Plans for residential Locking mail box

[KT WELDOR]

Hey Guy , Gals: Do any of you folks have plans for making a nice looking locking mail box? My parents live on a busy street and asked me to make em a mail box that will hold a good bit of magazines and small packages that will lock. I will need to mount it on a post that could be put in the ground or bolted on a small concrete pad. Open for metal options too. Any help greatly appreciated. Been reading this site for couple of weeks and have to say I am impressed with the decent people on here. Thanks much!! KT

[jfsmith]

KT,

Check with your local post office to what is approved and not approved.

Jerry

[KT WELDOR]

Thanks will do.

[stick man]

pipe makes a nice box I took a piece of 12" caped both ends then on the front I cut a slot for a normall plastic one to slide in. made my post out of 6" and barried it in concrete. welded a guesst from post to box and painted. Havent had any problems with baseball bats since. Hope that helps

[KT WELDOR]

Hey that is a great idea . I think I could work something out with a large dia.pipe. I have to laugh the little vandals are prob pouting over broken bats! Thanks much. I will post a picture once I make up my mind on how to do this.

[RoGrrr]

I had about 5 incidents concerning my mailbox. The first was, of course, someone skidding out of control and knocking the arm (4X4") off the post. Then stole the box. Then the vandals started - ball bat to new box. Then stole the box. Then firebombed the box with a can of starting fluid outside; and then road fuzee in the box with another can of starting fluid. Then stole the box again.

I talked with the postmistress about it and she said that there was nothing she could do, that I would have to call the shurf and file a complaint. Did that twice.

NOTHING

I asked Ms mistress what kind of box/post I could put up that wouldn't be stole/damaged. She said that nothing more than a 4x4; after all, you wouldn't want to hurt them if they ran off the road and hit your box. I said, "I want them to be killed if they hit my box". I got a dirty look. I then said "What difference will it make if they hit my box and get killed, or if they hit the BIG oak tree right next to the box and get killed ? They willl be just as dead. And I want the vandals to be hurt so badly that they will think twice about screwing with mailboxes.

I got another dirty look.

Screw her....

I built a box out of a piece of 13 inch well casing, 3/8 inch thick, mounted on a piece of 4 inch well casing. I tried shooting it with my 45 from 6 feet. It only put a smudge on the box. Next I shot the flag with the 45. Another smudge.

Six months later, someone skidded down the hill and hit my box. They only displaced the base (concrete buried 3 feet deep) about 5 degrees, which I was able to pull back straight up with a 4 ton come-along hooked to my truck.

Don't worry about postmasters. Build the box so it is essentially "BULLETPROOF" and sleep better at night.

And the mailman (actually, a woman) did compliment me on my new box. And the lawyer down the road wants me to build him one ! So I'm building a beetter one one out of quarter inch diamond plate for me and he'll 'inherit' my well casing box.

P.S. If another car (or drunken pick 'em up truck) downs my box, I'll go to a 6 inch casing filled with concrete. (to protect that oak tree, ya know)

KT,

Check with your local post office to what is approved and not approved.

Jerry

[Engloid]

I had a shop teacher in high school that kept having mail boxes damaged. He went and bought a $8 sheetmetal box at the local store, filled the bottom 3/4 of it with concrete, and mounted it as usual.

Of course a NEW box is the most fun for the kids to bash, right?


It was about a week till he went to check the mail and there was a lot of glass around his mailbox. It turns out that when the kids were hanging out of the car window with the bat and hit his box, the bat bounced back and put out their rear door window.

[84ZMike]

Hey Guy , Gals: Do any of you folks have plans for making a nice looking locking mail box? My parents live on a busy street and asked me to make em a mail box that will hold a good bit of magazines and small packages that will lock.

If it's locked how is the mail man going to put the small packages and mags. into it? The locked ones you see in res. areas have a large rear door that the mail man can open with one key and deposit the mail in each box.......I don't think your mail man would be willing to carry a key for just this one box.
Mike

[fun4now]

you would have to make it so it auto locks when the door is shut. so it would be left open a little till the mail man puts in the mail then shuts it and it locks. or have some sort of easy to lock systen that the mail man/woman can lock when done installing the mail. you could use a standerd door type lock with a key, not the kind with a handel just the flat lock that locks when closed. i'll have to find a pic if you dont get the idea of the lock i'm talking about. here is a badly drawn version.LOL generaly mounts abouve the standerd knob/lock in place of a dead bolt or in adition to. again it would have to be left open untill the mail man got there if the kids shut it befor the mail man gets there he wont be able to get in to diliver the mail. the other option would be make a trap door like the post box on the corner or in front of the post office that alows the mail to drop in but not be taken out.
good luck , let us know what you end up with.

[glockdoc]

I'm guessing that the postman(woman) carrys just a small number of keys that will fit every lockbox in town. Just need to pin the lock to fit one of the keys he(she) already has. You can always ask him(her). However, he(she) will still have to get his(her) key out to unlock the box and that may be asking too much of some postmen(women) out there.