Tom Smith, who has been delivering mail in Wilmington, Del., for about 25 years, likes to know everybody on his route personally. So when he was assigned to a new route and faced 400 strangers, he dropped them a letter of introduction—in their mailboxes, without postage.
One person complained, apparently because of a postscript in which Smith offered membership forms for the Veterans of Foreign Wars. What he did was illegal, and superiors warned that he could be fined $300. Smith has offered to pay $60 in postage to end the matter. Meanwhile, he is obeying the law and making sure that...