Stealing mail is quickly becoming a popular past time for thieves everywhere. It’s a relatively risk free way for them to get access to your personal information that could potentially lead to identity theft. Fortunately locking mailboxes are a widely available and very effective method for combating mail theft. Here we’ll look at some of the basic regulations for locking mailboxes to make sure you won’t be making life more difficult for your mailman.
Basic Regulations
When it comes to locking mailboxes the basic regulations are fairly simple. The same basic ideas apply to locking mailboxes as to all others when it comes to location and positioning. This includes: being on the right hand side of the road in the direction that traffic is traveling, must be accessible by your mail carrier without having to leave the vehicle, address number must be displayed with numbers at least one inch in height, and finally must be 6-8 inches from the curb with a mail slot between 41 and 45 inches off the ground. Now when it comes to locking mailboxes there is one final regulation that is important to take into consideration. Locking mailboxes must have a slot at least 10 inches wide and 1.75 inches high to accommodate priority envelopes without folding. Lastly, if you do have a locking mailbox it’s important to note that USPS mail carriers are not allowed to accept a key which may cause an issue when it’s full and you’re on vacation. If you have a positive relationship with your neighbors and this shouldn’t be an issue. Additionally your locking mailbox must be large enough to accommodate your regular daily flow of mail.
Build Styles
Locking mailboxes come in a few different basic style but there isn’t much of a difference between them besides aesthetics and build materials. In general all locking mailboxes utilize a drop slot style with a key lock. It will be interesting to see if alternative locking mechanisms are applied in the future as locking mailboxes become more popular but for now you’re pretty much stuck with a key lock unless you opt to modify it yourself. In terms of build materials and strength of your locking mailbox it pretty much comes down to wall and facade thickness as most boxes are going to be made of a steel alloy of some sort. Lastly just because it’s a security feature doesn’t mean your mailbox needs to look entirely utilitarian. There are a lot of models available that have a nice look while still offering the security you desire.
