Dear Dish:
I'm in need of some Dish-iquette. I've got roommates and many people receive mail at the house. Sometimes, when I'm coming home for the day, I check the mail in the mailbox. I casually flip through it, but I don't actually take it out. When I see nothing's for me, I leave it there. I don't actually take in the mail unless there's something for me. Or worse yet, I just pluck my letters out and leave the rest sitting there in mailbox obscurity. I also make my roommates shoulder the burden of junk mail.
Tell me, am I a wayward soul? Is this behaviour reprehensible? I need moral guidance that I can't get from my local clergy member or counsellor!
Sincerely,
A Mailbox ThumberDear Thumber:
Dish actually somewhat agrees with your strategy. If your communal living situation does not have some sort of mail system, the best thing to do to ensure that your roomies get their mail is to leave it safely in the mailbox. This is far better than bringing it into the house and leaving it somewhere random where your roomie may never even realize that he or she received mail.
Your behaviour toward junk mail is, however, inexcusable. Why should your roommates be left to bear such a burden unaided? Junk mail is everyone's problem. If you live on the premises, you are partially responsible for any junk mail that comes in.
Dish recommends that you and your roomies devise a more effective mail strategy. Perhaps you could set up a series of "inboxes" in your entry way or in a shared area of your residence. When someone checks the mail, they would then be responsible for bringing in the mail and placing it in the inbox of the appropriate roomie. This way, everyone knows where to look for their mail but, if someone happens to be away from home for an extended period of time, their mail is not just piling up in the real mailbox.
From the sounds of things, each roommate should also be tasked with certain times for checking and sorting the mail so that some slackers do not always just try to pawn the task off on others. Create a schedule by month or by day of the week. Roommate #1 could check the mail in January, Roommate #2 in February and so on. This would ensure that the same person does not end up having to pick up and sort the mail for the entire household all the time.
That being said, if you have a particularly keen roommate who likes to feel in control, then you just have to leverage the situation the right way to convince said roommate that being the residence's mail person is a coveted position of power. Then voilà! Your mail pick-up and sortage problems are instantly solved. Please be aware, however, that this could result in other repercussions. You may have to deal with this roommate lording mail power over you and you may begin to feel oppressed. Before taking this tack, please ensure that you are prepared to accept the consequences.
By way of another helpful tip, Dish suggests that you place a paper recycling box in close proximity to either the actual mailbox or the new set of inboxes you've set up in your home. This way, you can immediately dispose of junk mail quickly and conveniently, all while helping the environment by recycling!
Happy sorting!
Dish
