We are experiencing a large storm. We are a third through a thirty hour snow storm. We have several inches on the ground already and are expected to get 8 more. Steve was out early this morning making sure the seminary kids could get to the house okay, and our kind neighbor did our sidewalks just a while. I was sitting in the living room watching as a neighbor was clearing his driveway. Snow was blowing everywhere and you could tell there was enough snow that it was work for even his powerful snow blower.

As I was watching the neighbor, I saw the mail lady start to make her rounds. She was all bundled up with large snow boots. She delivered mail to our neighbor. And then she skipped us. Odd, we always have mail, whether its junk or important, there is always something…

She continued around our circle. She skipped the next house. Really? Neither of us got mail. Weird. There were three houses in our neighborhood who had cleared their driveway within the last 1/2 hour, she delivered their mail. But delivered to nobody else. I watched. I watched her walk past driveway after driveway.  Seven of them.  Wouldn’t that be ironic if 7 houses in a 10 house neighborhood just didn’t receive mail all on the same day. No junk, no nothing. I always get an american express offer on Tuesdays. But not today. And it’s not as if I have anything super important that I have to get the mail everyday but it’s just the principle behind it.

The weather rule as I understand it (as she so kindly pointed out in her letter just weeks earlier) was the snow had to be cleared within 24 hours. The problem with a large snowfall is you can clear your walks but within an hour it looks as though you haven’t touched it. So I called the USPS customer service just to clarify.

She informed me that there wasn’t a 24 hour rule and that unless there is something large obstructing our mailbox the mail should be delivered in ALL weather conditions. Really?  I wasn’t trying to be difficult, but this is the third time we’ve had an issue with our mail carrier in a short period of time. So I filed a ‘kind’ complaint. I wasn’t looking for action against her and I let customer service know that. I just felt like she should know where she could improve in her work. Besides we did give her permission to walk through our grass to get to our neighbors house so she wouldn’t have to walk all the way down our long driveway!

I can wait for my american express credit card offer until tomorrow, not a big deal. But chances are it will probably be snowing a lot tomorrow as well. And although we’ll plow, it won’t be minutes before our mail will arrive. And then I’ll have to wait until Thursday for my offer…you can see why something must be done!