[graciegirl]

I am not sure about that but the official head mail person can be contacted directly. I bet someone on here has the link.

As I understand it, the U.S. Mail is delivered to her Villages department and she than has her staff distribute it to our mailboxes, which for anyone who has not yet visited here are not at each home, but rather at the mail station in each village, which is by the adult pool. The mail is delivered to your street address at the mail box drop, rather than a box number. You can direct your mail to a post office box at one of the local U.S. Post offices if you wish to rent one there.

I am nosy. Is the reason that you would want a different address a safety issue? I haven't ever had any trouble with our mail delivery after the first month or so. The mailboxes are air conditioned so that medicines can be safely delivered too.

[Army Guy]

Gracie, as usual you are correct. The mail in TV is carried by a private non-government contractor.

Army Guy

[BogeyBoy]

You wouldn't be able to use that box number for a variety of reasons.

1st - mail is sorted to your address by automation, you would now be creating duplicate addresses so automation would now have to recognize 123 Main Street as well as Box xxx for the same location. Doesn't sound complicated when you think of it as one address, but the Postal Service delivers to 150 million addresses every day- if everyone wanted an alternative address it would double to 300 million!

2nd - inside the postal stations the boxes are set up in street order - that is how the automation sorts the mail so the mail carriers can be most efficient at delivering the mail.

3rd - delivering to a street address is one matter, delivering to a "box" address is another matter. Each box holder has to fill out forms with information - name, physical address, ID information, etc. Odd as it may seem, customers pay a premium to have a PO Box. Usually they get earlier delivery and mail is secure when you are unable to pick it up. (Think of mail being stolen from curbside mailboxes.) Our centralized mail stations give us the security - as well as making our neighborhoods more attractive without mailboxes lining the curbs.

4th - the numbers on the boxes are probably duplicated throughout TV. So you and I may both have the number 12345 on our box.

Hope this answers some of your questions.

The carriers are contracted as Army Guy mentions, but they still have to go through screening, drug testing, security and background checks, etc. They still go to the Postal Facility in Lady Lake at the beginning and end of their day.

Here's a tidbit for you - the Postal Service uses email in a big way - 4.4 billion email messages a year! (That's right - billion.)