The Federal Government is always full of happy regulations and the post office is no stranger. All of the regulations are easy to understand and reasonable considering your postman will need to visit hundreds of homes every day and dealing with boxes that are too high or short to reach, lettering that is hard to see, complex designs or boxes that just don’t work easily will make their day much harder.
You say why should you care if it takes a few extra seconds? Well it may not just be that you are causing them to delay their work but if your design is found to be not acceptable you might end up with restricted delivery and having to go to your post office to pickup your mail until you make changes.
When you purchase a manufactured mailbox the maker has gone through the approval process for the design of their mailbox and post. Unfortunately installing the box and post at your curb may alter some of these specs.
Another consideration is when you build your own mailbox.
You may notice that unique mailboxes that you can find in stores will often have decorative features that are placed around a prefabricated mailbox. This is one way that manufacturers can make sure that their mailbox is of the correct size while still adding features that attract customers.
Restrictions on personal design aspects
This is one part of the regulations that should not be allowed in our opinion. Under Federal rules for your mailbox design you can not include “may not represent effigies or caricatures that tend to disparage or ridicule any person” . Basically this is a restriction of your first amendment rights and unless you live in a development where there are agreed rules all home owners agree to follow you should be able to adorn your mailbox with any logos or items that do not restrict delivery.
This is definitely a departure from the first amendment and even though 99% of us will never have this problem that small number that may want to voice their political opinion about something on their mailbox have had that right taken from them.
Mailbox Location
A curbside mailbox must be placed to allow safe and convenient delivery by carriers without leaving their vehicles. The box must be on the right-hand side of the road in the direction of travel of the carriers on any new rural route or highway contract route, in all cases where traffic conditions are dangerous for the carriers to drive to the left to reach the box, or where their doing so would violate traffic laws and regulations.
Mailbox Posts
Posts may be fixed or mounted on a swing arm.
Locked Mailboxes
A mailbox with a lock must have a slot that is large enough to accommodate the customer’s normal daily mail volume. The USPS neither opens a locked box nor accepts a key for this purpose.
Address Labeling On Side Of Mailbox
Letters on the side of your mailbox must be at least 1 inch high and of contrasting color. They must be placed on the side of the box visible to the carrier while on their normal route.
If you place your mailbox on a curb of a road that is not the official address of the home you must also include the street address in full (street name and number).
Newspaper Boxes
If you receive your newspaper by the mail the paper must be removed before delivery.
If you add on a box for the newspaper it can not be directly attached to your mailbox but can be mounted on the post as long as it does not restrict delivery of your mail or include any advertising.
Sharing Your Mailbox
If you are sharing a box you must contact the post office about how to label your mail for delivery. Rural Route mail boxes may be shared by up to 5 homes.
Common boxes used with secondary addresses such as apartment numbers may share a box only if approved.
Size of box
There are 3 basic sizes of standard curbside boxes you may use without special approval.
| STYLE/SIZE | LENGTH | WIDTH | HEIGHT |
| T1 & C1 | 18 1/2″ | 5″ | 6″ |
| T2 & C2 | 19 1/2″ | 6″ | 7″ |
| T3 & C3 | 22 1/2″ | 8″ | 11 1/2″ |
Height of box opening
You should install the mailbox with the bottom of the box at a vertical height of between 41-45 inches from the road surface, unless you have a road or curb condition that prevents this. If you do, be sure to contact the postmaster before you change your mailbox location.
Distance from street
Mail boxes must be 6 to 8 inches from the edge of the street