rural mail delivery?

[cowman]

For about a year now we've had mail delivery by a postal employee...in fact several! They scrapped the old tender process where a contractor bid on the delivery contract...not sure why, but probably because the postal union complained?
Anyway to make a long story short...the service is very poor compared to the tender contractor! We've had three different deliverers in the past year, none from the area so they don't have a clue! They just seem to be getting a feel for the route when voila! They are gone and the next one comes in!
The last one is about the worst! She comes anywhere from 9 AM to 4 PM! If it snows or rains she doesn't deliver! She bellyached about the mail boxes all being on the wrong side of the road so everyone on the route had to move their boxes! She continually gets everyones mail in everyone elses box! We have a few different businesses/peoples mail in our farm mailbox...and they seem to get scattered all over the route...despite a detailed list of such to the mail server! Good thing the neighbors all know me and my various activities!
Now the postal union is complaining that rural mail routes are unsafe for their workers! I have a suggestion for the government: Can these union bellyachers and go back to the old system where we had some local old farmer delivering the mail!

[coppertop]

When rural mail delivery came to this part of the world, I opted to keep my post office box in town. Because I had the opportunity to have rural delivery I have to pay $116.60 annually to keep my post office box. I am usually in town two or three times a week, and can pick up my mail then, otherwise I would start my vehicle and drive a mile and a half to the mail box on a road I would never take otherwise unless it was to visit a neighbour.

I have heard so many complaints from the neighbours about their rural deliver, ranging from mail being in the wrong box, to the mailboxes themselves being tipped over into the ditch on a few occaisions.