# Who owns your mailbox? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 10, 2000, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-your-mailbox/6012 "2000-01-10T16:05:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2000, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-your-mailbox/6012/1 "2000-01-10T16:05:00Z")
Our neighborhood association put some flyers in the mailboxes of the people in our subdivision. The mail man removed them and said it is illegal for anyone except the u.s. mailman to put mail in a mailbox. The mail boox sits on my property and I had to buy it and put it up. Where does it say that the U.S. Mail has exclusive rights to my mailbox? Is this some sort of government take over of private property? ---
**Author:** ![starfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/87869e/32.png) [@starfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/starfish)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2000, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-your-mailbox/6012/2 "2000-01-10T17:10:00Z")
You own your mailbox. The apartment complex owns its mailbox, where tenents get thier mail. The US Postal Service has exclusive rights to deliver common mail. [Priority mail can be sent by other services such as UPS or FedEx.] If you want to get mail delivered, you provide them a box for that purpose. They consider someone putting fliers in the mailbox to be an illegal “mailing”. Most carriers don’t care; it’s too much trouble for them to check that everything in the box is legal mail. ---
**Author:** ![JimOfAllTrades](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@JimOfAllTrades](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JimOfAllTrades)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2000, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-your-mailbox/6012/3 "2000-01-10T17:16:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Our neighborhood association put some flyers in the mailboxes of the people in our subdivision. The mail man removed them and said it is illegal for anyone except the u.s. mailman to put mail in a mailbox. The mail boox sits on my property and I had to buy it and put it up. Where does it say that the U.S. Mail has exclusive rights to my mailbox? Is this some sort of government take over of private property? My dad, who was a letter carrier for 20+ years, explained it this way: According to Postal Regulations (which if not law, are at least sanctioned by Federal law) the box is yours, but once it is designated as your official mailbox, the Post office has the exclusive right to use it. If you start using it for other stuff, they don’t have to put your mail in it anymore. I don’t recall if he said there any other possible penalties other than not receiving your mail. Of course, I can’t vouch that he actually looked up the laws & regulations involved, this is probably just the official standard answer that all carriers were given by the PO as part of training. But my Dad did say he got asked that question pretty frequently, and that was the answer he (and the other carriers) used. Ugly ---
**Author:** ![\_Df](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/7ba0ec/32.png) [@\_Df](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_Df)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2000, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-your-mailbox/6012/4 "2000-01-11T01:18:00Z")
> [@](#): > > I don’t recall if he said there any other possible penalties other than not receiving your mail. I think the penalties apply mostly, if not entirely, to those putting the ‘illicit’ stuff in the mailbox, not to the owner. _They can hang it on your doorknob, They can throw it on your lawn, But if they put it in the mailbox, The penalties are strong._ Sorry about that. Gotta practice somewhere. A Lot. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2000, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-your-mailbox/6012/5 "2000-01-11T01:40:00Z")
The PO is entitled to charge you postage for the flyers. Think of it this way. You own your dog or cat. But you can’t go around kicking it either. ---
**Author:** ![yosemite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3ab097/32.png) [@yosemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yosemite)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2000, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-your-mailbox/6012/6 "2000-01-11T01:47:00Z")
My dad was a postman for 40+ years, and he told me something simular about post boxes. Basically, they are off limits. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2000, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-your-mailbox/6012/7 "2000-01-11T02:11:00Z")
Some kid on the news had put flyers in the neighborhood mailboxes about him mowing lawns. He settled with the post office by paying the postage for every flyer he put in the box. ---
**Author:** ![Arjuna34](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Arjuna34](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arjuna34)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2000, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-your-mailbox/6012/8 "2000-01-11T02:23:00Z")
People got around this in my previous neighborhood by putting flyers in our newspaper box instead of the mailbox. Arjuna34 ---
**Author:** ![BugZap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b77776/32.png) [@BugZap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BugZap)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2000, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-your-mailbox/6012/9 "2000-01-11T02:49:00Z")
## Our neighborhood association put some flyers in the mailboxes of the people in our subdivision. The mail man removed them and said it is illegal for anyone except the u.s. mailman to put mail in a mailbox. The mail boox sits on my property and I had to buy it and put it up. Where does it say that the U.S. Mail has exclusive rights to my mailbox? Is this some sort of government take over of private property? Could be. More likely is florida nalc retire’es gettin’ a little bored with no snow. Doin’ a little fishin’ are you there? wassa mail boox? ---
**Author:** ![WhiteNight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b38774/32.png) [@WhiteNight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhiteNight)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2000, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-your-mailbox/6012/10 "2000-01-11T04:42:00Z")
Similar to the phone company claiming to own the junction box on your house, even if you provide it. I think it’s the possession thing. You own the land (or do so via the company that owns the apartments) and I think you could win the case. I mean, when they stick mail through a mail slot, do they own sole rights to use that slot? I doubt they’d try to say that, let alone win if they did. US law might be differnt than Canadian here, but I really can’t imagine Canada post successfully making someone pay a service charge (postage) for using a mailbox that CP doesn’t own. ---
**Author:** ![HAIRY41](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e8c25b/32.png) [@HAIRY41](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HAIRY41)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2000, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-owns-your-mailbox/6012/11 "2000-01-11T07:14:00Z")
Know you know why the flyer is stuck between the mailbox & the little red flag