Sunday, November 27, 2005

Goin' Postal

I'm driving home from work and pull up to the house. There stands my mailbox with it's front open like an open mouth ready to spew my mail onto the sidewalk. During the last year, I've come home to this view about 6 different times. It's a relatively new mailbox so it should stay shut. This has me pretty worried since I tend to buy things on eBay often and get deliveries from record labels here and there. I actually had to report boxes missing to the post office before. Now that I'm not at home from 4pm to 2am, I can wind up leaving a veritable buffet of a full mailbox there for people to pick through for 10 hours.

I've talked to the mail lady and she has told me that she has a few on her route that put locks in the back of their mailboxes so when she drops off mail, she'll pop the lock on the outside and go. I like this idea, personally, but think that my luck would be that I'd lose a lot of locks to people finding them in the back of the mailbox in the morning. So, I've started to think about different types of mailboxes. Ones that lock, have enough room for some parcels and won't leave me broke. It's kind of driving me batty (yeah, I know... I wasn't far from it before was I?) The one in the picture? That's almost $500 so it's not going to happen. As I figure out this dilemma, I wonder how much you would pay to keep your mail safe?

9 comments:

LoraLoo said...

We live in a neighborhood where the mailboxes are not at the house, it's in those centrally located lock-boxes at the end of each block. There are pros and cons to this - but I do like that the chance of our mail getting stolen is smaller. There are large lock boxes where packages are left and the key placed in your mailbox (although FedEx and UPS still leave them at the house). I wonder if this is something the neighborhood would consider rallying for? I'm not sure the process; is it something the post office would provide on demand or an HOA issue?

Bar L. said...

Wow...I've never even thought about my mail getting stolen. If I have a big package they put it on the front door kind of behind this potted tree.

$500 is kind of a lot for a mailbox but I think you should do something - it would be a bummer to have to get a PO Box.

How are the hours going?

Martin said...

WW - Right now only working 8 hours. The tough part will be when the other job starts (which is very up in the air.) We'll see how a full week is (had a short 3-day week to start.) Thanks for asking WW.

Lora - I don't think they neighbors would go for it. Older neighborhood and all. I also don't want to sound too pushy after starting the trend towards motion sensor lights.

Fred said...

I wouldn't pay. I pay most of my bills on-line, and if I get something from eBay or some other company, I usually request a "signature required" delivery. It's easy for me since The Missus is at home.

Teri said...

We have a community mailbox thing that keeps the postage locked up. The only problem is that they do not allow for outgoing mail, only incoming. So everytime, I send something in the mail, I have to go to the post office. I think it may be time for you to bite the bullet and go for a p.o box. It has to be cheaper than the $500 this new mailbox will cost you for a few years. Who knows with this spiffy mailbox, you might attract the attention of the people you are trying to avoid.

Matt said...

$500 for a mailbox seems pretty steep. Wow!

RT said...

Mmm... I would have to go with Teri on this one, the more secure that mailbox looks, the more they'll think there's something good in there. And crooks have a unique knack for getting into just about anything.

I would also suggest a post office box, but if you do decide to go with an expensive lock and key mailbox, at least dent and scratch it up to make it look older and more durable.

FantasticAlice said...

I wonder if they have any mailboxes that are like the big blue postal ones... the kind that you can put things into, but it has a flap that won't allow you to remove the items... with a lock on the back.

Patent something!

David Amulet said...

I already pay to keep my mail safe--my taxes!

-- david