Roberts has a condition that keeps her confined to her house. She said, “I have a spinal cord disease and am unable to get around.”

She relies on her mail carrier to pick up her outgoing letters. She said, “If you just put it in the slot and they see it, they are supposed to, I thought, pick up the mail, but they told me it was a courtesy.”

It's the same story for her home-bound neighbor, Shirley Bowersock, who's waited for bill payments to be picked up. She said, “It’s kind of scary because if you rely on bills to be paid on time, it's your fault if they don't get paid on time.”

Both women contacted the U.S. Postal Service and were told if a letter carrier doesn't have mail for a resident, they won't pick up. The same goes for businesses. Brian Wagner of the U.S. Postal Service said, “If the carrier has time, yes they'll go up and pick it up but normally they go onto their next delivery.”

There is an exception. Wager said, “Now we have an issue with mailboxes on the curb, where you put the flag up--if the carrier's driving by that, they must stop and pick up that mail, even if they don't have mail for that customer for the day.”

That doesn't satisfy Sharon Roberts. She said, “They’re going to have to walk up and down the street anyway, I would think, they should just pick up outgoing mail from anybody.”

But we've found a solution that will satisfy Roberts and her neighbor. The Postal Service said if a customer lets them know they're home-bound and need their outgoing mail picked up, they'll make special arrangements to make that happen.