Some mornings we wake up and everything is all foggy.
Some mornings we wake up to discover mail thieves have hit the hillside. Our mailbox suffered greatly last fall when, for the first time since we moved here, the thieves came all the way up the hill.
While we were able to put it back into place, the issue led us to do a lot of research into the best mailbox tech out there. Now our mailbox sits with those for our two nearest neighbors, about 50′ up our driveway and across from the junction of our driveway and the easement our nearest neighbors use to get to their land. It’s about 300yds give or take from my office to our mailbox, and because of the topography it’s not possible to actually see the mailboxes.
I investigated mailbox alarm options–not dependable and we would have range issues. We investigated cameras and blinding lights–which we still may employ, but in the end we decided to invest in the most tamper-resistant mailbox we could find.
Enter FortKnox Mailboxes. Made from 1/4″ rolled steel, they are designed so that short of using a blowtorch and sledgehammer, getting things out of them is next to impossible. I made the offer to our nearest neighbors that we would just buy their boxes if they would help install them as our way of thanking them for being great neighbors since we moved in–although apparently the feeling is mutual as they have decidedly un-nice things to say about the POs. Since FortKnox does bulk-buy rates, I then asked our tiny NextDoor group if anyone in the area was interested in joining in to reduce costs (and save significantly on shipping). A handful of neighbors did and after a bit of dithering, we put in the order.
The boxes arrived at our place and the neighbors arrived one by one to collect theirs. Agent Smith and our nearest neighbor then worked to install the post we purchased that would hold all three of our boxes. Now our nearest neighbor says he’s not a concrete guy, but he did a lovely job on the little pad.
Of course, immediately after getting the post in place, all hell broke loose–the driveway repaving project went off the rails when they hit the water main. I didn’t want to tempt fate and get the new boxes up until the driveway was completed, and that, coupled with races and class schedules, meant it wasn’t until the start of April that everything was finished.
Don’t they look fetching? Of course our postal delivery person is confused by them and insists on shoving packages into them. In the past, delivery folks have always enjoyed the rollercoaster-esque ride that is our driveway, so next time it happens we’ll have to ask that they stop trying to mush things in and just come to the house. Perhaps a bottle of soothing red will aid them.