…… HELP/ADVICE: Seeking a recommendation for a locking mailbox

[Krayola]

Our post office just informed us that the rates for a PO Box are going up again so we need to get a locking mailbox for our residence. Our postal carrier recently warned me that someone has been opening residential mailboxes in our area so we need something secure.

I've looked at some boxes online at Lowes and Home Depot in the past but the reviews are mixed. It seems like most of them either leak or they just are not very secure, or both. If you have a locking mailbox and are happy with it, please let me know what model you have and where you got it. Thanks!

 

[Wildweasel]

What you seek is a Fort Knox Mailbox. Lockable, heavy-gauge steel in post-mounted and free-standing bolted-on-slab versions. For the post mounted versions I'd use a pre-cast concrete mailbox post that can have several feet imbedded in the ground.

High Security Mailboxes - Fort Knox Mailbox, LLC.

Breaking bats and bending pry bars since 1994. Fort Knox Mailbox is the HOME OF THE WORLD’S GREATEST MAILBOXES! Get your custom mailbox today.

fortknoxmailbox.com

 

[Dennis Olson]

Put a mail slot in your front door.

 

[day late]

Put a mail slot in your front door.

Good, if you can get the mailman to go to the door. Mail thieves go for the easiest target. If your box has a lock and the one next to it doesn't, he will go for the unlocked box first. As far as the rest goes, locks are kind of like what they say about racing.

"Speed costs. How fast can you afford to go?"

With locks,

"Security costs...." You can figure out the rest.

But honestly speaking, ALL security comes down to one thing. What are you trying to protect? Answer that question and you know how much you are willing to spend and how far you are willing to go to protect your mail, or whatever.

 

[Dennis Olson]

Id just pay the higher PO Box fee. But that’s just me. Some folks will spend $500 to save $10.

 

[raven]

A small P.O. Cox costs $4.50/mo
If you get a package too big for the mailbox, you either get key for a lockbox or a slip to pick it up at the window.

A locking mailbox cost $100. If the P.O. Box goes up $2.00, you mail is still safer in a P.O. Box

I am not seeing the cost/benefit of a locking mailbox

 

[WalknTrot]

Rural carriers won't bring mail up to the house (door slot). Packages too big to fit in the mailbox yes, but they will still leave the mail in the box down at the road.

Agree that I'd think twice about giving up the PO Box. The locked boxes in the ad above wouldn't hold up to a crow-bar, a battery powered angle grinder or a snowplow, and from what I hear, once you give up a PO Box, you may be a long wait for another. They are quite in demand these days with a waiting list.

 

[Blue 5]

We've got this one:

Mail Boss 7507 Curbside Mail Manager Security, White Locking Mailbox https://a.co/d/jiLOFXw

it's proven to be durable and secure, and it's made of heavy steel. Hope this helps.

 

[Millwright]

, you either get key for a lockbox or

Our PO quit doing that.

People had copied the keys and were coming back and cleaning out the drop boxes.

 

[Knoxville's Joker]

What you seek is a Fort Knox Mailbox. Lockable, heavy-gauge steel in post-mounted and free-standing bolted-on-slab versions. For the post mounted versions I'd use a pre-cast concrete mailbox post that can have several feet imbedded in the ground.

High Security Mailboxes - Fort Knox Mailbox, LLC.

Breaking bats and bending pry bars since 1994. Fort Knox Mailbox is the HOME OF THE WORLD’S GREATEST MAILBOXES! Get your custom mailbox today.

fortknoxmailbox.com

2000 for a big one? You could weld one together for cheaper.

 

[dioptase]

We had to get a Fort Knox mailbox, as we had mail robbed from our previous box. (The first we knew of that, was when we were informed by the police that our mail was found at a perp's house.) No problems with the new mailbox; we love it and have had it for many years now.

 

[hd5574]

I am home all day. ..rural mailbox...we have both a mail box alarm...and a driveway alarm....ones alerts when the mail arrives and the other when packages arrive. .works for us because we are here....also great if the weather is lousy..

 

[WalknTrot]

I am home all day. ..rural mailbox...we have both a mail box alarm...and a driveway alarm....ones alerts when the mail arrives and the other when packages arrive. .works for us because we are here....also great if the weather is lousy..

That works out great, but only for those of us who are home. I use "USPS Informed Delivery" online so I can get a scan every morning of what's coming with the mailman out on the route. At least then, I know if something important is down there sitting.

As far as outgoing mail? I quit leaving it in the box years ago. I bring it up to the PO to mail these days. With all the BS we went through with "Snowmageddon" last winter, I'm seriously considering doing a PO Box next winter and picking up the mail whenever I can get out.

 

[CaryC]

We don't have walking mailmen, even in town. They have community boxes at the corner. And country folks, the mailman never gets out of his car.

So a box with a slot is about the only option. And even then locks are for honest people. Out here we have HS drunks smash mailboxes with baseball bats. Joy and fun, on a drunk. A lot of people have bricked there's up, which with a metal bat I'm sure rings some arms, so that has fallen off in the last few years.

However I have seen ads where UPS, and other carriers, provide inside mail boxes at their facilities. As to the cost, I'm sure it varies with region, and store. You'll have to call.

 

[hd5574]

That works out great, but only for those of us who are home. I use "USPS Informed Delivery" online so I can get a scan every morning of what's coming with the mailman out on the route. At least then, I know if something important is down there sitting.

As far as outgoing mail? I quit leaving it in the box years ago. I bring it up to the PO to mail these days. With all the BS we went through with "Snowmageddon" last winter, I'm seriously considering doing a PO Box next winter and picking up the mail whenever I can get out.

I started with I am home....
I have it worked out that I only have one bill per month that I need to mail...do that at a post office..it is due near the end of the month but I all ready have it ...so it is no problem to drop off at a post office at our convenience....the other mail that goes flag up is the miss delivered mail....which happens frequently. ...
Have no need for a post office box....I have kept track of when important mail should be delivered for years...and even more importantly when it needs to be paid.......if a bill is MIA....I simply call the company and request a duplicate. ..
Just read that the price of and gas is due to double and we may have shortages so even less reason for us to desire a post office box....l am old enough to have done the gas line stuff in the past..don't want the added expense of a post office box and even less problem of having to spend time picking up the mail...
When my mail box alarm goes off ...both a chime a red light on the little box ..I just walk out a get the mail..

Informed delivery only means they have your mail...not that they really managed to deliver it to the correct address. ..I have one more bill due at the end of June..that has not yet arrived. ..it should arrive early this week. ..

 

[Wildweasel]

We don't have walking mailmen, even in town. They have community boxes at the corner. And country folks, the mailman never gets out of his car.

So a box with a slot is about the only option. And even then locks are for honest people. Out here we have HS drunks smash mailboxes with baseball bats. Joy and fun, on a drunk. A lot of people have bricked there's up, which with a metal bat I'm sure rings some arms, so that has fallen off in the last few years.

However I have seen ads where UPS, and other carriers, provide inside mail boxes at their facilities. As to the cost, I'm sure it varies with region, and store. You'll have to call.

When we first moved here to PA we started out with a regular sheet metal mailbox. It lasted 5 years before the bat brigade got it one night. We heard it happen. They used an aluminum bat. "PING!"

Replaced it with another similar box. Within a month we were awakened by the "PING!". Replaced that box with a plastic one. One night, a muffled "PING!" They got it within a week, and while the box sprung back to its shape the door hinge points had been ripped thru by the hinge bolts.

Our final try was to move to an "armored" mailbox, made out of 1/4" steel. The last visit by the bat brigade was a "TONK!!!" followed by screaming. Didn't even dent the box or mar the finish.

No more mailboxes required since then.

 

[WalknTrot]

I started with I am home....
I have it worked out that I only have one bill per month that I need to mail...do that at a post office..it is due near the end of the month but I all ready have it ...so it is no problem to drop off at a post office at our convenience....the other mail that goes flag up is the miss delivered mail....which happens frequently. ...
Have no need for a post office box....I have kept track of when important mail should be delivered for years...and even more importantly when it needs to be paid.......if a bill is MIA....I simply call the company and request a duplicate. ..
Just read that the price of and gas is due to double and we may have shortages so even less reason for us to desire a post office box....l am old enough to have done the gas line stuff in the past..don't want the added expense of a post office box and even less problem of having to spend time picking up the mail...
When my mail box alarm goes off ...both a chime a red light on the little box ..I just walk out a get the mail..

Informed delivery only means they have your mail...not that they really managed to deliver it to the correct address. ..I have one more bill due at the end of June..that has not yet arrived. ..it should arrive early this week. ..

It was the 5 ft. snowdrifts in the driveway last winter that is making me consider a PO Box next fall. Not only getting to the road, but keeping the damned mailbox un-smashed by the plow and chopped out of the snowbanks/icebanks so the mailman could reach it. A couple hundred bucks for a PO Box was sounding like a real good idea somewhere around last January.

 

[hd5574]

Not only do we have the bat brigade. .we have the snow plow brigade....we have made VDOT.... buy us a new mail box a couple of times..of course they take out box and the post...lot of people switched to the plastic boxes and it seemed put and end to the bat boys..

We did have one postal employ idiot who decided that putting the plastic flag up and wedging a heavy package between the box and the flag was easier that delivering it the house and was a cool thing to do...of course that destroyed the flag ...the next day the flag was hanging straight down so they figured that one out pretty quick... ..called the plastic box people and they were nice enough to send a new flag free of charge...

 

[WalknTrot]

Not only do we have the bat brigade. .we have the snow plow brigade....we have made VDOT.... buy us a new mail box a couple of times..of course they take out box and the post...lot of people switched to the plastic boxes and it seemed put and end to the bat boys..

We did have one postal employ idiot who decided that putting the plastic flag up and wedging a heavy package between the box and the flag was easier that delivering it the house and was a cool thing to do...of course that destroyed the flag ...the next day the flag was hanging straight down so they figured that one out pretty quick... ..called the plastic box people and they were nice enough to send a new flag free of charge...

County won't replace or pay for wrecked mailboxes here (N MN) - they would literally go broke.
If the plow hits it, it's the owner's fault for poor design or maintenance. End of story.

 

[CaryC]

Not only do we have the bat brigade. .we have the snow plow brigade....we have made VDOT.... buy us a new mail box a couple of times..of course they take out box and the post...lot of people switched to the plastic boxes and it seemed put and end to the bat boys..

We did have one postal employ idiot who decided that putting the plastic flag up and wedging a heavy package between the box and the flag was easier that delivering it the house and was a cool thing to do...of course that destroyed the flag ...the next day the flag was hanging straight down so they figured that one out pretty quick... ..called the plastic box people and they were nice enough to send a new flag free of charge...

My guy is really nice.

If he has a package to big to fit, he honks a time or two, and then leaves a pink note to pick up at post office. Nothing is left on the outside of the box, nothing.

However sometimes when SB has been shopping and her clothes comes in, the box is stuffed, and I have to use both feet to pry it out, but nothing is left on the outside.

 

[hd5574]

We have a rather long driveway to the back of the house..
where we take package delivery...it is both illegal and dangerous to back out of our driveway ..as there is a blind hill.. they can easily turn around in the back so no backing out into the road....so if we have deep snow..DH puts the bucket on the tractor and clears our driveway. .and around the mailbox..but they also know they can deliver paper mail back if there a lot of snow...

 

[Dozdoats]

Amazing the problems fixed by a 6X6" wraparound mailbox post.

 

[Griz3752]

Is there a PakMail or MailBoxes_R_Us handy?

 

[Wildweasel]

County won't replace or pay for wrecked mailboxes here (N MN) - they would literally go broke.
If the plow hits it, it's the owner's fault for poor design or maintenance. End of story.

We got lucky with the plows, because our box is up against a section of guardrail on the back of the guardrail. Plow would have to take out the guardrail to get at our mailbox.

Being an armored mailbox it shrugs off the crap the plows throw up as they go by. And it only takes one pass with our snowplow-equipped ATV or snowblower to clear the berm the state's plow leaves between edge of pavement and guardrail.