An Overview of Locking Mail Box Options for Office Buildings

Government office spaces with more than one site usually are required to have security mail boxes to protect the privacy of those communicating with the office.

Newly arriving and outgoing mail can often be required to be maintained in a safeguarded location and that will mean limiting access to the mail.

There are many options with professional letter boxes that provide the security needed, and most are sanctioned to be used by the United States Postal Service.

The most important thing with commercial locking letterboxes, even those in which services are used by government office spaces is the letter carrier should have easy access to all of the separate containers with no need to open each and every one.

Commonly, commercial mail boxes will have one access point for the letter carrier, usually at the rear of the box, into which the mail might be delivered into separate boxes. Once the rear door is opened, the letter carrier can access all of the mailboxes whilst in the front each separate box is protected with a key lock preventing unauthorized access in the other boxes.

A number of locking commercial mail boxes are mounted onto a wall with no rear access and for these the full front of the mail box can be opened allowing the mail to be easily put into the independent letterboxes. Once the front section is put back to its locked spot, the individual bins are available just to people that have a key.

Outbound mail is an additional concern for government services and tucking outbound mail in the outside corner of the mailbox defeats the objective of security.

Several commercial locking mailboxes will have an independent slot for outward bound mail that is properly secured and as soon as the mail is dropped in that area it may only be reclaimed with a key, often held by the letter carrier. If a person drops something in and desires to have it back, they will have to wait until the letter carrier arrives to open the outgoing mail partition.

Dependent upon the size and number of government offices being serviced by the locking commercial mailbox, options can include service for any where from 2 or 3 to several dozen.

Much like post office boxes in the postal office or in commercial mail delivery providers, access could possibly be available to every person box through a rear door or the front side, depending on the wall into which it is secured. If at all possible, no one inside the offices has access to anyone else’s letterbox and security of the information can continue being at the highest level.

4B+ Standard Horizontal and 4C Standard Horizontal Mail Boxes

Business Oriented mailboxes must meet certain standards in order for the United States Post Office to accept them for use as mail receptacles. You're not authorized to pay money for just any specific mail receptacle; what you use ought to be approved by the post office or they will not use the receptacle for storage of the mail.

This will cause the inconvenience of someone from your firm having to go get the mail at the post office until you swap your unapproved horizontal mailboxes with an item that fits within the 4B or 4C standard postal regulations for commercial horizontal mailboxes.

Please don't make the error of believing you can create your own set of horizontal mailboxes for your commercial building that allows you to save on the cost of purchasing something that meets the approval of the postal service in your area.

While there won't be any specific regulations that forward commercial or residential customers from constructing their own mail receptacles, you must be sure to contact the post master and get approval before you are able to use them to collect your mail.

In actual fact, you should contact the postmaster before beginning to prevent the opportunity of wasting money on something that doesn't meet postal regulations. For instance, the 4C regulations that went into effect in January 2010 required larger compartments than previous standards-almost double the previous size in fact.

Commercial horizontal mailboxes you can utilize both indoors or outdoors in businesses must meet requirements, so remember to follow them. While we ordinarily think of these types of mailboxes as something you will see in the lobby or large multi-company office buildings, this is not always the case.

You'll also find them in one central location that houses companies within an industrial park and at times on the grounds of a multi-family residential facility. It is for these reasons that the post office has edited the standards for commercial horizontal mailboxes and included standards for a boost in the size and quality of the security features.

Putting in a Post Mounted Letterbox

In the case of putting in an in ground post mounted mailbox there’s more to it than digging a hole and dropping in a post. You will also need to make a few phone calls before you begin to dig and when done right, the in ground mail box post will stay in place for many years to come.

There are actually a variety of styles of post mounted mailboxes. Anything from a normal post to the variations that have a horizontal mount on what the mail box is secured and installation will quite simply be the same, given that the hardest part will be setting the post.

Before you dig your holes for the post, it is wise to contact the power companies to ensure you don’t dig into any sort of power, water or any other utility lines which may be below the ground. Additionally, you'll want to call the local post office to obtain specialized details about the height of the mail box and the distance from the side of the road. If your locking letter box is not mounted in accordance with their criteria, the letter carrier may not deliver your mail.

Normally, the top of the post, or bottom level of the mail box needs to be about 33-inches from the bottom of the road. The front of the post is required to be about 12-inches away from edge of the road. These dimensions are a standard and may be different in your area and will depend on whether there's a curb on the road or the road is a similar level as the front of your lot.

You might need a post hole digger, a level, at least 24-inches long and some ready-mix cement. Don't forget to get the variety that you pour into the hole and then add water because it is faster and easier. The hole must be at a minimum 24-inches deep and no more than 8-inches across. The hole could very well be deeper depending on the length of the hole you're utilizing.

Once the hole is deep enough, place the pole into your hole and pour in the dry concrete mix til it fills up roughly a fourth of the ditch. Making use of the level, inspect it on all sides to make sure that it is straight. Start adding some more dry concrete to around half the depth. One more time check your level. Tap the dry concrete to pack it down and utilize a garden hose to extremely slowly add water until it rises to around one inch higher than the dry cement.

Once it's soaked into the cement, confer with your level yet again and then increase the amount of dry concrete to within one inch of the surface of the hole. Add more water and then vanish and let it set in place for at the very least 24 hours before attaching the mail box to the top of the pole.