# Who owns my mailbox? (US centric) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 23, 2004, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-my-mailbox-us-centric/230704 "2004-02-23T17:46:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2004, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-my-mailbox-us-centric/230704/1 "2004-02-23T17:46:55Z")
This question came up the other day. If I live in a non-city residential area, and I purchase a mailbox with my own money, who owns it? Logic would dictate that since I bought it, it is mine. It would then stand to reason that I alone could allow or disallow anyone I wanted to fill it, tamper with it, or deface it. However, [this site](http://www.usps.com/websites/depart/inspect/smashbox.htm) states > [@](#): > > Mailboxes are considered federal property, and federal law (Title 18, United States Code, Section 1705), makes it a crime to vandalize them (and to injure, deface or destroy any mail deposited in them). Violators can be fined up to $250,000 or imprisoned for up to three years for each act of vandalism. If this is so, then shouldn’t the USPS be paying for my mailbox? After all, they own and regulate it. If not, is it compulsory for me to buy a mailbox, or will they provide one on request? If I buy one, at what point does it become government property? Can I buy one and designate it to be for, say, delivery of the local paper, or neighborhood flyers only? Can I buy one and keep it in my basement, and retain property rights over it? And can I opt out of receiving USPS service altogether? Can I simply call the post office and ask them to cancel my service? (Note: This is an idle question, which came up after discussing adventure films, which led to discussing Remo Williams, which led to a discussion of Wilfred Brimley, which led to a discussion about a Seinfeld episode. In case you were curious.) ---
**Author:** ![cedric45](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d07c76/32.png) [@cedric45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cedric45)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2004, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-my-mailbox-us-centric/230704/2 "2004-02-23T18:31:59Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > (Note: This is an idle question, which came up after discussing adventure films, which led to discussing Remo Williams, which led to a discussion of Wilfred Brimley, which led to a discussion about a Seinfeld episode. In case you were curious.) I thought I was the only one this happens to! 😃 My understanding (from 30 +/- years ago) is that the box itself actually belongs to you, it’s just that the _space_ inside belongs to the USPS. :rolleyes: Legal definitions are really wild sometimes. This allows you to buy the box but allows the government to visit merry hell on anyone screwing with the mail inside. Pranks like “postal baseball” or using cherry bombs on rural boxes are taken very seriously by enforcement types but you gotta replace your own vandalized box. A guy in my hometown was putting flyers into roadside mailboxes and he was arrested, convicted and had to pay an ungodly fine. He only avoided jail time as the judge took pity on him and suspended the sentence. He’s still got an arrest record though. Putting flyers ON a mailbox may cause some complaints but the USPS won’t care at all. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2004, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-my-mailbox-us-centric/230704/3 "2004-02-23T19:51:52Z")
The USPS is providing you with a free service, delivery to your home of materials sent through the mail. They have the right to regulate what you have to do to receive this free service. Part of the regulations are that you purchase and maintain a receptacle of specified size and shape. You may not use this receptacle for any other purpose whatsoever. [D041 Customer Mail Receptacles](http://pe.usps.gov/text/dmm/d041.htm#Rbi31049) states this in plain language: > [@](#): > > no part of a mail receptacle may be used to deliver any matter not bearing postage, including items or matter placed upon, supported by, attached to, hung from, or inserted into a mail receptacle. Conversely, you have to right to forgo this service. If you choose, you can have all your mail sent via General Delivery care of your local Post Office. But then you have to pick it up and you’d be responsible if you paid your bills late or took no action if a legal notice were sent to you. You can’t opt out entirely because people are still going to send mail to you whether you like it or not and this will include various governmental entities. ---
**Author:** ![robcaro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@robcaro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robcaro)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2004, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-my-mailbox-us-centric/230704/4 "2004-02-23T20:29:18Z")
> [@Exapno Mapcase](#): > > The USPS is providing you with a free services “Free Services?” It seems to me that postage is paying for this “free service.” ---
**Author:** ![Duderdude2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cdc98d/32.png) [@Duderdude2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duderdude2)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2004, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-my-mailbox-us-centric/230704/5 "2004-02-23T21:36:03Z")
> [@robcaro](#): > > “Free Services?” It seems to me that postage is paying for this “free service.” Yeah, it’s no more free than UPS or FedEx. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2004, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-my-mailbox-us-centric/230704/6 "2004-02-23T21:44:53Z")
Do I have to state the obvious: It’s free for the recipient to _receive_ mail, and that is the subject of this thread. You own your mailbox, but if you put it out to receive USPS mail, the USPS must have exclusive use of that box. If you do not intend the USPS to use it to deliver mail, you can do whatever you wish with it. And yes, you can put out additional boxes for newspaper and other deliveries, provided that they are sufficiently distinguished from the mailbox. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2004, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-my-mailbox-us-centric/230704/7 "2004-02-23T22:20:49Z")
We had a related thread just recently: > **[Can you put a note in your neighbor's mailbox?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=240422)** > > My dad wanted to give his neighbor a gift for plowing his driveway. He said he’s just going to mail it to them because it’s illegal for anyone but a postal employee to put anything in a mailbox. Is this true? I mean, if it was a bomb, I guess I could... I wonder if it technically applies to me sticking stuff in my own mail slot. The Vietnamese guy who mows my lawn knows not to stick his bill in the mail slot - he sticks it in the front door crack. I routinely take it out and stuff it in the mail slot to pick up with the mail later. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2004, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-my-mailbox-us-centric/230704/8 "2004-02-23T22:31:36Z")
Thank you, **Walloon**. You saved my head from a lot of banging against the wall. 😃