locations now. Makes it easier for the post office.

It sounds like many postmasters are making up rules that they won't deliver if a box is blocked. I get that it's a hassle to do it, but even I could find the rulebook section that said that they're required to do so anyways unless it's a consistent problem. Even then they're required to give notice.

 

[asta]

They won't walk? In my neighborhood there are very few curbside mailboxes. Most homes have mail slots either near the front door or many in garage doors. Our carrier typically finds a place to park and then walks mail to 3-4 houses. If one house was blocked they'd just find an empty spot or even double park. In some urban areas I'll see them pushing along a mail cart or walking the entire mail route.

We live in a suburban area with nice sidewalks but the mail carrier refuses to get out of their vehicle. They are not the easiest people to deal with. They also have problems getting the mail in the right mailbox. We joke that it is a success if they just get the mail on the right street no matter which box. I once got called into a disciplinary situation because the carrier refused to deliver a box because they said it was too big. They left a note that I would have to come to the post office and when I got there the guy in charge was livid. I told him I did not mind but he said carriers cannot refuse to deliver a package if the sending post office accepts the package. After that I thought I would be lucky to ever get mail again.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

Our neighborhood Yahoo group gets a lot of postings about street parking. Basically you can park in any legal space for up to 72 hours before you have to move your car. Parking compliance won't come looking for cars parked over 72 hours unless someone lodges a complaint.

The curb space in front of a home in no way belongs to a homeowner. Is it courteous to try to park in front of your own house? Yes. Is it required? No. Our neighbor's fiancé parks in front of our house all the time. He never blocks our driveway, so it doesn't bother us a bit. DH and I park in our garage. DS parks on the street instead of the driveway so he won't block either of us in. If the space in front of our house is taken, he parks in front of the house next door. It all works out. No one complains because we all know that no one "owns" the space, literally or figuratively.