Do all American homes have their Mailboxes outside?

[vetrik]

I always lived in rural areas before with the mailbox at the end of the driveway next to the street (and once I lived at the end of a dead end road, and there was a grouping of about 5 mailboxes at the top of the street for all the houses so the mailman wouldn't have to turn their car around in the dead end).

Our house now has a mail slot in the door, but at some point a prior owner installed a mailbox right next to the steps leading to the front door so the mail gets delivered there. Some of our neighbors still use their mail slot, and others have a small mailbox mounted on the house. I find it interesting, I didn't know anyone still used a mail slot before I moved here.

 

[Alyssa88]

My home has a mailbox outside, but ride outside the door.

At my apartmant at school the mailboxes are all in the lobby.

 

[AllyandJack]

I don't have a mailbox at all. I have a PO Box. I live on a country road and the postal worker doesn't even get out of the car - he just drives up the street. I wasn't comfortable having my mail sit out there. If someone can put it in there without me seeing them, someone can take it out, too.

Plus, when the plows come by, they usually wipe out every mail box on the block anyway.

 

[Kimmumum]

We have a mailbox outside. In our neighborhood all of the mailboxes are on the same side of the street. We have to go across the street to get to our mailbox. Ours is next to the neighbors mailbox in their yard.

 

[mickeyfan2]

Now we have a mailbox on the street, but the home we rented had a slot in the garage door. I liked the slot better. We just put a plastic box under and all mail was kept until our return (and dry too).

 

[Tybug]

Mail delivery is only about a decade or so old in my area. Many have mailboxes... there are banks of boxes in some developments... Me? I have a PO Box. I don't want my mail available for anyone to go through.

Plus... how would I get all the local gossip if I didn't have to go to the post office?

 

[NMAmy]

My sister has a mail slot at her house.

I've had different delivery methods at different places I've lived--right now I have a mailbox across the street. (All the boxes are on the same side of the street to make it easier on the mail carrier.)

In New Mexico, our mail carrier walked the route but we had a small mailbox right by the front door (attached to the house.)

 

[Tink_Or_Belle]

our town does not have to the door delivery we all have post office boxes at the local post office there is no box rental fee because there is no option to have it brought to you... SO I have neither at my house.

 

[need_a_Disney_fix]

I have no idea what it is like to have a mailbox. We have always had to go to the post office to get our mail. Its a pain.

 

[sorcerormickey]

We have a mailbox outside. In our neighborhood all of the mailboxes are on the same side of the street. We have to go across the street to get to our mailbox.

That's what we have now too. It is a PITA to go get the mail when it is 90º outside!!

When I was little, we had a mail slot in our front door. Mad my dog crazy!!

 

[ImarriedGrumpy]

We have a mail slot built into the house next to the front door that drops the mail directly into the house. When DH was a batchelor, he kept a large outdoor trashcan there to collect the mail and sorted through it when the can was about 1/3 full. I've replaced it with a basket on a small table and sort through it at least every other day....

In our neighborhood the mailcarrier walks door to door to deliver mail, so homes either have a mail slot or a box mounted next to the door. There have been problems with mail being stolen from outside mailboxes, so we're pleased to have the mail go directly into our house. We are looking into getting a locking mailbox to put next to our door instead, but for now our system works!

 

[southernbohemian]

The neighborhood we currently live in has a bank of mailboxes two blocks away and I HATE it. It is right next to the elementary school, so its even more inconvenient to go check the mail if I want to do it during the school rush. We go at least several days at a time without checking the mail. My last house had the mailbox on the front with a walking mailman. Will you believe a big selling point on the neighborhood we look to move into is the fact that the houses have individual mailboxes. It is so rare here since most of the neighborhoods have gone to the mail banks.

 

[Becky2005]

Will you believe a big selling point on the neighborhood we look to move into is the fact that the houses have individual mailboxes. It is so rare here since most of the neighborhoods have gone to the mail banks.

That's actually 1 BIG thing I looked for in our 2nd house. The first house we moved into had alleyways for the driveways plus the mailboxes were in banks of them that you needed a key for. They were small too, so if you got big item it was a pain (they did have 2 big ones that they would leave the key for in your box but if those were full too bad). I hated it.

One thing I said was our next house will have a *real* driveway and a *real* mailbox!!! If the house didn't have either of those 2 things, I don't care how nice of a house it was, I wasn't going to buy it.

I thought I was told the mailbanks & mailslots (also attached to home mailboxes) were illegal to make anymore (nothing offiical -- just what I heard as the mailbanks due to some union rule as they were delivering more mail than the other way around & then mail slots/mail boxes directly attached to the house for security reasons! As a previous poster pointed out someone threw a firecracker in one but also with mail bombs and a host of other things. Of course, that could just be rumor mill stuff, I never had a reason to go looking things up!)

I grew up with a mailbox by the driveway & now my parents have one attached to their house. I've never lived anywhere that had an actual slot, I don't think I would like that because then basically even if my door was completely locked, it wouldn't be secure since there would be this opening there.