Today I went to check my mail at the medical center, where my office is located, and I found a big bunch of mail held with a rubber band, bundled in the mailbox in the driveway of the Urgent Care. On top, a handwritten note (on the same yellow/orange notepaper used to claim certified receipt notices) dated 5/31 stated that "the mail will be withheld until the mailbox is moved". I received no mail on June 1, 2, or 4th, until the situation was discovered.
I notified the "medical center operations manager" --really a data-inputting grunt--and thus the bureaucratic dance began.
The new mail carrier had a battle going on with the medical center staff. She refused to drive her vehicle into the driveway and wanted the mailbox moved to the "regulation of 3 inches within the curb" because in Florida, postal carriers do not walk out of their vehicles, they sit in the truck and deliver mail into mailboxes at the edges of the curbs. This is why they are all obese and full of varicosities and Type II diabetes. I know this because I treat some of them, as patients. Oh and you, dear taxpayer, are paying for the most Cadillac-of-Cadillac-health plans to treat and correct these medical conditions, directly caused by the sedentary and molly-coddled lifestyle these persons lead.
The medical center manager went to talk to the postmaster. He was completely unaware of the withheld mail edict, apologized, and stated all mail would resume tomorrow.
I am TOTALLY concerned about the fact that a mail carrier unilaterally decided to withhold my mail, along with the mail of the entire complex, in effect, holding it hostage. They have done this from time immemorial. Postal carriers steal mail, brightly colored birthday cards, welfare checks, you name it. They are underpaid grunts who can't be fired, handling our really sensitive documents, and it's enshrined in the Constitution. Sometimes they "go postal" and start shaking and shooting or opening Pepsi bottles in WalMart aisles. And they wonder why they're going bankrupt. Any possible way that I can avert having to deal with the USPS, I follow. E-payments? Check. Email? Check. Electronic pathology reports? Check. Bloodwork results faxed? Check.
But not everything can be handled electronically. The world is straddling the paper and the internet systems right now, and we have medical records coming in from Dr. Smith in Sheboygan, on paper. Mrs. Hunt sends in her copayment via handwritten check, via US Mail. And so forth.
I am a physician trying to run a medical practice. I have bills, reports, payments, and sensitive mail that is coming to my attention, such as lab tests, pathology records, etc. This is clearly unacceptable behavior and crosses the ethical boundary of the mail carrier. What assurance do I have that no mail was comprised? How do I know if something was stolen, or lost, in this process? I need answers.
Medicare has ruled that as a participating physician, I must have a physical address for mail, no P.O.Boxes are accepted. So that avenue is cut off.
Can't I have what Kramer in "Seinfeld" wanted all those years ago, to "opt out" of mail? Seriously, why can't we just opt out? We can show an ID and pick up all the mail at a given post office. That's it. No carriers, no delivery.
I will dance, sing, pour vodka over my head, turn cartwheels, and let fly all sorts of fireworks when two things happen. First, the USPS goes bankrupt and Congress overturns its monopolistic hold on First Class Mail. And second, Obama loses the election. Homer Simpson could be sworn in, and I'd be delirious. I just can't take the Stalinist "Forward" motto. It calls to mind "Pa'lante" (Castro) "Forward" (Mao and Stalin).
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/forward-for-communism-is-obamas-new-forward-slogan-really-a-coincidence/
