Prepare Your Mailboxes for Winter

Winter is coming, which makes now the perfect time to repair mailboxes. It’s fairly common for individuals to repair mailboxes after winter, but if you take the time to fix them up now, winter won’t be nearly as tough on them.

A mailbox that is old or damaged needs maintenance before the winter months to avoid extra work in the cold. This is especially true if residents need to perform maintenance on mailbox posts. Mailboxes that are damaged by snow plows are often the result of snow, not the plow itself. Many places have rules regarding replacing a mailbox, and the majority of the time a damaged mailbox does not meet the criteria. For example, many areas require the mailbox to be physically struck by the plow itself, not the snow from the plow.

There are steps you can take to prepare your mailbox for winter. That first step comes with the mailbox post. In general you can choose between a wooden post, a plastic post, or a metal post. A sturdy post made from high-quality wood is recommended. Plastic can also be durable depending on the manufacturer. If you plan to go with a steel post, use caution. Your mailbox must give way in an accident or you will be liable. In addition, before installing a post be sure you meet the USPS standards, which you can find here. If you have a mailbox post that is rotting, damaged, or can be easily shifted, make sure to repair that now before the ground freezes. Once the ground freezes replacing a mailbox post will become very difficult or even impossible.

The post is the most important step for preparing your mailbox for winter, but there are other steps as well. For example, you should check on your mailbox hinge to see if it is rusty or otherwise damaged. If your hinge is damaged mailboxes may fall open exposing your mail to the elements. It’s also important that your address is clear on the mailbox, preferably using reflective numbers so it is easier to see.  

Take these steps to fix your mailbox before the problem is too severe in winter! 

Who Should Have Mailbox Access?

There has been some discussion in recent weeks about who exactly should have access to your mailbox. Should this be exclusively for the USPS? Or should third parties such as UPS have access?

One of the biggest debates is about if allowing others access to your mailbox will be bad for security. Right now, only you and your letter carrier should have access to your mailbox, and inviting others to as well is a security threat. However, those in favor of allowing third parties access argue that most mailboxes do not lock, so they can be access by additional individuals anyway. If that is the case, wouldn’t it make more sense for other companies to place small packages in mailboxes, instead of out for everyone to see on the porch? With all the parcels that are shipped now, mailboxes have gotten bigger. The argument is that allowing parties other than the USPS access will make the larger mailboxes worth the investment, and keep packages safer.

Not surprisingly, the USPS is concerned about how this will affect their profits. Allowing other companies to have access to mailboxes is leading to fear over competition. The USPS has been struggling to turn a profit for years, and anything that may lead to more debt is obviously alarming for the USPS. The main concern is allowing open access will allow other companies to deliver items such as catalogs or ads, taking away a chunk of the Postal Service’s profit.

One of the most compelling arguments for why the USPS should have exclusive access is that additional mail and parcels in a mailbox will cause confusion for letter carriers. As it stands, letter carriers are aware that any mail left in a mailbox is outgoing. If anyone is allowed access, then letter carriers have to sort through the mail to see if it is meant for you or them. This is inefficient and confusing, and is sure to cause issues.

There are compelling reasons to allow third parties access to mailboxes, and compelling reasons not to. At the moment, it does not seem likely that other parties will be using your mailbox any time soon, but that doesn’t make it impossible. This may not be the last time this question is raised.