INSIDE

Get those mailboxes shipshape!

by Rebecca Perry

The postal service is asking all Point Roberts homeowners to inspect and repair their mailboxes. Repairing rural mailboxes improves the appearance of our community and makes delivering and receiving mail safer for our carriers and customers. This request is being made due to the wear and tear that occurs to mailboxes every year.

Some typical activities that may need to be done include:
• Replacing loose hinges on a mailbox
• Repainting a mailbox that may have rusted or started peeling
• Remounting a mailbox post if loosened
• Replacing or adding house numbers

Mailboxes must meet five important requirements
1. Approved by the postmaster general
2. Designed to protect the mail from weather
3. Safe to use
4. Conveniently located
5. Neat in appearance

Mailboxes must have the number on single mailboxes or on the door of grouped mailboxes. If the mailbox is on a street other than the one at which the customer resides, the street name and the house number must be on the mailbox. The street number, box number or any other address information must be in neat letters and numerals not less than one inch in height. Having the owner’s name on the mailbox is optional.

Mailboxes should be installed at a height of 41-45 inches from the road surface to the bottom of the mailbox.

Customers are responsible for maintaining the approach to their mailbox, making sure that is free of any obstructions including trash cans, blackberry bushes, parked vehicles, etc. that impede safe and efficient delivery. Carriers must have access to your mailbox without leaving the vehicle.

For more information on the use of names or numbers on mailboxes, or answers to any other questions, contact postmaster Rebecca Perry at 945-7770.