East TN widow forced to alter mailbox or risk losing service

CORRYTON, Tenn. (WATE) — An East Tennessee widow received a directive from her post office last week, she has to raise the mailbox in front of her house. While that may sound easy, it’s not. Her mailbox is made of brick and it was built more than 30 years ago.

The post office has given her two weeks to make the change. The directive from the Corryton postmaster said if the box isn’t raised, mail delivery to her home will stop. The notice was dated eight days ago and it caught Linda Sandefur by surprise.

“I have to raise my mailbox six inches higher than it is right now. It is a permanent structure,” said Sandefur.

She received this notice from her local post office on April 16.

“I have to replace the box, raise it six inches by the last day of this month, April 30,” said Sandefur. “Or they will stop delivery of my mail.”

She went to the Corryton Post Office for an explanation.

“And I was told over there that my delivery lady had an accident with her vehicle, totaled it, and it had to be replaced. The one the postal service replaced it with was higher than the one she was using. So, my mailbox had to be raised to accommodate her,” said Sandefur. “There was nothing I could do after I spoke with them at the postal service. They said I had to do it.”

With no way to raise the existing mailbox, she paid a contractor to put a new one up right beside the old one.

“I went ahead and got someone to do the only thing we could do,” said Sandefur.

No dimensions for the proper installation are given in the notice from the Corryton post office. To find them you have to go online . The postal service said roadside mailboxes must be easily accessible to the carrier. The guidelines are to position your mailbox 41″ to 45″ from the road surface to the bottom of the mailbox or point of mail entry. And, place your mailbox 6″ to 8″ back from the curb.

“The Postal Service is currently working to ensure mail receptacles throughout Corryton are following existing postal regulations,” a spokesperson said in response to a WATE inquiry. “Customers have received notices in their boxes indicating needed improvements in the condition or location of the mailbox, including mailbox height.”

Sandefur has spent a couple of hundred dollars on the new box and having it installed. She said the height of the existing one that her husband built had never been an issue.

“It is upsetting. We don’t get a say over anything. We just get told what we have to do in order to keep getting our mail,” said Sandefur.

Sandefur doesn’t like to get her feathers ruffled, but this situation certainly did that. She’s not the only one affected by the change. One of her neighbors has to raise their mailbox too.

The Postal Service said in an email to WATE that, “because of varying road and curb conditions and other factors, it recommends that customers contact the postmaster or carrier before erecting or replacing their mailboxes and supports.”

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