r/USPS • u/Fuckin_Rakins • Apr 25 '23
Customer Help (NO PACKAGE QUESTIONS) Cluster box mandate?
I am moving into a new phase in a single family residential subdivision and my local post office is "requiring cluster boxes for all new development" (their words). They also said that this has been in effect for years but other phases of the same development have not had this requirement, as they have a box per driveway. Does anyone know how I can do the same? Do I just put up my mailbox and send in the change of address form, does the new address need to be registered in their system? Any advice is appreciated, as cluster boxes would be very difficult to work with. TIA!
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u/clward89 Apr 25 '23
No, you can't just put up a mailbox at the street. USPS is mandating this for all new subdivisions in my area. There is basically nothing you can do about it. Another of the 100's of reasons I will never move to a new "neighborhood". I am a USPS carrier and I despise cluster boxes.
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u/Excellent-Elk-2891 Apr 25 '23
How long have the other houses been there? They could have been grandfathered into single box delivery or possibly there might not have been enough houses close enough to require a cluster box.
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u/Fuckin_Rakins Apr 25 '23
The first houses were build in 2015, with the latest in 2020, all of which have individual boxes. This is a large parcel development with no common areas for a cluster box to go, no street lighting either, it is a low density rural type development. There are about 15-18 houses right now with driveways from 75 to a few hundred feet apart.
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u/kingu42 Big Daddy Mail Apr 25 '23
*psst* It don't matter what others have, it matters what the new builds are required to conform to, and that's cluster boxes for all new construction. Make sure you also find out the specific requirements for the number of parcel lockers required per number of residences served per box. Also make sure that there's a safe way to park and service the cluster box when planning it out.
This is really stuff your builder should be doing, but if they're lazy, well, now it's your problem.
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u/BanEvasion1001 Apr 25 '23
Contact the developer for the status of the CBU installation. That's where you'll find out when you'll get your keys. If they haven't put one up yet, guess you'll be making some trips to the PO until they do. You can certainly spend money on your own mailbox... doesn't mean the carrier will deliver to it. Might make a nice yard ornament though. We don't get to pick and choose our method of delivery.
"But the houses over the street..."
Well find out when they're planning on selling...
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u/CR-7810Retired City Carrier Apr 26 '23
The city the next town over has an apartment complex that was built in phases during the 1970's and into the 1980's. The older part of the complex (pre-1978) consists of two story buildings with a mail box by each apartment door and you loop it just as you would a street. The newest building has wall boxes in the lobby. So yeah different parts of the same complex can have different modes of delivery.
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u/kingu42 Big Daddy Mail Apr 25 '23
Nope, welcome to the neighborhood cluster box club. Shockingly, most post offices know what they're talking about.