Neighborhood Parking issues

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Our cul-de-sac has 2 business-type mailboxes that have about 12 boxes in each one where the whole back opens. But if there's a package the mail person will walk it up to your door. I like it because it locks so you don't have to worry about mail thieves and there aren't mailboxes you have to dodge at every house when you're running. It's right across the street for us but a few people that are 3 houses away will drive to it. Can't make everyone happy I suppose.

To the bolded do they do that when they are already home..meaning they actually get in their cars and drive to the mailbox??

The only time people drive their cars to the mailbox for ours is when they are on their way home or on their way out.

 

[ashley0139]

The only thing I'm getting from this thread is...doesn't anyone park in their garage anymore? Obviously you can't if you don't have one, but that's what a garage is for!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

The only thing I'm getting from this thread is...doesn't anyone park in their garage anymore? Obviously you can't if you don't have one, but that's what a garage is for!

lol I know right! I park my car in the garage as often as possible myself and only take it out when I'm working in the garage at that time and need the space. A lot of people around me if they have a 3-car garage will use one car bay (usually the one that only has a single car garage door rather than a two car garage door) as storage/workshop, etc.

My in-laws...for like 9 months...had their boat parked in their garage at an angle (I believe their boat is 21 feet long) so they didn't have to pay storage fees for it down at the Lake..they did finally take it down this past October to the Lake to store it until summertime......but they still don't park in their garage except for the antique car they own which is in the third car bay.

 

[indimom]

Small town residential neighborhood. Some homes have driveways, some do not. You park wherever there is a spot. Because we live close to a local Catholic school, there are non-residents parked in front of our house on a regular basis. We're on a corner lot so technically we have numerous parking spots around our house, but we got tired of parking up the block and lugging our groceries home. We built a two-car garage and added three driveway spaces so we never need the street parking.

Interesting discussion of mail delivery... We have walking mail carriers here. One of the many mail carriers we have will not deliver to our house when our dogs are out (the electric fence circles our entire yard including the mailbox). They just deliver our mail the next day with a note that reads "dogs out." It doesn't bother us, none of our mail is that time sensitive, and it's just the one mailman, the rest just walk past the dogs and deliver anyway.

 

[mamacatnv]

The only thing I'm getting from this thread is...doesn't anyone park in their garage anymore? Obviously you can't if you don't have one, but that's what a garage is for!

Our "2 car" garage will only fit one of our cars - we have a mini van and a Honda sedan - they do not both fit. If we put two cars in the garage, then the two cars in the driveway are always in juggle mode - so we park one car in the garage with the other behind it in the driveway being the one with similar schedules. The other side of the driveway onto the grass is DS's big truck that is parked during the week. The street is DD's small SUV parked as close to our driveway as possible (thus leaving the neighbor room for 2-3 cars in front of her house) when son is around (occasional weekends), he parks his small Honda directly behind his sister (leaving the neighbor 1-2 spaces).

 

[hereyago]

The only thing I'm getting from this thread is...doesn't anyone park in their garage anymore? Obviously you can't if you don't have one, but that's what a garage is for!

Lol true. In my culdesac, we all have drive ways, then there are 10 houses with garages (I am the only one that put my car in it, then rest have car ports (it's an older housing development.

My neighbor has 2 driveways: 1 was originally for 2 cars, now you can put 4. His other driveway was done illegally and he can fit a truck, a trailer that you would put atvs on and he used to have a good sized boat (we can't leave boats and trailers on the street.

 

[tvguy]

The only thing I'm getting from this thread is...doesn't anyone park in their garage anymore? Obviously you can't if you don't have one, but that's what a garage is for!

Yes. Like I posted early, 2 cars in the 2 car garage, 2 cars in the driveway that has room for 2 cars, 1 car in the street, there is room of 3 cars in front of my house on the street that are open to anyone wanting them.

 

[tvguy]

The USPS has some weird rules to avoid getting out of their vehicles.

None of those rules are on their website.
https://www.usps.com/manage/mailboxes.htm

 

[bethbuchall]

The only thing I'm getting from this thread is...doesn't anyone park in their garage anymore? Obviously you can't if you don't have one, but that's what a garage is for!

Around here, most people park in their garages or at least their driveways. There is no street parking overnight in our neighborhood from November-April because of snow plowing, though people don't worry about it if it hasn't actually snowed.

We've never had more than three cars on a regular basis. We have a 2-car garage, and the third was small enough that if it was parked towards the end of the driveway, my husband could still get his car out of the garage around it. We have only two cars now which are always in the garage if we're home. If my older two come to visit at the same time, they will either both park in the driveway (and we juggle as needed) or one will park in the street in front of the house.

 

[NHdisneylover]

The neighbor was absolutely out of line to show up early and rant and yell about it, instead of having a rational conversation at a reasonable time of day.

On the other hand, every place we've lived, it would be considered rude (legal, but rude) to routinely park in front of someone's else's house in a residential neighborhood. I highly doubt I'd ever say anything to a neighbor in the circumstances you describe, but I would be annoyed as heck at a neighbor who frequently has 2-3 cars parked in front of my home.

I can see the argument however in our neighborhood this is not the case. People park all over the place, some streets are more congested than others. Mine is actually not all that congested, neighbor doesn't want her "guests" to have to walk a few feet or park elsewhere, she feels the spaces in front of her house are hers and since this concept is new to me, thus I posted here. We do use our driveway and garage. Our neighborhood is mostly families with teen/young adult children, empty nesters and retiree's. The families with the teens/young adults have more cars, it is just a fact when a household of 4 or 5 all drive.

My neighbors rant was purely all about her, her space and her guests. IMO she went about this all wrong. I am a fairly reasonable courteous person, when approached reasonably and with courtesy. Neighbor was none of these things, as I shut the door in her face I said to my DH "Its a public street, she can kiss my (you get the idea)"

If there is plenty of parking on your street, as you say, what i would have done before the neighbor even brought her displeasure to my attention, and certainly would do after, is instruct the kids and girlfriend to move around and not always park in front of the same house----it's understandable that there simply is not room in your garage and driveway, but it would be easy enough to be considerate of the neighbors and not always inconviences the same one with your vehicles.

 

[ImDMous]

To the bolded do they do that when they are already home..meaning they actually get in their cars and drive to the mailbox??

The only time people drive their cars to the mailbox for ours is when they are on their way home or on their way out.

I really don't know, I don't know them or their schedules. They live on the corner and the mailbox is up the cul-de-sac from the main street so either way, they are going out of their way to drive there.

 

[ImDMous]

The only thing I'm getting from this thread is...doesn't anyone park in their garage anymore? Obviously you can't if you don't have one, but that's what a garage is for!

We have a 3-car garage with 1 bay used for storing our crap. We park both our cars in the garage and have temporary guardianship of DSIL's car which is in the driveway outside the storage part. Neighbors are free to park all across the front of my house if they want.

I have noticed that when we have people over, no matter how many times you tell them to park in your driveway, they won't. I don't know why that is but they always park on the street. My mom and brother-in-law are the only ones that will pull into the driveway. Guess they figure they're family so they belong there.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I really don't know, I don't know them or their schedules. They live on the corner and the mailbox is up the cul-de-sac from the main street so either way, they are going out of their way to drive there.

Ah I see

 

[bcla]

But then the route is set up with the thought that the mail carrier is walking house to house to get to the mailboxes. Our mailboxes are all along the road at a specific height to be reached from the mail truck. The mail is all in the truck and the carrier does not have a mailbag to carry the letters in. The route is set up to be completely driven (with the exception of mail too large to fit into the box), and a carrier would have a route with many more stops than the walking route. If he/she has to get out and walk around a car to get to the mailbox more than a few times on the route, it is going to add a significant amount of time. It's not a matter of being lazier than a carrier that walks a route; it's a matter of it being a different job.

I found the section of the operations manual that says (more or less) get out of the vehicle and deliver the mail if it's a temporary situation or otherwise out of the control of the customer. There's typically nothing illegal about parking in front of a residential mailbox, and the rules are set up to allow for mail delivery even if they have to walk.

 

[bcla]

Small town residential neighborhood. Some homes have driveways, some do not. You park wherever there is a spot. Because we live close to a local Catholic school, there are non-residents parked in front of our house on a regular basis. We're on a corner lot so technically we have numerous parking spots around our house, but we got tired of parking up the block and lugging our groceries home. We built a two-car garage and added three driveway spaces so we never need the street parking.

My kid's school has an interesting parking situation. It's narrow roads all over, and parking only on one side of the street all around. The residents don't really complain about the parking situation since they know what they got into.

During morning and afternoon hours around dropoff and pickup time, there are a series of right-turn only signs that effectively turn some blocks into one-way streets, although theoretically a driver is within his rights to drive in either direction when already there. When someone ignores or misses a sign there can be honking and yelling. Occasionally a package delivery truck is not only going the wrong direction, but blocking the only legal road to take from the school.

 

[Dream Finder]

All this talk of mail carriers and deliveries brings back memories. Mom and Pop were both career USPS (Dad started as a carrier and later managed the mail trucks. Mom was in management). Sister and I did 90 day stints as carriers and clerks. Oh the joy! Now...this is a long time ago, but I do know that at one time the postal routes were actively timed. If the carried had a "walking" route, then he or she had exactly so many seconds between each house. That meant the carrier needed to cut across lawns to make the correct time. If they took too long on the street, it was frowned upon. If that happened too many times, there could be disciplinary action. (Also - if you, the home owner didn't like the carrier cutting across your lawn, you were required to file a complaint with the postmaster and the route time would be adjusted accordingly.)
Same for driven routes - x number of minutes to complete a "normal" delivery day.

That could be the reason that some of the carriers are hesitant to get out of their vehicles.

Or - they could just be contrary and don't want to .

And yes...EVERY WINTER in Chicago, there are news stories with the Mayor and other public officials telling folks that they can't put their stuff in the street to hold their shoveled out spot. Every winter...no one pays attention. The lawn chairs go out on the first snow and usually stay out until the spring thaw.

 

[tvguy]

t I do know that at one time the postal routes were actively timed. If the carried had a "walking" route, then he or she had exactly so many seconds between each house. That meant the carrier needed to cut across lawns to make the correct time. If they took too long on the street, it was frowned upon. If that happened too many times, there could be disciplinary action. (Also - if you, the home owner didn't like the carrier cutting across your lawn, you were required to file a complaint with the postmaster and the route time would be adjusted accordingly.)
Same for driven routes - x number of minutes to complete a "normal" delivery day.

That could be the reason that some of the carriers are hesitant to get out of their vehicles.

Or - they could just be contrary and don't want to .

.

LOL. It took the Post Office 15 years after our subdivision was built to get them to make us part of a regular route. As I recall they called us an "auxillary route".....and whatever letter carrier got back to the Post Office first had to go back out and deliver our mail. We had no assigned carrier. What complicated things is we had a large area of 5, 10 and 15 acre parcels that the state would not allow be subdivided because they were going to put a freeway through the area. The state abandoned the freeway plan in 1975. That's when "infill" subdivisions were built. Mine started in 1976, the one next to us in 1985, and the one on the other side of us in 2008, all completely encircled by homes build 1955 to 1960. That area is 2 (longish) blocks wide by 5 blocks long, and that infill building tripled the number of house in the area, all needed postal services.

 

[tvguy]

We have a 3-car garage with 1 bay used for storing our crap. We park both our cars in the garage and have temporary guardianship of DSIL's car which is in the driveway outside the storage part. Neighbors are free to park all across the front of my house if they want.

I have noticed that when we have people over, no matter how many times you tell them to park in your driveway, they won't. I don't know why that is but they always park on the street. My mom and brother-in-law are the only ones that will pull into the driveway. Guess they figure they're family so they belong there.

There are a group of subdivisions in Sacramento County called Gold River. Many have what I find to be unbelievably strict CCRs on cars. Cars are NEVER allowed on the street or even in your driveway overnight, (from Sunset to Sunrise). They HAVE to be in your garage or they are towed. I know they disclose that before you buy a home there, but I cannot imagine such strict rules. There is a community parking lot, outside the subdivision that you can park extra cars in, or where overnight guests can aprk.

 

[Lillychilly]

Around here most people park in their garages and driveways. Some condos require you to park in the garage after a certain time.

 

[bcla]

The only thing I'm getting from this thread is...doesn't anyone park in their garage anymore? Obviously you can't if you don't have one, but that's what a garage is for!

I was being taken around houses for sale once, and there was a five bedroom built around the 1910s without a garage, driveway, or carport.

Still, I've heard of some strange unpremitted stuff. Like someone who carved out a hill into a carport. It looked really bad, like an active mineshaft. A big storm and that would have collapsed onto the vehicle. It also took out street parking with an amateurish attempt to create a driveway.