polygon
|
|
Mailbox problem
| 
Jan 2 20:27 UTC 2001 |
The mailbox which is attached to our house is inadequate for several
reasons. However, my search for a new mailbox has been fruitless as yet.
It appears that there are basically two kinds of mailboxes on the market:
"rural style" and "city style".
A "rural style" mailbox is usually mounted on a post beside the road.
They're so ubiquitous that it's hardly necessary to describe it: a long
metal or plastic box, rounded on top like a Quonset hut. One end is the
"door," hinged on the bottom edge. A "flag" on the right side serves to
announce outgoing mail for pickup. It is simple, functional, roomy,
weathertight, durable, and cheap: the basic model is available for less
than $5 at Home Depot (among other places).
A "city style" mailbox, like the one we already have, is intended to be
mounted on the wall of a house. These are much more varied than the rural
mailboxes, but there are certain common elements. The space in the
mailbox is extremely cramped, and only the more expensive versions have
enough room for a magazine, let alone multiple magazines or catalogs. A
couple of hooks are provided below the mailbox so that magazines can be
rolled up and left to sit loosely, to be blown away by the wind or soaked
by rain. The lid is floppy, with poor quality hinges, and the box is not
weathertight even when the lid is closed. Very often there is some cheap
and brittle plastic ornament attached to the front. On top of all these
functional problems, "city style" mailboxes cost considerably more than
the rural version.
The manufacturers of mailboxes apparently assume that -- compared to rural
folks -- city people have a lot more money to spend on mailboxes, yet get
much less mail.
(Well, okay, really, the rural folks have the benefit of a widely accepted
national standard.)
The last time I replaced a mailbox was about fifteen years ago, on a
rental house in East Lansing. I took down the "city style" mailbox, which
was in extremely poor condition, and simply attached a "rural style"
mailbox to the house in its place. The mailbox was to the right of the
door, so I mounted the mailbox with one long side toward the house, with
the mailbox door on the left end. I probably used some kind of mounting
bracket, but I forget the details. Whatever I did, it worked extremely
well, and the mailbox is still in use at that address.
I'd like to do approximately the same thing again. Unfortunately, there
is an orientation problem. Our current mailbox is to the LEFT of the
front door. If a rural style mailbox were to be attached there, the flag
would be toward the wall, OR the opening would be away from the door --
neither of those would be acceptable.
Alternatively, the mailbox could be attached to the RIGHT of the door, but
that would make it impossible to simply reach out and retrieve mail, since
the door opens on the left. Moreover, removing the old mailbox without
covering the space with a new one might leave an ugly scar on the side of
the house.
The mailbox could be attached with the non-door end to the wall,
protruding outward from the house like a locomotive leaving a tunnel, but
that would look a little odd, and would need some kind of structure to
physically support it.
I suppose we could put up a post near the door and install a rural style
mailbox the traditional way. However, because we have a large concrete
"stoop" in front of the entrance, we would either have to drill in
concrete, or settle for the mailbox being much further away from the front
door.
Alternatively, a city style mailbox that has the positive attributes of a
rural mailbox would be good, but I have never found one.
Any thoughts on how to solve this problem?
|
