Here’s Why the Postal Service Needs Maine Residents to Check Their Mailboxes This Week

Thanks to the prevalence of the internet, we all utilize the United States Postal Service a lot less than we used to.

Emailing and social media have replaced sending letters, we post to Instagram or Snapchat instead of sending postcards, and we all pay bills online.

That being said, we should all feel lucky that we have a postal service that has employees who dutifully do their jobs.  As the saying goes, "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers," or something like that.    

The residents of many other countries are not as fortunate.  For a variety of reasons, you never know when or if a letter sent will reach its destination in those countries.

Occasionally, there are things that we need to do to help the postal workers do their jobs, like making sure we shovel a path to the mailbox during the winter months, ensuring the mail carrier does not have to run to get past a guard dog, and ensuring the mailbox is correctly mounted.

What is Mailbox Improvement Week?

According to a posting on the USPS website, May 21 through May 27 is Mailbox Improvement Week.

The idea is that those of us who have mailboxes should take a few minutes to make sure our mailbox is in good shape, especially if it's on a post by the street.

The post specifically says that we should pay attention to:

1. Approved by the Postmaster General.

2. Designed to protect the mail from weather.

3. Safe to use.

4. Conveniently located.

5. Neat in appearance.

You can learn more about the regulations for your mailbox on the USPS website.