I admit I am a sucker for magazines. It’s not for the pictures; it’s not for the articles; it’s for the price. If I find a magazine that is offering a yearly subscription for under $12, I will typically see the relativity angle: a year of this periodical costs approximately the same as a single glass of Pinot Noir downtown with tip, I’m sold. So, because of this flawless logic, we get more magazines than I have time to read; more magazines than our mailbox can hold… literally.

This past weekend we were away on a long ski weekend, and didn’t put a hold on the mail. As the days passed and the number of magazines grew the empty space in our small mailbox shrunk. Typically in Delaware when this happened, the mailman would just leave the excess near the mailbox. In Maryland they do things differently … they take our mail hostage.

When we returned from the ski weekend, there was one single piece of mail, a card saying that our mail was at the post office two blocks away and would be there for a week and then discarded if not picked up. Selena called the post office to inquire about their hours and learned we both are in our offices for the full duration the post office is open. We told them we wouldn’t be able to pick up our bundle until Saturday. That brought on a grumble and the rude response “I guess they can hold it for that long.”

So, we are the clock with picking up last week’s mail, and we accepted that. What really surprised me about the USPS-MD is that they were determining to maintain the siege on our mail. Despite calling and alerting them that we are indeed now home, they still will not deliver any new mail. They insist on stockpiling even the new mail that came in today until we come sheepishly into the post office to face the music.

They are playing hard-ball. I’m sending Selena.