Editor,

The Langley United States Postal Service requires approximately 2,400 mailboxes in the Langley service area to be raised to 46 inches above the ground.

To do this will require installing a taller support post, which must be set in the ground like a fence post, i.e. a 6-foot post set in the ground about 2 feet deep. A good installation would be to set this post in dry ready-mix concrete after digging a post hole for this purpose. The cost for the post and concrete to achieve this is $6.82 — plus $2.79 for mix and 84 cents tax.

One can adapt some existing boxes to this configuration without any further material which is probably the minimal amount that most will have to spend. Factoring this up to cover 2,400 boxes means that the Langley users collectively are being required to spend over $25,000 for materials. I would suggest that in addition to the materials, the cost of procurement, logistics and labor will add an additional $25,000 to be borne by the affected users.

Residents are required to complete this change by Nov. 28. The reason for this change is not stated, however; the United States Postal Service is upgrading urban area equipment and some of the previous urban-area postal trucks are being moved to Langley. Larger trucks require taller mail boxes.

The Langley postal supervisor calls this an “insignificant project” — at least for USPS.

ROBERT WATSON

Langley