There's nothing mean about telling your mailman 
to leave the mail between the doors. Wind, rain 
(your neighbors' annoying cat)...a lot of harm 
can happen to your mail when it's left out like 
that. Instead of leaving a note, try to tell him 
personally. Also, it might help if you let him 
know there's delicate *cough (expensive)* artwork 
in those packages.

Now in denfense of the mailman....with all the 
crap that's appeared in the mail recently, you 
can't really blame mail carriers for trying to 
get mail out of their hands as fast as possible. 
It seems silly and unrealistic to us, but the 
stress must be unbearable for those who pass 
along thousands of pieces of mail each day.