Dog Safety & Clusterboxes: Not One or the Other
by Alec Helwig
There have been a few dog attacks in Springfield recently, to the surprise of no one.
A carrier at John Griesemer Station was attacked while walking on the sidewalk by two dogs who busted out of their front door and got him. The customer’s mail was cut off two years prior, and while management states they are aware of the ongoing hazard, carriers have been forced to walk by the hazard on foot every day. In this instance, the Postal Service issued this carrier discipline for not working safely; like it was his fault the customers were negligent and he was attacked somehow.
At Southwest Annex a massive dog has been jumping its fence and charging a carrier for months. Despite making management aware of the hazard, no training had taken place to properly report the hazard, and no measures were taken to abate it. Recently, the dog busted out of the gate to the back yard and attempted to attack the carrier several times, and while the carrier was able to keep it back and come away unharmed, another carrier might not have been so lucky.
Your local Union stewards have grieved these issues and have gotten some attention on us in the process, so now it’s time to talk about what’s happening. This is not meant to be alarmist, merely an examination of the next issue that follows the subject of dog hazard abatement. Management is looking at the implementation of clusterboxes at the ends of streets as a method of dog abatement. Most management locally would love that: it would greatly reduce routes, so some are salivating thinking about that. We cannot let this blind them of the real costs, and we need to educate our communities about how this can affect them.
Clusterboxes are expensive and require a lot of maintenance. Think about a massive set of clusterboxes for a four-block section, or a smaller set for a two-block section. Think about the permits, the concrete padding, all the labor, the customer locks and keys. All of those boxes would need the new electronic locks too. Any issues that arise with them, including hit and runs in icy conditions, would be on the Post Office to pay for.
Clusterboxes harm our customers by forcing them to walk through all the conditions letter carriers expose themselves to in order to get the mail to the customers. If we’re putting clusterboxes at the end of the road because there are dog hazards on a street, it would force customers to walk by those dog hazards and those hostile customers we have to avoid. That’s not even to mention making them walk in extreme heat, storms, and ice to get their mail.
Clusterboxes inconvenience our customers by having a device between them and their mail needlessly. What happens if a customer misplaces their key and can’t get into the box while timely information sits there? Do we believe they will send maintenance to help immediately? We know better than that. What about if the lock is sticking? Does our customer need to buy WD-40 and take care of the Post Office’s boxes? If the customer’s mailbox isn’t on their property, the Post Office is forcing the customer to give up more time to get the mail we’re supposed to be delivering to them, not their neighbor’s house at the end of the street.
These are just some of the issues, but they’re the most glaring and obvious. Remember, the trade off is that carriers don’t have to walk a loop to avoid dogs.
We can accomplish that by asking customers to move their mailboxes from their porch to the edge of the street. When we give them the reason why they’re not going to fuss, especially if they know what the alternative is (clusterboxes at the end of their street). If we use some empathy and show them how they can help take care of their letter carrier for the cost of a cheap mailbox and a post I think they’ll be hard-pressed to balk at that.
Also, we could allow customers to express their creativity with awesome mailboxes like these!
There are some lower income areas that may have some difficulty complying with this immediately. We could work to solve that with a mailbox credit of some kind; it would still be a LOT cheaper than putting up expensive clusterboxes and maintaining them.
This is a win/win for everyone:
The Postal Service gets a reduction of injuries related to dogs, musculoskeletal disorders, and other injuries incurred while walking. If we have air-conditioned vehicles like we’re supposed to we’ll have a massive reduction in heat-related illness as well.
The customers get to keep their mailboxes on their property, could potentially get a small credit to get their box set up in certain low-income areas, and don’t have to be responsible for Postal equipment.
Carriers have a dramatic reduction to exposure to animal hazards, musculoskeletal disorders, and have their health protected for long-term investment in the Postal Service.
This does not need to be a situation in which we have to choose whether we’re exposed to dog hazards or have clusterboxes set at the end of the street: the simplest and cheapest solution is to work with customers to move boxes to the edge of the road for convenient delivery for everyone.
Get the word out and protect yourselves and your customers!