As the postal service in the United States (17 photos)

When we first encountered in the United States by mail (USPS), we could not believe my eyes. Americans get dozens of letters a week. Mail is sent all the documents and products: accounts (utilities, Internet, medical and car insurance, loan payments, etc.), Bank statements, credit cards, driver's license, registration documents for the vehicle (including a set of metal rooms), purchase through online shopping (including large), etc. Will not have to go, just make a phone call, and almost anything you send mail home.



To understand the size of the postal industry in the United States, just look at the numbers - according to Wikipedia, daily (!) 546 000 postmen deliver 528 million letters and parcels. For comparison, the Russian Post processes about 1.7 billion pieces of correspondence per year, with the same amount of mail US manages three days. It sounds incredible ...



Since USPS letter carriers deliver home not only light letters and parcels heaviest (eg once sent us home juicer weighing more than 8 kg in a huge box) they must provide transportation. Instead of walking distance from the "thick bag on a belt," virtually all American postmen move on special avtomoblyah. This made the US mail the owner of the world's largest fleet, which numbers more than 260 000 vehicles.





Zip the trucks thoroughly thought through, providing comfort to the postman. Many cars are right-hand drive, that allows you to quickly, without hindering the movement out of the car and throw the newspaper right out the window. All mail is sorted in special boxes according to the addresses. On the left in the cabin there is room for more of these boxes, so that the postman is not necessary each time to open the back door to find the desired correspondence, she had always at hand ...





Zip cars can be seen everywhere. By the way, they can park anywhere, even on the red bardyur which prohibits all other drivers even stop.





But most surprising is where the postmen leave the premises. For a start it must be said that mailboxes do not usually have slots. Instead, the postman has a special key that opens all at once mailboxes. Here he lays out the letters, packets and small parcels, and then closes them again. If the size of the box does not allow her to put in a cell, the postman leaves a box on the floor in the hallway, right next to the mailbox. Sometimes he brings her to the apartment and knocks on the door. If there has not opened the box left outside the door. And yes, sending no one steals. At least we still have never nothing disappeared, although almost everything that does not require fitting we order through the Internet and it is delivered in such a way. When you see it for the first time, did not immediately believe. It turned out that for most Americans is the norm.



Boxes are quietly waiting for the owner.



It is also interesting that if you suddenly need to send a letter, then for this to go to the post office is not required. It is enough to go down to the lobby to the mailbox and drop a letter in a special compartment for outgoing mail. When the postman brings the mail (and he does it at least once a day), it will take the envelope SVM.



Also, for these purposes, there are special outdoor boxes for outgoing mail. They can be found on almost every street corner.



So, for example, looks like a nearby post office.



You can buy envelopes, boxes and packaging for the parcels to send or receive mail.



Cheerful design))



Subscriber boxes.



Just do not forget an interesting story! One day, looking at all this splendor, we have decided to send to relatives in Russia, a brand new iPhone. Insured cargo, and writing on a box of information about the contents, we cherished the box sent (lastly reading a couple of defensive mantras and check hidden far away). Sending ... disappeared without a trace or a month or two she did not come to the addressee. After application on the phone, USPS conducted an investigation called back and said that the premise has long crossed the border of the Russian Federation. Moreover, they even got in touch with the Russian side, where they could not give a clear answer, and then completely refused to talk. The USPS offered to wait. Month. Did not help. Sending did not appear! After the second phone call, they were sent by mail a short form for the damages that had been filled in and sent. After a short period of time, again by mail, an envelope came with a check for an amount equal to the cost of the new IPhone + cost of sending this premise. And yet, I never had no where to go or something hard to prove.

Meanwhile, relatives in Moscow, knocked at doors, and finally find the address desired instance, went and made a written request to find a reliable parcel and send a report on the incident. And they sent: 5 months, why then in Los Angeles, we have received our mail, but have torn to shreds the box with "reliable reports", according to which box allegedly came to the whole territory of Russia, but suspiciously easy. Carefully weighing the enlightened some sort of miracle-rays, the Russian side has come to the conclusion that the contents of the box have been lost in the United States. After that, the Russian side why it sent the box way back to the sender. The story from which freezes the blood! We hope that our case was an exception to the rule. And in general I want to make the best of the above was used in the Russian Post, and the image of the postman again became a symbol of honesty and responsibility, as it was when the.