The mailbox on the driveway of Harvard’s post office is missing. (Photo by Jen Manell)
Residents who hoped to drop off mail at the Harvard post office’s outside box last week were dismayed to find the box was just plain gone. Shortly before its disappearance, according to a police report, someone had been “fishing” in it with a sticky glue bottle on the end of a wire, trying to steal the mail inside.
A phone call to Steve Doherty, the communications specialist for the U.S. Postal Service in this region, produced an explanation for the box’s removal. Doherty said all outdoor mailboxes are gradually being replaced as part of a security program. There’s been an increase in fishing attempts in the area, he said, and the local box “moved right up to the top of the list” for removal after last week’s incident. The box was being replaced as this issue went to press. And other mailboxes in town will eventually be replaced as well.
The new boxes have smaller slots that won’t accommodate anything thicker than half an inch, so only letters—not packages—can be dropped in them. Doherty said the postal service has had a problem with items weighing more than 13 ounces being left in outdoor mailboxes. Parcels that big, he said, are supposed to be screened inside the post offices, so the new boxes will not accept them. And, as a plus, the new boxes will also be more resistant to fishing.
