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mailslot on door or mailbox?
2:32 PM 03/19/2012
Bedford Stuyvesant, NY
Hi, I was told my our mailman that in Bed-Stuy you can only have one drop-off for mail per building (is that right??). We had initially thought of putting a mailslot in our door (parlor level) and have a separate mailbox for the garden apt tenant, but now that can't be the case. Is this true? I've seen this type of set-up in other houses, but maybe it depends on the nieghborhood? Does anyone recommend a mailbox in particular? Or one to avoid? My guess is we'd get one large mailbox (that can fit magazines etc) and share it with the tenant.
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Clinton Hill, NY
My neighbor's house has a door that opens into a vestibule containing separate mail slots for each tenant. It's a brownstone. I'd call the postal info phone number, because this sounds bogus.
2:35 PM 03/19/2012 | 0 Votes
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Bedford Stuyvesant, NY
That's the answer I've been getting from the USPS, that there can only be "one delivery point". Does anyone on this forum have the mail delivered to their door mailslot and they drop it off for their tenants? If so, what do you do if you're out of town?
3:10 PM 03/19/2012
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Our neighbor, who has a two apartment building, has a locked box attached to the outside of the lower gate. Both they and their tenant have keys.
Our building, a multifamily but also a brownstone, has a lock box for the key for the post office. They can come into the first floor foyer and put mail into each of the boxes. It's all broken, though (and ugly by the way), and they just through a pack of mail through the gate, which we sort into bins on the lower level. Given the propensity for residents to take some time to pick up their mail and the lack of space for a trash can for junk mail in the foyer
our neighbor's solution seems better.3:26 PM 03/19/2012 | 0 Votes
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Bedford Stuyvesant, NY
Thanks elbow, I think we might go with your neighbor's method. If you (or anyone else on this forum) recommends a particular lockable mailbox, let me know. After speaking with several depts within the USPS this appears to be a new thing that they're doing to cut costs, saving the mail carriers the time of dropping off in various points.
3:36 PM 03/19/2012
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Take a look in google images for large wall mounted mailboxes or something of that ilk. There seem to be a fair amount of choices out there.
4:29 PM 03/19/2012
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Boerum Hill, NY
There are a lot of grandfathered postal situations. The requirement has nothing to do with your neighborhood, but when you put in your mailbox. I think the "new" regulations go back go back at least 30 years, but most house's mail drop locations are older than that. Note that I believe that the new single location has to be on the ground floor level. The postman will not climb up to the parlor floor for a new location. Also note that one location per building is for existing building with new mail boxes. When a new row of buildings are built, I think that the mailboxes for several of the buildings need to be grouped at a single location.
3:28 PM 03/19/2012 | 0 Votes
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Bedford Stuyvesant, NY
I heard what bobjohn said. No new delivieries above ground floor. Remember, the USPS employees are an entitled union lot and there's never anything above and beyond that most of them would do.
Mine goes through the grated door below the stoop. Whoever gets home first, me or the tenants sorts it. I also removed some of the grate bars at the top so packages would fit through.3:41 PM 03/19/2012 | 0 Votes
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Bedford Stuyvesant, NY
Our house originally had the mailslot in the door on the parlor level. Then the door was replaced, and now the mail carrier throws it through the metal door under the stoop onto the ground. If we get a new vintage door with a mailslot on the parlor level, we would be returning the mail drop to its original location. Is this acceptable? How would they know the difference anyway? Seems as soon as they got a new mail carrier they would no longer know.
11:50 AM 03/20/2012 | 0 Votes
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Prospect Lefferts Gardens, NY
You could hang a basket inside the gate to hold your mail.
1:04 PM 03/20/2012
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Boerum Hill, NY
"Seems as soon as they got a new mail carrier they would no longer know". The Post Office is a bureaucracy. I would not be surprised if they have a listing of each house and the box location. Otherwise substitute (or replacement) mail carriers would not know where the boxes are, or if a key was needed to open the gate, front door or boxes. My *guess* also that once a particular non-conforming mail-slot is abandoned, it cannot be restored at the same location. But you could always ask.
2:49 PM 03/20/2012
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Bedford Stuyvesant, NY
When I spoke to our mail carrier he said that we could choose to have our mail delivered to either the parlor level or under the stoop, but not both. So although technically the USPS doesn't want adding more time for their carriers to go up stairs, you should ask your carrier and see if they're ok with it. But then again, who knows if the other carriers (who share that route) would be so flexible with the change. Thanks for all the advice, this forum is super helpful.
10:33 PM 03/20/2012
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Bedford Stuyvesant, NY
Thanks, Bob, maybe we'll try that. My thinking was that people would be able to reach in and take our mail -- then again, why would they want to? We tried a bin on the ground, which didn't work at all. Mail never went anywhere near it. Anyway, it sure is a mess, so a basket sounds nice.
12:25 AM 03/21/2012 | 0 Votes
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Bedford Stuyvesant, NY
Meanwhile, we have a nice Eastlake table for mail sorting, courtesy of DIBS, on the parlor floor, and plan to put in a bench and hooks for shoes and jackets on the ground floor -- while these activities take place on the opposite floors! We're all mixed up.
12:29 AM 03/21/2012 | 0 Votes
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