Maine island loses cherished tradition: mail delivery to trash can

This story originally caught my eye in the British newspaper The Guardian's reporting of the Bangor Daily (via Topix's "offbeat news"). The news from Maine's Sutton Island which, as you can see below, is not far from Acadia National Park...
SUTTON ISLAND, Maine: The U.S. Postal Service has ended a decades-old tradition in which mail was delivered... by a private ferry service and left in a specially marked trash can on the dock for recipients to pick up. Postal Service higher-ups got wind of the practice used to serve those living in the island's 25 or so seasonal homes and decided it had to be halted for security reasons. ...

Shea Howell, who lives in Detroit, Mich., during the winter, said residents will now have to make the 2-mile ocean journey to the post office in Northeast Harbor. "That can mean a three-hour trip out of your day just to get the mail," she said.... Howell said having mail service is important, especially for older residents who stay on the island for several months at a time and rely on deliveries to pay bills, stay in touch with loved ones and even receive essential medications.

Security issues apparently don't trouble UPS or FedEx, which will continue to deposit deliveries in the trash can (from "Talk Left").
However, the islanders aren't crazy about changes. After all, just last year they hotly contested and largely maintained even their isle's ban on the use of golf carts to get around! "People like the trash can," said one. "They’ve always liked it. We’re going to explore if there’s another solution that satisfies the Postal Service." So, like most usually phlegmatic Mainers who nevertheless won't accept unwelcome changes lying down, the summertime Suttoners apparently are laboring to save their beloved mail receptacle!

(For more of what's likely to be an ongoing saga - at least until winter and the flight of the snowbirds - you can read the full story at the Bangor Daily News!)

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