Secure postal mailbox needed - There is mail theft on my st

[Joshua904]

Hah, thats why I was asking time of time. Typically mail carriers have the same routine, and hence you get your mail at the same time each day.

[desidude]

Hi friends,

Thank you for your replies. The mailbox is at the end of the driveway, at a post on the street. So each house has a post outside its gate and there is a mailbox there.

I know the mail delivery comes in the afternoon. I believe the mail theft culprits come in the day light as well, at least, that is what has been captured by my neighbor.

I presume they want to come in between the time the mail is delivered and before most residents come home and pick up their mail.

Thanks,
desidude

[jbrint]

Booby traps are never a good idea no matter how good of an idea they actually are. I live in Houston as well and we have a really big theft of mail issue around where I live and we have those pedestal/community mailboxes which are not very secure, if I have something I care about or is important it goes to PO box.

Where I lived before on the Northside (between the loop and belt on 59) we had street boxes and the kids after school would rob them on their way home, then the drunks and crazy night zombies would look as well. We put up something similar to this:

https://www.jaycomailboxes.com/resident ... uct_id=774

It wasn't exactly like it but similar and we bought it off of Craigslist for real cheap because it was ugly and violated an HOA rule. I guess it looked like it contained goodies and someone threw a chain around it and pulled it up. We found it a few blocks down the road completely destroyed.

The ultimate resolution and the cheapest was getting a PO Box and we didn't have to worry about it any longer.

[nine4t4]

Actually the idea of reconfiguring a fence transformer is feasible.

The postman just slides the mail in the slot,his hands stay mostly stay outside. The thief has to put his hand in the receptacle, grope around and grab the mail.

Wire the mail box itself as one electrode. On the inside, for the other electrode, use something like wire braid. The braid is flexible enough to not obstruct, but it will make contact.

Then you buy a trail cam to recorder the idiots and youtube it.

[jbrint]

Actually the idea of reconfiguring a fence transformer is feasible.

The postman just slides the mail in the slot,his hands stay mostly stay outside. The thief has to put his hand in the receptacle, grope around and grab the mail.

Wire the mail box itself as one electrode. On the inside, for the other electrode, use something like wire braid. The braid is flexible enough to not obstruct, but it will make contact.

Then you buy a trail cam to recorder the idiots and youtube it.

Feasible but not advisable. Say the mail carrier has a pacemaker and the humidity is high (as it is always) and this person gets a zap and dies. Nobody wins in this scenario because the trapper who has done this has criminal charges and the mail carrier is dead.

This is just not good advice and doesn't answer the OP's question realistically. He just wants to secure his mail and came here looking for advice on making that happen, I can't speak for him but I am certain he has no strong desire to kill the person or potentially kill a person to secure his bills and junk mail.

[MatrixBlackRock]

Feasible but not advisable. Say the mail carrier has a pacemaker and the humidity is high (as it is always) and this person gets a zap and dies. Nobody wins in this scenario because the trapper who has done this has criminal charges and the mail carrier is dead.

More realistically the carrier gets a minor zap, next thing you know his manager and his Union representative are now on location and the "mail box" is getting a real close examination as to why?

Wayne

[desidude]

Hello friends,

I hope you are doing well. Thank you for your replies.

I am thinking of buying one of the mailboxes like this one: (thank you for the earlier suggestions, this is from one of the websites I was referred to in the suggestion)

http://www.steelmailbox.com/html/letter ... ilbox.html

Can anyone please educate me on which lock option I should opt for? The current thieves are not really picking locks (well, because there are none on the current mailbox, but they seem like a middle aged, well to do couple)

1) 5-pin cam lock

2) Upgraded 11 gauge cam latch lock
her
3) Medeco Deadbolt High Security Lock

Also, do you think I should opt for aluminum or steel?

Should I put the mail retrieval lock at the front or the back? The mailbox is on the curb of the street, so either a front or back lock would require me to to go out of my home.

I really appreciate your help!

Thank you

[billdeserthills]

I think that the standard option should be good enough, you can always add a higher security lock later, if you want.
I was looking over the details and I think that $425 is too much money for a mailbox that is only 14 to 16 gauge metal.
16 gauge is approximately the thickness of the metal used in most car fenders, and you can feel that metal begin to buckle,
if you have a fat butt, like me and you sit on the fender, which makes me think one good whack with a baseball bat and
goodbye expensive mailbox. Adding another $300 for them to use 10gauge metal just seems like way too much money, makes
me wonder just how much to have someone lay bricks around a cheap mailbox, as a barrier?

I'm thinking if you went to a welder, with plans and have him copy a mailbox, only using better materials you could possibly do much better on the price

[tpark]

Perhaps a game cam mounted in a location that can get the license plate would gain useful information - or maybe a switch in the mailbox that triggers a camera. Mail yourself a relatively small item that has a GPS tracker in it. The problem is that all of these things cost money - but if you can track down where the thieves are, the police may be able to do something.

[billdeserthills]

Perhaps a game cam mounted in a location that can get the license plate would gain useful information - or maybe a switch in the mailbox that triggers a camera. Mail yourself a relatively small item that has a GPS tracker in it. The problem is that all of these things cost money - but if you can track down where the thieves are, the police may be able to do something.

Actually that gps tracker idear isn't too bad, if you have an apple i phone, you can get Tile for like $25 and that can be easily tracked

[desidude]

Hello friends,

Thank you for your replies, I appreciate it. A couple of days ago, I spoke to the mail carrier on this route, lovely lady, and she told me that the mail thieves recently pulled out a lock in one of the neighbors mailbox.

I presume it was a basic off the shelf mailbox from a big box store.

Given this, I am thinking that the 10 gauge may be better, as it may be harder to pull out the lock mechanism?

I will put some brick around the mailbox, to make it more secure, something like this



If I were to find a local welder, do you know where I would need to buy the steel from?

Does anyone else have suggestions on where to buy the mailbox from, since the store I have linked to seems overpriced!

Thanks,
desidude

[billdeserthills]

The place you wanna go to already has the steel, they usually go by the inch, thickness-wise, look at the
sheet steel and aluminum and see what you think. I would think 3/16" to 1/4" thick will work. Take a
copy of any measurements and maybe even print out the picture and get a quote. You can buy your own lock
and they can likely fit it for you, following the picture. If you wanna get really serious take a look at the 'diamond plate'

Just call around, many welders have the materials you need

The new National pedestal P.O. Box locks are much harder to get into, they have a hardened steel cylinder and come with
a huge tailpiece/ cam on the back. Unfortunately I have noticed these mailboxes are largely installed by handymen, who just
buy a cam lock at the home store, and never did use the us postal approved hardware from the get go

[desidude]

Thank you. I will look into this welding option, if so, what type of lock do you recommend?

Also, how would I get the hopper door?

Thanks,
desidude

[billdeserthills]

[EDIT: Post moved from Ask Beginner Hobby Lockpicking Questions to Questions from the Public - What lock should I buy?]

Liffa... do you mean like a Sentry combination lock safe with a slot cut into it? I think that would draw a lot of attention to someone's house if there was a safe suddenly sitting on the side of the street accepting mail.

OP: that brings up a good question, is your parents mailbox the typical American plastic/aluminum mailbox on the side of the road or is it mounted to the porch at the house by the front door?

They make locking mailboxes, just look on Google Shopping or Amazon for locking mailbox or security mailbox:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_ ... ty+mailbox


Here's a $200 dollar one, which can be upgraded to have a Medeco high security locks:
http://www.steelmailbox.com/html/fort_k ... steel.html

The pic on the $200 mailbox looks easy enough to copy, the welder can place a baffle inside the slot to resist fishing for your mail

[Evan]

[EDIT: Post moved from Ask Beginner Hobby Lockpicking Questions to Questions from the Public - What lock should I buy?]

Liffa... do you mean like a Sentry combination lock safe with a slot cut into it? I think that would draw a lot of attention to someone's house if there was a safe suddenly sitting on the side of the street accepting mail.

OP: that brings up a good question, is your parents mailbox the typical American plastic/aluminum mailbox on the side of the road or is it mounted to the porch at the house by the front door?

They make locking mailboxes, just look on Google Shopping or Amazon for locking mailbox or security mailbox:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_ ... ty+mailbox


Here's a $200 dollar one, which can be upgraded to have a Medeco high security locks:
http://www.steelmailbox.com/html/fort_k ... steel.html

The pic on the $200 mailbox looks easy enough to copy, the welder can place a baffle inside the slot to resist fishing for your mail

With stuff like mailboxes, it is better to purchase a container that is already USPS approved rather than trying to reinvent the wheel and have to seek approval for your proposed container individually.

USPS will not deliver mail to an unapproved container, period.

~~ Evan