Blocked Mail Box -- Legal Remedy?

[Kooshdakhaa]

DS, and others, DON'T do this, it's crude and hostile:

Used to have that problem with people who block my family's driveway every Sunday morning. They thought because they were going to church they could park anywhere.

Putting up sawhorses with a cord and sign across the driveway worked sometimes but not always.

The answer was transparent double-faced carpet tape.

A large sheet of the punky cheap paper of the sort tabloid newspapers are printed on. In large felt-tipped markers inscribed:

PLEASE DO NOT
BLOCK THE
DRIVEWAY

Several strips of the transparent tape put on the same side of the paper as the lettering. Then the backing removed from the tape and the paper, tape down, applied to the windshield directly in front of the driver's position. Then the paper (remember, it's the cheap soft kind) was liberally sprinkled with warm water.

True the driveway remained blocked for an hour or more after the church services had ended while the damn fools struggled to get the paper off so they could leave. But by then I had walked to the store for an ice-pick just in case they did it again (do keep track of license numbers, anything more vigorous should be reserved for repeat offenders).

But, sadly, none did it a second time.
​

I beg to differ, Grandma. What's crude and hostile is blocking other people's driveways. It's also rude, ignorant, trashy, arrogant and extremely self-centered.

 

[Kooshdakhaa]

Why don't you just call the police and ask them what to do? A few years ago I had a similar problem, but people were blocking my driveway, not my mailbox. What I recall is this...if they are street parked and blocking your driveway or mailbox, they are violating city parking rules and you can call the cops and have it handled. If they are parking ON your property or in your driveway, then you can have them towed.

 

[Chuckt]

Why don't you just call the police and ask them what to do? A few years ago I had a similar problem, but people were blocking my driveway, not my mailbox. What I recall is this...if they are street parked and blocking your driveway or mailbox, they are violating city parking rules and you can call the cops and have it handled. If they are parking ON your property or in your driveway, then you can have them towed.

It is something that needs to be handled with the post office, police and city council members or local representatives (local government). If the postal service needs to get out of their vehicle and hand deliver the mail then so be it. You are a tax payer and they cannot deny service.

 

[HenryBHough]

I should have mentioned that I got the carpet-tape message back in about 1960 in Boston. When I parked too close to a driveway - not blocking it but narrowing it. When I came back to the car there was a Boston Police Violation notice in a little envelope neatly attached to the back of a printed form firmly attached as I have described. I don't believe the policy lasted very long and perhaps it was the work of a "rogue" cop....but the ticket was real.

 

[DriftingSand]

Fortunately, my local PD has a website that allows folks to submit complaints online. That's what I just did. I want this situation handled discreetly so my hope is that a city spokesman will contact the owner of the property across the street and explain the rules concerning parking. If they can issue a warning prior to towing any vehicles then I assume that that will alleviate the problem.