I'm just going to take a stab in the dark here and say that you don't know how blackmailing works.

Black mailing is form of saying "either you do this or this will happen"

Can he seriously just make such a choice? I had to deal with customer insulting me to my face and still keep a smile on, but he can just choose not to do his job? If the dogs bit him I'd understand, but if he is just afraid of dogs I don't know why he would be come mail man in the first place I didn't mean to reply to anything :/ and I can't delete it now...so sorry this reply is not relevant to he first comment

I think #1 attempted to be punny. Didn't work so well.

The USPS has a pretty strong union that supports their workers. If he feels unsafe, he can file a report and not deliver to that house until the resident fixes the problem. My parents had a mailman (who was a sub for their regular guy) file a complaint about their dogs (two Yorkies) for excessive barking. He claimed he was scared if they got out, they'd attack him. They had to go to the post office and pick up their mail. Luckily this only lasted until their regular guy came back. He was awesome. He made an effort to get to know the dogs, talk to them using their names, and he brought them treats. Probably why they barked at the sub-- they were looking for treats :)

You can get in trouble for that exact thing. It's the Reg fault too. The dogs run at the sub thinking he has treats and the sub has no idea and freaks out. This causes the dogs to freak and just bad all around. I mean it sucks because its awesome to get to know the people and whatnot. The USPS job though is to deliver and deliver fast as possible not interpersonal. They are on the edge of failing because mail just isn't as common and you have Fedex, UPS, and so on that does it.

The dogs were always inside-- the mailman would talk through the screen door or, if my mom came to the door to pick up the mail, he'd offer the treats. But I totally see your point. He actually retired probably about ten years ago, but he'd been delivering on that route for close to twenty years. He was pretty old school and knew everyone on his route.

Well our driveway is kind of long so he'd have to drive up to our door. But there aren't any branches that are sticking out. There is no branch problem.

In my experience, most mail men/women drive these days.

Actually, mail carriers have walked and driven routes. Just because they have a lot of driven routes does not mean anything bad, it just means it would be easier to drive up while carrying a heavy ass bag of mail.

The reason I said walk is because in my own experience the mail person will park on the street and then walk up the driveway to deliver the package

I don't know about in the states, but in Canada, we're not allowed to drive into the driveway. Regardless, your mailman sounds lazy and a supervisor should be calling bs on the situation. Hopefully they investigate and your mail service gets back to normal soon.

If dogs barking is enough to scare him, he probably shouldn't be a mail man.

#19 If he's so scared he could of left the package at the door. Well, that's what our delivery guy does.

I work as a clerk at a post office, and I don't know a single carrier who hasn't been bitten by a dog. The rule is if you feel threatened, you do not have to deliver. Every good supervisor will back up their carriers on this.

We have one of those stupid communal mail boxes. So if we get a package, regardless of size they try to shove it in the box. Then if it won't fit, we get an angry phone call like, how dare we order something larger than 5"x5". Fine, you hate your job, but don't take it out on us and our stuff.

Someone who is afraid of dogs shouldn't become a mailman.

Not really. My mother has been a mail carrier for years and she's never had a problem with dogs except one day she had to wear the mail uniform(she is allowed to wear normal clothes usually) and all the dogs were ready to fight. So its just that typical uniform and the mail trucks that the dogs dont like. Its really weird.

It's true about the uniforms. If a dog sees someone coming up to the house, instinct tells them to defend. So they bark at the mailman. The mailman leaves, after delivering the mail, and the dog believes they have done their job. When this happens everyday, the dogs develop an instinct specifically towards the mailman (associated by uniform). If a dog is in the house, then there is no reason to not deliver. We are taught when it is safe, and procedures to follow to make it safe when there is a dog at the house. When in doubt we are told to hold the mail for the day and attempt delivery the following day. With OP's side of the story, it sounds like the mailman is just lazy and doesn't want to do his job. Unfortunately I see this lots, with large parcels or signature items, from colleagues. My mailman does the same thing and it makes me angry so I make sure to attempt every parcel (plus I hate having to bring them back to the post office).

If I'm ever waiting on a package that has to be signed for, I leave the front door open (screen closed, ofc) and sit right in the living room where it comes into. That way, I see them. :p

Our front door is actually in what is essentially our computer room, because it's on the side of the house, and I was on the computer once right next to the door when they put a note through saying 'sorry we missed you'. I opened the door straight away as he was walking back down the path and asked why he hadn't even bothered to knock or ring the bell and he just said 'I didn't think anyone was in' then got in the van and drove off. He didn't even have the parcel in his hands, and it was quite big so i'm pretty sure he was just too damn lazy to bring it to the door.