US Postal Service vs. Animal Control

A couple weeks ago my dog bit the mail carrier. I thought I handled it ok, but it ended up throwing me over the edge with stress. After many dealings with both the postal service and animal control, I have come to a realization: I am not a fan of the US Postal Service and Animal Control gets a bad rap.

For about the past nine months we have had an older woman deliver our mail. She is not friendly, and hates dogs. She will not deliver your mail if you are outside with your dog, if you are holding your dog, or even if your dog is on a leash. It is a big fat NO! She has been the topic of many conversations around the neighborhood, at play groups and at mother-get-together's. No one has nice things to say about her and she is notorious with people who own dogs.

Lucky for me she was not delivering my mail the day of June 3rd, when my dog decided to bite the substituting mail carrier.

Our mail has been piling up at the post office and we finally went to pick it up today. The clerk told us we did not need to get a mail box on the curb if this was our first offense. So we made the call. They immediately knew who we were, and were not friendly in the least. They did not want to listen to what we had to say, or our concerns. The manager even told us, we were lucky that she was such a new carrier and inexperienced, for if she knew better we would be in a lot more trouble.

By no means do I think what Max did is alright. I am embarrassed and much more attentive now. But the post office treats us like we are second class citizens, and I am required to get a mailbox on the curb that is going to put me out a min. of $100. Not really in my budget, or did I want it to be in my budget.

Contrast this to my experience with animal control:

Previous I always had a negative taste or impression, but after this experience, I have nothing but respect for the department. The first man I dealt with was so compassionate, understanding, informative, and helpful. He offered information about where I could get shots at a much cheaper rate. I had many questions for him, and through our conversations it came out that he did not agree with how the post office handles the problem with animals. Interesting.

Then just yesterday I noticed the animal control truck outside my home again. Great, what have I done this time? I was nervous but for no reason. The visit was to make sure everything was fine with Max, and to let me know that he was now off quarantine. She sat down on the porch with me and Max, where we visited for ten minutes or so. She was very sympathetic to my cause and understood what I was going through. She had a dog bite someone as well. When the post office came up she rolled her eyes. Again interesting.

It is hard to feel sorry for an agency that is going through financial turmoil, when you are treated so poorly from them. I believe the post office has self inflicted problems. They act like they are a monopoly, which sadly they kind of are, and that you can take it or leave it, when it comes to their service. I feel like leaving it. We are trying to do most our bills online. And with the trend of going green, shouldn't that mean less mail being delivered? If we get less mail, why pay more? But in the end, I am sure we will be digging a hole and placing a tacky mailbox on our curb. Maybe they should make everyone do this. It would save time, thus money, and any potential encounters with dogs.

Grrr...