Mail Problems

I don't know how it is in the rest of the country, but here in my little section of New Jersey, the mail delivery has been terribly late.

I've always gotten my mail late in the day, sometimes as late as 5:30 PM, even though mail is supposed to be delivered by 5:00.  I guess some of this is my problem since I've accepted the late delivery as "normal".  But, lately, it has gotten much worse.  On Monday, I got my mail at 7:58 PM and yesterday I saw the mail carrier riding around at 7:30 PM.

This morning I decided to call to complain.  I was told that the mail was being delivered later because the carriers start working later and some are working double shifts because of vacations.  This doesn't make any sense.  I would think that during this heat wave they would want to start their day as early as possible, before the real heat of the day.  But, I guess they do like the overtime pay.

I don't want to be one of those old ladies who think things were better in the old days,  BUT... in this case they were.  When I lived in Queens, we had a mailman who walked the block, climbed up the stoop and slipped the mail in the door and there was much more mail to be delivered than now when we receive so much via email.  The only time he rode around was to pick up the mail from the storage boxes located every few blocks.  Sometimes, he even stopped to speak with the neighbors.  We actually knew our mailman and got our mail at a respectable time, late afternoon.  Now, since our mail carrier rides from house to house depositing the mail in mailboxes at the curb, we don't know who delivers our mail or when it will arrive.

In this case, give me the "Good Old Days".