Cluster Mailboxes - Code Requirement?

[JohnnyM]

I recently moved into a neighborhood in Austin where some houses have individual mailboxes and some have cluster boxes. My lazy *** has to walk 3 houses down to get my mail and I don't like it. I was told by the neighborhood association that it was a city ordinance based on the year your house was built, but I can't find anything on the city of Austin site. Does anyone know anything about this?

 

[mishatx]

I don't know whose ordinance it is (pretty sure it's Austin, but USPS could have a hand in it) , but I did see in the paper a few years ago:

If it was built after 1970 someting, it must have a curbside box. If it was build after 1983, you get cluster boxes. There are some exeptions (I think) for new houses in old neighborhoods but otherwise that's the way it is. May parent's neighborhood was built in the early 80s and the city annexed different parts of it at a time, so they have a mix of curbside and cluster boxes in that neighborhood.

 

[BigWill]

I did a residential development out here, and it was a USPS requirement, not a city one. The only involvement the city had was where to place the box on the sidewalk; adequate clearance for wheelchairs around the box.

 

[JohnnyM]

it sounds like something i should just accept and not try to mess with getting changed? i can't imagine the city or the usps giving enough of a **** to allow me a curbside box.

 

[BA93]

I'm sure the cost is much higher to have the mailman deliver to your curb. Do you want stamps to go to 38 cents or something!

 

[JohnnyM]

hell the sonofabitch drives PAST my house to get to the cluster box.

 

[mishatx]

you will not be able to get it changed.
USPS distributes routes based on the type of delivery (door, curbside, cluster), so if you were able to change your box location, then other people would, and it would lengthen the time to do the route, and cause them to need more staff, etc etc.

 

[HookEm]

My house was built in 1966. My mail box is right by my front door.