The Road To Hell Is Paved With Snow

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Last week, with a lot of snow still on the ground, I got a call from my elderly father (don't tell him I called him "elderly") needing some help. He told me that a neighbor had kindly shoveled a bank of snow at the end of his driveway that had been created a few days prior by a city plow. The problem was this nice person piled much of the snow in front of my father's mailbox and the postal carrier was refusing to deliver the mail. This because they couldn’t get their vehicle close enough to the mailbox. My father is 73 and has a medical condition (or two or three) that absolutely prevents him from doing anything like shoveling snow.

So I went over and cleared the area in front of the mail box. But while I was doing so, I couldn’t help but think how lazy that postal worker was. I mean, the mailbox was certainly out of arms reach from a vehicle but it was about 3 feet from clear road and about two feet from the cleared driveway. Would it have killed the postal person to get out of the vehicle, take two steps and put the mail in the box? The ensuing warmer weather and rain would have certainly reduced the yard-high pile of snow by now anyway. It’s not like this would have been a permanent situation. Fortunately, my father had someone to call, and I didn't at all mind doing it, but I suspect there are people out there that don’t have anyone to call and can’t shovel snow themselves.

I appreciate the Postal Service trying to save money by having the mail delivered in vehicles that can cover much more ground than the walking postmen I remember growing up. But can’t they be a little flexible?