Mailboxes

Factual Questions
1

Someone drove through our neighborhood this past weekend and bashed in everyone’s mailboxes along the street (guess they didn’t get around to it on Halloween so they had to do it for Thanksgiving) and so everyone on the street was out Sunday replacing their boxes.

It suddenly struck me that almost everyone had the same design box; black, rectangular, rounded on the top with a red flag on the side and a hinged door in front. In fact, just about every mailbox you see is this shape. It seems that about 90% of the boxes out there have this design. (The other major design seems to be a plain rectangular box without the rounded top.)

How did the “black rectangular box with a rounded top, red flag and hinged door” design come to be the dominant standard for a mailbox? Was this design specified somewhere, or did it just “happen”? It obviously isn’t required since there are other designs, so why this one?

“Drink your coffee! Remember, there are people sleeping in China.”

Dennis Matheson — dennis@mountaindiver.com
Hike, Dive, Ski, Climb — www.mountaindiver.com

2

There used to be specific designs required (by the P.O.D.) to be used. I’m not sure whether now the style you mention falls within strictures or whether the U.S.P.S. provided several design alternatives. Boxes have to be approved by the USPS. Perhaps??? companies can come up with new designs themselves? and, if the prototype is approved, they can sell them?

3

I looked at the USPS site briefly and couldn’t find anything, but I believe all box designs must be approved by the Postmaster General. Maybe someone else will have better luck with a search over here:
www.usps.gov

Dopeler effect:
The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

4

How did the “black rectangular box with a rounded top, red flag and hinged door” design come to be the dominant standard for a mailbox? Was this design specified somewhere, or did it just “happen”? It obviously isn’t required since there are other designs, so why this one?

Dominant? Just your street dude.
Look around, there are dozens of different types of mailboxes.
That type is just what happens to be common in your area.
Why?
It was an approved type that fit the parameters for curbside delivery.
Big enough to hold a days mail, mounted on a post so that delivery could be made from the street, lid closes to keep out splashed water, and has a flag to alert the carrier that you have mail to go.

A zillion types of designs are approved.
When new service is established, they (the PO) generally tell the customers what type of delivery they will recieve, and what type of boxes will be acceptable.
There is a pretty wide range, and they’ve gotta be approved by the ‘postmaster general’, but they don’t say, in what century, or which postmaster general.

Some boxes are totally worthless, you couldn’t cram a single folded letter into them, others are a huge overkill; a thirteen slot box 6 feet tall, costing $1600 ,and only used by two customers.

You got the cheap reliable happy medium.
Plentiful and common, and the plastic ones hold up about as well as the metal ones.
You want cheaper than that, nail a large can to a post, sign off on the weather damage, and we’ll deliver that too.

For more residential options, look here>>> http://www.mailproducts.com/cfm/TOC_MailboxesResidential.cfm

All approved by the pmg, whoever and whenever.

5

The common design uses as little metal as possible. A perfectly rectangular box would require more metal than the popular round-top design does, and would thus be more expensive.

The only way to use less metal would be to make the box cylindrical (is that an oxymoron?). But then it wouldn’t be as easy to have a hinged door, or attach the box to the post.

6

You’re right! The box says, “Postmaster General Approved” without who, what, when or where.

7

Everyone on my road uses a big plastic Rubbermaid box because of the mailbox bashers. They bounce right back!
Zette

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Zettecity

8

A significant number of mailboxes in my neighborhood are rather large brick things. About 2’x2’x4’, with the standard semi-cylinder metal box embedded in the center. Is this popular anywhere else?

9

I’ve seen the embedded ones in brick columns in several areas but cannot now name just where those where. The city south of me banned that sort of thing, as they were afraid drunk drivers might run off the road into them and hurt themselves. (I’m not making that up.)

10

I’ve got a plastic one myself but have seen many decorative (corny) ones around. Tractors seem to be a popular shape for mailboxes around here as well as trucks etc…

11

This is directly from the USPS site and it’s a bit spooky.

$250,000 per incident? Wow!

Dopeler effect:
The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

12

Re: mailbox vandalism

When I delivered pizza, I noticed that most of the mailboxes along the street near the local high school were vandalized to some degree. (I found out that after sporting events, some revelers drove by in a pickup and batted them when they went by.)

One resident had had enough. He designed his own (probably not USPS approved, but the mailman used it). He used the finned metal used in heat sinks, about 1/4" thick with 1-1/2" fins, and welded it together. I would’ve loved to have seen the first idiot who tried to smash it at 30 mph. :slight_smile:

13

Around here, the hot setup is the double walled concrete job. You buy two round topped mailboxes, a big one and a smaller one. You put the small one inside the big one and fill the remaining space between then with concrete. Un-smashable with anything short of a sledge hammer !