Less Postal Service : ‘You can’t go out in your undies anymore.’

For some San Fernando Valley residents, door-to-door postal delivery has gone the way of house calls from doctors and visits from the milkman.

Instead of getting mail in slots through their doors or in boxes next to their driveways, residents of new developments in high-growth areas are walking to Neighborhood Delivery and Collection Box Units, clusters of metal boxes installed on street corners.

And they’re not happy about it.

“If you buy a house, you shouldn’t have to walk a mile to get your mail,” said Angie Godsey, 18, a Sylmar resident who has to pass three houses on the way to the mailbox. “Not to be selfish, but you should have your own mailbox.”

As a cost-saving measure, the U.S. Postal Service has been offering the units free to developers of single-family homes, said Jim Brouillard, a supervisor at the San Fernando Post Office.

The boxes aren’t mandatory, he said, but the only alternative is for a developer to install a cluster of curb-side boxes. Letter carriers will not deliver to individual boxes.

“The only time we would go to the door in a new development is if it were in an existing delivery area,” he said.

Brouillard said the units are prominent in high-growth areas, such as Thousand Oaks, Sylmar and Santa Clarita. The postal service pays for their maintenance.

The units not only save money for the post office, they protect letter carriers from nasty dogs, Brouillard said. Locked and marked only by numbers, they also ensure residents against mail theft.

“Nobody knows whose box is whose, and that’s a selling point,” Brouillard said.

Some would rather take the risk than take the hike.

“This is for the birds,” said Sylmar resident Skeets Holland, who has to walk across the street to pick up his mail. “Nobody likes it because it’s a big inconvenience. In the old days, you just had to walk to the edge of your driveway.”

Another distressing aspect of the community mail system, some residents said, is that patrons are not allowed individuality.

“You should have your own mailbox so you can have your own style, not that silver, ugly thing,” Godsey said. “It’s not like this is an apartment building.”

A common complaint among area residents is the prospect of being seen by neighbors en route to the mailbox. The units mark the end of the look-both-ways-and-dash-out-in-

your-robe era.

“You can’t go out in your undies anymore,” Godsey said. “You have to make sure you’re dressed well enough.”

Brouillard said people who have trouble walking to the units, such as the handicapped and the elderly, can petition the postal service for home delivery.