US Postal Service Mail Box – Regulation Mailboxes
A regulation US Postal Service mail box is specified in the Domestic Mail Manual created by the US Postal Service. Regulation US Postal Service mailboxes can be purchased online from many different retailers.
Before purchasing your mailbox online, make sure it is US postal approved. Curbside mailboxes are available in three sizes: –
- Small T1 (C1) size is approximately 5 inches wide by 6 inches tall and 18 ½ inches long.
- Medium T2 (C2) size is approximately 6 inches wide by 7 inches tall by 19 inches long.
- Large T3 (C3) size is approximately 8 inches wide by 11 ½ inches tall by 22 ½ inches long.
The “T” stands for Traditional and the “C” stands for Contemporary. The dimensions reflect the minimum interior size.
Post mount boxes should be positioned 6-8 inches from the curb and approximately 42-46 inches high measured from the lawn to the top of the installed mailbox, not the top of the post. If the post has a vertical arm, the arm should not extend any closer than 6 inches from the curb.
When installing your new set, make sure your set complies with these regulations. Be cautious when building your own mail box and post. Approximately 100 motorists are killed yearly in collisions with mailboxes. Some posts are mounted in concrete or constructed of indestructible materials. In a collision, a motor vehicle can be severely damaged and its occupants injured or killed.
The U.S. Postal Service does not govern wall mount boxes, however, you should notify your local mail carrier before installation to ensure proper placement of the mailbox and check for any local codes or regulations governing placement of the box. The product should operate easily and nothing should obstruct the opening and closing of the lid. Also check with your home owners association to see if they have any association by-laws which you need to comply with.
is there any law on parking in front or blocking the crub side mail box. our neighbor parks there car next to our box. making our mail carrier have to get out of her truck to deliver our mail.
tom mcqueary kon-tiki ter. portorange fl. 32129 is a car or truck allowed to park curbside and block delivery of mail where the mail person cannot deliver mail with out gitting out of his mobil- thank you
Mail Carriers are not required to deliver mail to block mail boxes
Please, Lets Get Some kind Of Law Passed In California, I’v Had It With These People Who Do Not Respect The Mail Box Of Another..Parking Right In Front Of The Mailbox. Now I Understand The Mail Carrier Doing a Good Job. For Some Disrespectful Person To Block On Purpose On The Street And Could Care Less If You Get Your Mail Or Not…Lets Help Our Mail Carriers At Least During The Delivery Hours…..
Our mail box is across the road from our house. Can we move our mail box on our side of the road. There is a lot of traffic on the road. some time I need to waite long time to cross. The cars are going about 50 miles an hr. It’s getting to dangerous.
Check with your local Post Office.
You will need to contact your local post office. Some carriers will change this for you, especially if they are already delivering mail on both sides of the street, but if they do not deliver to both sides, it may not be possible to change your box. I am a mail carrier and I have done this for several customers because my route direction (line of travel) allowed it, but I have also had to deny the request for the same reason. Mail routes are determined by a direct line of travel keeping the safety of the carrier in mind and remember, mail carriers deliver using right hand drive vehicles, so mail box must be on the right,
Yea, good luck with that. it requires a doctor’s note…which I have, and now the post office is being real A$%%^ holes about it. get a doctor’s note to move your box to the other side and wait for the shi6tstorm from the post office! And I have that same situation, PLUS I’ve had a leg injury and constant pain, and am unable to RUN when cars/trucks barrel down over the hill towards me. I love how everyone’s advise is to contact the post office, who do you think your mail carrier works for?????
It just amaze me on how the postal service risk the lives of us all. My box and home gets shot at every hunting season. What do they care. Rumors have it, that the contracts get paid wether they diliver your mail or not. They do get 18 million dollars yearly from the taxes we pay.
USPS mailbox, wall mounted for triplex. Lock not fuctioning on individual unit. To whom is this reported as the mail deliverer apparently is not aware or ignores malfunction.
Would appreciate reply ASAP as mail door flopping in the wind.
JBC
The post office does not purchase or maintain mailboxes or collection boxes that are common for apartments. That is the responsibility of the home owner or property owner.
It’s awesome to pay a quick visit this site and reading the views of all mates about this post, while I am also eager of getting know-how.
Our nieghbor cluster mail box site was broken into and vadalized. It may be weeks until it is repaired. We currently have to go to the Post Office to get our mail. Can we install our own curbside mail box in front of our home to have the USPS deliver our mail there in the mean time. Is it a law?
You will need to contact your local post office and speak with the postmaster. Some offices will allow for this and some do not. It will depend upon the route, the carrier and other factors.
Just moved in to a townehome in Naperville, IL. What rights do I have with regards to collecting my own mail?
By the way, my landlord is the only one with the key to the mailbox..
No one else can collect your mail but you. Mail is protected by the law and you are the only person who can collect your personal mail. I would contact the postmaster at the local post office.
I don’t get what the big deal is?!? Can’t the mail man simply stop being lazy and get off there ass and walk the 2feet around the vehicle to the mailbox? I mean seriously!! Isn’t the postal service moto something like through rain,sleet,and snow or heat or something like that right?! I don’t remember hearing a OH!! Unless there’s a car in the way!!! Maybe california needs to take a time warp back to when they used to have to walk around from block to block house to house!! That would really help the situation wouldn’t it!!? Don’t get me wrong Ive got nothing against the postal service but c’mon!! It’s there job! I could only imagine if my job was to let’s say make copy’s of something and when people came to me with( Hey!! Where’s my copy of today’s stuff and I said oh!! I’m sorry there was a stack of chairs in the way of me safely printing them up today!) I don’t think I’d have that job for much longer wouldn’t you agree? And another thing they chose this job as we all chose ours so just like we deal with all of our day to day mishaps and still manage to work around them and get through the day should’nt they?!?
Very judgemental for someone who does not work for the post office. It is a safety issue to jump in and out of the vehicle. Most routes deliver to 1000 or so family’s in a day. Your mail carrier should not have to risk an accident because you can’t move your car!
Yep! And don’t forget… they should also be riding horses, and carrying guns. That would show them! And- they should not go home for days while braving the elements. Family? Who needs them. I know I would make sure to get you your mail to you on time – and on a silver platter (even if I lost a leg, was hit by a passing truck, got snake bit, soaking wet, slipped and fell into the briar patch around your unkempt 1700’s fallen over yellow jacket infested tin can you call a mail box. Yeah, the good old days! You ever think about giving up that disability check you collect for the hang nail you have? We sure could use some help. Post office runs help wanted ad’s daily, and we could sure use more professionals like you!
Ummm excuse me!! I am a mail carrier and I happen to love my Job. Let me just tell you something.. Just because one part of the route might be driving and delivering to these curb side mailboxes, I will guarantee you that they have already walked a good at least 7 miles of the route or are yet to get to the part of their route where they walk from house to house. Where I live there is not one route that has all driving. They are all set up that way. So no we aren’t lazy. It’s called, every single time our butts are out of that seat, the wheels need to be curbed the vehicle needs to be turned off and the vehicle needs to be locked, if a postal inspector were to just show up, and they do that, and these rules aren’t followed its termination. This gets to be a big hassel, waist of time, and money everytime someone blocks a mailbox, all because they are ignorant. So tell my again why I should do this for every box that is blocked. It is a federal offense to block a mail receptacle stopping delivery!! That’s the big deal!!
Can a mail main deny mail because the mailbox is beat up a little?
the u s postal service is a federal reg. unit… I was told a man steal a 5 dollars from a store but the post office was in the store he got over 25 years but died in the big rock….. I feel when people park in front or to close to street mail boxes they are causeing a fed payed worker from doing his or her job…
I would like to know why my mailbox has to be placed at the corner instead of in front of my house. There will be three of us on the road now and the mailman tells us he can not go down there because he can not change his route because he can’t get any more mileage to go 600 yards down the road. The road is plowed all winter. I would like to know who to talk to to get the driver more mileage. He already drives down part of the other end new person.Please let me know what can be done.
Jeffery: I share your dillemna. I have five mailboxes in my front yard on my private property(not on the road right-of-way). I asked the carrier if we could move them and her excuse was that she is paid mileage and wouldn’t get paid to drive 1000 feet extra. I applied to the regional postmaster to authorize the movement of the five boxes but all he does is ignore the request. My request has been documented along with copies of the survey showing the location but to no avail. Still no cooperation. I do not know where to turn next. I,m thinking about talking to the highway department or maybe just tear the posts out of the ground as theyare illegally placed and unauthorized. The USPS has been a tremendous let down for me.
What is the distance to park a car from a mail box un texas
30 feet
I just install a new mailbox in my house because i’m tired of being vandalized i put it close to my gate inside my property is about no more than 18 inches from the sidewalk easily reach by the mailman. Is this mailbox acomplished with the USPS regulations?
i am in the country and farmers keep hitting my mail box . and i cant keep buying a new one, know they are withholding my mail until i get a new one up, so my doctor gave me a letter because i am handicap, so i could have the mail box put right by my front door, the head mail guy said he would talk it over with someone but he said it will not be able to be at front door, he is not a doctor my doctor knows best he does not. then he told me even if it gets moved on my property i will still have to put one up on the road because if i ever move it needs one. i do not think so if i move i am taking my mail box with me the new residents can buy there own, and i am not giving the farmers another target to hit. i have a friend who has hers put up by her front door, in the town next to me , i do not know what else to do i am very stressed, over this,
I am in the same boat as you are. Only I live where there are hunters shooting it. So far 3 boxes and one bedroom window. I refuse to put the box up at that lication. I put on up in my frount yard. Painted UPS. Open an acount with them. I get items shipped that way. They don’t mind doing their job.
What, if anything, can happen to me if I build my own Fort Knox (not a brand but rather the toughness understanding) type of mailbox, made from concrete and brick, about 2,000 pounds then place it one inch and a half behind the raised curb in my home owner association addition(speed limit 25 mph)? My mailbox is on a curve and a slight hill, it snows here and gets icy…I’m sick of my mailbox getting plowed over when the vehicles don’t make the curve because of weather related road conditions. Maybe putting this Fort Knox type mailbox that will definitely damage their car severely will make them stop and report they knocked my mailbox down and then they can pay to put a new one up. After all it is their responsibility to control their vehicle at all times and conditions. I mean your standards for constructing mailboxes are only guidelines, right? Also, I highly doubt anyone would be injured or killed when the speed limit is only 25 mph.
The mailbox and post must be “breakaway” type to prevent serious injury if someone crashes into it. If someone gets injured hitting your “over-engineered Fort Knox” mailbox, you, the mailbox owner, are liable for creating a public hazard.
Can anyone actually cite a lawfully binding regulation that defines the mandatory (note: I did not say “requested” or “wished for” or “courteous”) distance a vehicle must be from a mailbox when parked in the public street?
Streets are public rights-of-way. Unless parking is prohibited by ordinance, there isn’t anything that can be done about vehicles lawfully parked. My postal delivery person has been leaving notes in my mailbox (when she bothers to deliver the mail at all). Although I sympathize that it would be great to prohibit all other vehicles on the road, it IS a public right-of-way, and there is no ability to compel anyone in the neighborhood to move their lawfully-parked vehicle. If it means they have to exit the delivery vehicle, then that’s the job. Every other delivery service seems to manage it, and do so without complaining to their customers.
I need to buy a mailbox but I dont know how big has to be deposit drop
Mail ; I can find the answer and I receive allot of small boxes that a want to be deliver to my mail box.
My home has all the neighbors mailboxes places in front of it. This was not the original location of the mailboxes I’m told. Originally it was at the end of the street but mail was being stolen so the people who lived in the home before me moved the boxes here since they were home all day and could make sure nobody stole the mail. I would like to move these now to locate them away from my property (not right of way literally on my front yard) can I just have each neighbor move their box? I am getting no response from the post office postmaster about moving these.
I have went to my local Post office because I want a mailbox at my house. I don’t want to go to the post office for mail every day. The local post office said I can not have a mailbox at my home … but the reason I’m confused is because we are on the mail route. Yes most of the people where I live have a p.o.box bUT my neighbors have a mailbox why can’t I put one up as well?
They don’t want you to stop giving them money for rent, even though the postal service gets $18 million dollars yearly from the taxes we all pay.
I live in a rule area. The site that the postal service chosen is 150 feet from my house. I had to replace box 3 times due to the box getting shot. My house and a 500 gal propain tank sits in line of fire. One window had to be replaced to.Request had been deined to move it closer. Without a reason why. What can be done about it? I use my box infrount for ups or fedex. Postal service is refusing to deleiver until I but the target back up. PS a lot of hunters use the land by that site. I can only guess they a getting paid still, for my deleivery without doing the job.
For over 50 years, the mailbox on the family home was affixed to the house. In the last 18 months, a tenant moved it to a fence next to the street. The tenant is gone & the mailbox was put back. Now, we get a letter stating we can’t get service because the established delivery can’t be moved. There was no such letter when it was moved from its original location. This screams lazy carrier. Is there an actual rule that fits this? It appears they are trying to bully a new resident who doesn’t know the history.