Moving mailbox location options???

I would not normally post about this but would like some thoughts on something since this group more likely to "get it" than urban folks....

Long winded story.

My elderly Mom still lives alone on the farm 6yrs after Dad passed. After some falls in 2015 and 2016 she no longer drives and has to use a walker. She is able to get outside in the yard to put out cat food and bird seed but otherwise she is pretty house bound.

The farm building site butts against the town and to get to the farm yard you go down a side street off the main drag to get to the driveway.

Forever (or at least as long as I have known) mail in this town is delivered to mail boxes placed along the main street in a row on a plank in a few places and some other folks have them at their driveway. The rest use PO boxes in the PO lobby.

Mom's mail gets put in the box group on the main drag leaving town. You can actually see if from the farm yard (or could before trees got larger). It was always the case that you had to walk or drive there to pick it up. This is well beyond her walker range though, especially in the winter.

So, since she quit driving, she cannot get her mail. What's happened the past 3 years is a cousin who lives in town would pick it up a couple times a week or the renter (or his wife) who is farming the land would get it. The cousin has bailed on doing this (reasons I won't get into) and I know this is added hassle for the tenant. I don't want them to be too put out as well.

I am going to call the PO and see if its possible to get the mailbox moved up to the farm yard where she can get to it but wondering if anyone here has had to deal with this and could this even happen? I could get the box on a post so that the carrier would not have to get out of their vehicle and could just turn around in the farm yard.

This whole thing with the mail is just more reasons that my sister and I think she should be in a senior living place but Mom is stubborn and ~she~ will have to realize it herself. Both of us live multiple hour drives away and have own own homes and full time jobs so running errands is not possible. Said errands and groceries are the other issue we need to solve.
 
That will depend upon the local postmaster (also subject to repetitive turnover) and/or carrier.

Unlikely n my area.

Mail delivery is not what it once was.

The only way you will know is to stop at the post office and ask.

Dean
 
There's a set route that they have to follow. As a carrier told it to me,if they even turn around in the wrong driveway and get in an accident their insurance won't cover it. Maybe that's BS and he was just being dramatic,I don't know.

If it get's to where somebody has to go out there every few days,you could get a PO box in town and pick it up and take it to her instead of having it out there in a box by the road for days. That's what my grandmother had done years ago. Dad or one of his brothers took her mail to her every day and checked on her. They just took turns doing it.
 
my Aunt ( 80's) has a very long drive off the highway. Rural carried delivers it to a mail box next to her porch. (Bastrop Tx)
 
There's an elderly lady in a town near here who we have gotten to know, and last year she got permission from the post office, with a doctor's note, to have her mailbox moved to the wall
right by her door. The postmistress for the town approved the move, but it took a little while for the paperwork to go through. Once her son moved in with her the mailbox was moved back
out to the other side of the road with all of the other mailboxes, since there was no longer a need to have it on the house.
Zach
 
well, as far as i know you are accurate. in '85 when we moved in the house next door, about 500 ft. from the house on the Farm, and the mailbox for that house was on a side street, maybe 75 ft from the front door, the postmaster asked us to leave the old box up, so the postmaster could log the same mileage. (An extra 1/4 mile both ways to and from the old box.) So for years he rode down there, turned around in the drive at the Farm and went back, just to get that extra 1/2 mile in.
 
All we would have to do is get a statement from our doctor and carrier would bring it down our 1/4 mile driveway right to the house. I can see us doing that someday.
Should be the same everywhere.
My parents did that when they got feeble and there was no problem with it getting done.
 
When it got to the point where my mom couldn't walk to her mail box
down at the road,the driver would pull in her drive and put it in a
box by her front door,all she had to do was open her door and get
her mail, didn't even have to leave the house, if I remember right
there was a doctor's slip involved.
 
That's strange because our mail carrier brings packages and registered letters to door all the time.
 
There is a 94 year old lady here. They moved her mail box from the end of her drive way to her front door. Her mail box has a door on both ends. She doesn't even have to get off the front step.
 
If I were you I would talk to the mail carrier in person. He may just drive to another mail box. What they don't like to do is back up. Don't know when or why it started, but our mail carrier drove off the main road to a box at Dad's house. The drive way just returned to the main road. The new carriers just think it's part of the route. Stan
 
(quoted from post at 08:54:05 08/16/18) There's an elderly lady in a town near here who we have gotten to know, and last year she got permission from the post office, with a doctor's note, to have her mailbox moved to the wall
right by her door. The postmistress for the town approved the move, but it took a little while for the paperwork to go through. Once her son moved in with her the mailbox was moved back
out to the other side of the road with all of the other mailboxes, since there was no longer a need to have it on the house.
Zach

There's some sort of temporary hardship waiver that the Postmaster can (but doesn't have to) allow. Rules change every so often. Used to be many years back that the hardship would last as long as needed. Now, I think it has to get reviewed every 6 or 12 months. This is often done for people who are elderly, or for individuals who have become temporary immobile due to injury; like say a single person who has nobody else living there. However, there is another issue to consider in that even these hardship waivers will not be allowed if the move takes the carrier more than 1/2 mile off of their current route. Doesn't sound like that would be a problem here.

"IF" the Postmaster denies a hardship waiver to the porch/front door, then take it up a notch and contact the regional post office and talk to the Postmaster's boss.
 

A friend of mine, 87 years old, got his box moved from across the road to his driveway, close to the house. I’ve never had any problem with the mail people, they drop packages off at my door, down a 300 ft driveway. But they don’t have to back out onto the road, in either case. My friend has problems walking, he is a Korea vet.
 
(quoted from post at 12:29:09 08/16/18) That's strange because our mail carrier brings packages and registered letters to door all the time.

Mine too.
That Carrier was just being lazy.
 
Yup. Where I used to live the postmaster was more than helpful in getting delivery to the individual houses on my private road. Where I live now they are not the least bit interested in helping out and want NO changes no matter what.
 
It is totally up to the postmaster but if you can get a slip from a doctor declaring her a hardship case you should be able to get it delivered to her door. If carriers tell you they can not do it, they are lazy. Yes they will get paid for every step they take and every extra foot they have to drive.
 
It probably depends if the driver works for the delivery contractor, or is the delivery contractor.

Our local guy didn't care one bit when I asked to move my box from the township road into the drive. It is a circle drive though.
 
When I was on my rural newspaper route several of the customers, at least 4, were back lanes and the mail box was next to the newspaper box. If the lane was snow filled it did not get delievered until drive was plowed out.
 

I retired from the Post Office in '09, but at that time it was as has been stated. You could apply for hardship delivery, which would have to be approved by the postmaster. Any mileage difference would be measured and added to the route--because, as also mentioned, the line of travel for the route is all laid out and measured. Carriers are not supposed to deviate from it except when required to bring things up to the door, such as certified letters or large packages.
Once the person moves, dies, or whatever, the hardship delivery would no longer be in effect. The mailbox would be moved back to its original location and the route returned to its original status.
 
Yes, my mother had the same situation where she could no longer walk across the intersection to get her mail. I applied for a hardship delivery by relocating her mailbox directly in front of her house where she could get it with her walker. The Postmaster visited the site, talked to me and my mother, and approved moving the mailbox which I did. She was able to get her mail just steps from her front porch.
 
(quoted from post at 17:52:57 08/16/18)
my mail carrier told me they are not to get out of their car for a drop off no matter what.

That sounds like baloney to me, our delivery guy or lady puts packages and mail on our porch all the time. We are 1,000 feet off the road.
 
The mail is federal. Last I knew, you can put your mailbox along any road where you want your mail delivered. I've actually done that. You have your mail delivered to that box. I surely don't see a problem moving your mothers mailbox closer. Don't ask permission. Just move it. Tell the mail person you want your mother's mail delivered to the new box location.
 
Your mailbox also must meet federal rural mailbox
regulations published by the federal highway
administration. Anyone can go to federal highway
administration website to view the regulations.
 
Somebody may have already posted this(I did not read all of the posts)Go to the PO and tell the Post Master or Post Mistress that your Mom can not get her mail and the carrier will be instructed to bring it to the house,(Box on the front porch) The rural carrier will not like it(must get out of the car) but he or she will be told to deliver to the door,mom has had door service for 10 years. You just need to ask.
 
It will be up to your local Post Master. Most likely your mother will need to be the one to apply for the change.

This spring I asked the Post Master about moving my 84 year old mother's mailbox to the end of her driveway and was told they don't like to approve those type of changes and if it was approved she will need to reapply for a hardship permit each year. Mom wants to leave things as they are, not make any changes until she gets old. I have to admire her spunk and stubbornness, but it can be a PITA too.
 
(quoted from post at 20:39:01 08/16/18) The mail is federal. Last I knew, you can put your mailbox along any road where you want your mail delivered.... .

Don't ask permission. Just move it. Tell the mail person you want your mother's mail delivered to the new box location.

Not quite!!!

As I mentioned earlier, the official line of travel of the route is already set up and the distance is measured. This is the official mileage of the route that the carrier gets paid for. If the carrier already goes by your house, then you can add your box along the road. Best still to check with the carrier or post office for proper placement.
But if you're not on a road where the route already goes, you have to go through the post office to change the line of travel and extend the route onto the new road. You can't just arbitrarily put your box there.
 
Thanks for all the comments, I really appreciate it. I will be trying to get ahold of the PO on this. Good to know what to ask them and if I need to get a hardship waiver or doctors note.

Just for info, here is where the house is relative to the mail boxes.
hhATsh1.jpg
 

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