Mail delivery disputes can be frustrating

Most Yuma residents are used to the idea of getting their mail delivered to their homes. It is the traditional way the Postal Service operated for much of its history.

But a story in the Yuma Sun this week illustrated a changing view of mail delivery by the Postal Service in Yuma, part of an effort to increase mail delivery efficiency and reduce costs.

New home subdivisions no longer are getting individual home delivery. Instead the Postal Service is requiring either centralized mail delivery areas — much as already happens in apartment complexes — or smaller groupings of mail boxes to allow mail delivery persons to more quickly get through their routes.

Some developers, aware of the postal requirement, provide centralized mail box sites as a service to their home buyers. Other builders don't see it as their responsibility and leave homeowners to fend for themselves, which obviously can be frustrating, as illustrated by the residents of the Saguaro Estates subdivision in our story who say they were not aware of the situation.

It seems to us that there is a lot of finger pointing going on about whose responsibility it is without any real resolution to the issue.

Perhaps this issue of mail delivery needs to be included in subdivision requirements that are part of city and county agreements with developers before they can build a subdivision, much like happens with sidewalks, street lights and public easements. Certainly, mail delivery is as critical to many homeowners as those other requirements.

There might still be some unhappiness, but at least that way there would, hopefully, be a clear understanding of who is responsible for what before homes are purchased, eliminating some of the frustration homeowners now feel about getting their mail delivered.