Massachusetts, If You See Paw Print on Your Mailbox, Leave It

At times, some Massachusetts laws seem a bit crazy. Antiquated rules surrounding facial hair, sleeping nude, and even how you’re allowed to sing the national anthem are still on the books in Massachusetts. However, as overbearing as they might seem, many of the laws in Massachusetts are in place to help protect people and keep its residents safe.

The newest strange thing I’ve noticed in Massachusetts isn’t a law per say, but it is a great new method to help keep folks safe. It involves a sticker and a mailbox. Yup, that’s it.

Let’s back up a little bit. One of the most important parts of everyday life is receiving your mail. We rely on letter carriers to get us our mail every day and it’s likely one of the most thankless jobs in Massachusetts. We all know the expression, rain, sleet, snow, the mail must go. I can’t imagine it’s the most glamorous job, especially on inclement days. However, bad weather isn’t the only thing that poses a threat to men and women delivering the mail.

Last year in the United States, over 5,800 dog bite injuries were reported to postal workers. In Massachusetts alone, there were well over 100. Knowing the postal service needs to keep their people safe, they developed a relatively simple system to try and keep letter carriers safe from dog attacks.

This is What an Orange or Yellow Paw Print Sticker Means on Your Mailbox

A few years ago, a system involving yellow and orange paw print stickers was developed by the United States Postal Service used to have a program called Paws that placed dog paw stickers on mailboxes to alert mail carriers to the presence of dogs.

An orange sticker on a mailbox means a dog lives at the address, and a yellow sticker means a dog lives at the next address. While the program is technically no longer active, stickers remain on Massachusetts mailboxes.