Flowers insolita Blog

Now Richard is taking extended leave, I am back in delivering flowers again. Since I like driving, I enjoy delivery. BUT, there are also things I hate…

(1) Unleashed dogs

While it is illegal to let a dog loose, I see at least one or two unleashed dogs per week. Maybe the owner is believing that his/her “leetle” puppy can’t hurt anyone. But they don’t understand that, for that “leetle” puppy, a delivery man is actually a total stranger invading his/her territory. It is any dog’s instinct to protect the territory and the way they do is to bite the invader.

Please dog owners, leash your puppies. It’s not only dangerous to delivery men, but also potentially harmful to your dog, too. If your dog bites a person, your dog will be labeled “dangerous” by New York statue. Depending on where you live, you may no longer keep your dog.

(2) Unmarked houses

When we deliver, we need to be able to see the street number on the house. Unfortunately, there are many houses that do not post their street numbers. I see one of those “un-marked” houses everyday.

Then all I can do is to guess. If I try to reach “3 xyz st” and can see “1″ and “5″, I assume that the house between “1″ and “5″ must be “3″. It works this way most of the time, but not in rural area such as in Lloyd Harbor.

Oh my, Lloyd Harbor is a delivery nightmare. The houses in Lloyd Harbor are located in the wood, accessible only through a tiny private road. Sometimes several houses have their mail boxes put together at the entrance of the private road, so that mailmen don’t have to drive into the private road.  But we have to.  Now, OK, I see number 2, 4, 6, 8 in each mail box. So I drive into the private road and, at the end of the road, see four houses standing apart from each other in the wood. Please tell me which one is the number 4???

Flower delivery may not matter that much, but imagine you had an emergency and called 911. Unless your house is clearly marked, the emergency vehicle won’t be able to locate your house quickly.

So please put up a distinctive sign with your street number or your name, preferably both, right in front of your house, somewhere a driver can see from the road. The good place is on the mail box if it’s located in front of your house, or right next to the front door.