We used to be able to stop by the house at noon and look at our mail. These days, we're lucky if it's delivered by 6 p.m. or sometimes at all. We used to know on exactly what day each magazine would arrive. No more; now we're lucky if we receive an issue at all. We had to give up subscribing to the New York Times metro edition (the complete one, with all the ads and all the regional news, plus much, much more), because half of the issues never arrived at all. I really liked it the time I called the branch to enquire and was told that there was no mail for us. There is never no mail for us. There's just mail that isn't sorted and mail that isn't delivered. It's short-staffing that's part of the problem. We have no quarrel at all with our letter-carriers. Maybe I'll feel better when I have a sheet of the new baseball playing-field stamp issue.