Will sombody please explain something to me? When is a private postbox not a private postbox?

A postbox is placed within the boundaries of the property line, at a specific height and of a specific size and form as requested by the postal service (note I use the word "requested"). In the past when I kept a residence postbox I used it for a myriad of things. Sombody forgot their spectacles or hat or umbrella or whatever and I would notify them to pick them up at my postbox at their convenience.

Some postboxes are placed up on the street, a good distance away from the residence. I have an arthritic condition that makes it painful to hike 100 or 200 feet to the house, so I frequently place objects in a friend's mailbox for them to pick up when collecting their mail. After all it is their box.

As a matter of fact I have even been advised by a postal employee to use my box (this time a P.O. Box) for emergencies. For instance some years ago my business was burglarized during the night and I called the employee in charge of opening to tell her to pick up new keys at the box as the locks had to be changed. After all I pay rent for the box and that makes it mine.

I hate to speculate how many times I have unwittingly broken postal laws. At $5,000 or $10,000 a pop I would now be in a homeless shelter and the P.O. would be wallowing in cash.

I would say this silly regulation is not only arbitrary, it is carrying things a little too far. Small wonder the Postal Service is on its way to extinction.

Lucille Apcar