| Comment Number: | 529332-00007 |
| Received: | 7/4/2007 2:41:22 PM |
| Organization: | |
| Commenter: | David Evans |
| State: | VA |
| Agency: | Federal Trade Commission |
| Rule: | United States Postal Service Study |
| No Attachments |
Comments:
Dear Chairman Majoras: I wish to respond to the Federal Trade Commission's request for comment regarding the U.S. Postal Service Study, Project No. PO71200, as listed in the Federal Register on May 1, 2007. Specifically, we'd like to address Question #2, relating to the U.S. Postal Service’s legal mailbox monopoly. According to 18 U.S.C. § 1725: Whoever knowingly and willfully deposits any mailable matter such as statements of accounts, circulars, sale bills, and other like matter, on which no postage has been paid, in any letter box established, approved, or accepted by the Postal Service for the receipt or delivery of mail matter on any mail route with intent to avoid payment or lawful postage thereon, shall for each offense be fined under this title. The U.S. Postal Service requires that I must purchase, at my own expense, a mailbox that is officially approved by them in order that I may receive any mail that is sent to me. I must maintain said mailbox in such a manner that it is in proper working order for their carriers to deliver my mail. In the event that I do not do either of these, the U.S. Postal Service will not deliver any mail sent to me. If I lived in a newly constructed community, the U.S. Postal Service would in all probability set-up what is known as “Cluster Boxes” for mail delivery. As these are paid for and provided by the Postal Service, as well as maintained by the Postal Service, revoking the above regulation is a mute issue as only Postal Service employees and the box holder has access to said mailboxes. Therefore, unless the U. S. Postal Service is willing to provide “Cluster Boxes” to every community in the United Sates, or provide and maintain individual mailboxes to every household in the United States, then the mailboxes which are purchased and maintained by every household should be considered the personal property of the occupant/s of said household, and anything placed in said mailbox should not be considered any affair of the Postal Service unless they are the organization that delivered said item/s. I believe that the mailbox monopoly should be revoked, allowing greater – and fairer – access for the benefit of individual consumers. Thank you for your time and consideration considering this matter, and I await your reply. I await your reply. Respectfully, David E. Evans