Neither rain nor snow

I have never lived in a place where the mail was delivered in the morning.

I love getting the mail, just as I still hop up with eagerness to answer the phone whenever it rings, so it's a great hardship to have to defer this pleasure until late in the afternoon.

You'd think that with all their appointed rounds, the mailmen would get around to some neighbourhoods in the morning, if only to space out all the mail delivery in the postal district. But I have never been on the early side of that assignment. Is it just my bad luck, or do they actually not do anything in the mornings, and just let everyone think that whenever you don't see them, they're obviously off working some other neighbourhood?

I'm also pipped at the local post office for charging me in excess of $12 for mailing a Christmas package just because one of the sides was longer than 17 inches (it wasn't all that heavy). Plus I hear they're going to raise the rates for a first-class postage stamp yet again.

The most annoying thing is that since it's government subsidised and not reliant on turning any kind of a profit, there isn't even any point in trying to boycott the system.