Architecture Mailbox. They sell several models, maybe Oasis.

I moved, and don’t remember the model, about $100 plus post. Maybe as sturdy as the box at the bank.

I strongly recommend the brand, and the model I had.

OK, I found the paperwork...Architecural Mailboxes...Oasis Model.

They have a website and 800#

That box is not very strong. Some neighbors have it.

Thanks for the recommendation. That's actually what we have, and someone pried it open a year or so ago. The lock doesn't work anymore, and now we just get the mail daily. We're hoping to figure out what the next step up in security is.

This the one we have. I got to go to their showroom/factory in the LA area and I liked that they are made here in the USA. If your thieves go around with crowbars then they will get into most mailboxes available. We also get mail theft, but most of us with this type of locking mailbox seem to be spared, as our thieves move onto the contents of the easy non-locking mailboxes.

We've had it for about 8 years and I'm very happy with it.

https://www.mailboxes.com/designer-roadside-mailbox/

Next step is remote delivery. For example, UPS Store, USPS PO Box, Fed-Ex.

I have used all of them, costs about $250/yr.

I lived in an area where criminals have keys to the USPS boxes. Any box can be opened, especially using battery operated tools.

In my area we get Ring videos posted weekly of people's mail being stolen. Most of the videos don't capture the plates, and if they did, they would probably be fake ones, so not much help. They also drive around at 3 am and try all car doors, to find the unlocked one that they can rob. And I live in a very safe and relatively "crime free" area! The only thing that will probably get you arrested and keep you in jail here in CA is murder, everything else pretty much gets you out in a few hours, so you can continue your job as a criminal!

Yep, local law enforcement is well aware of the problem. We also have a camera on the mailbox, but they generally come in the middle of the night, they don't get out of the car, they have something to obscure their faces, and they have their license plates blocked. Oh, and they try for foggy nights when possible. The result is that there's not a lot to go on. Even when police do succeed in catching them (by planting mail with trackers in the boxes), there's a new crew out there before long. And their new MO is to go through the mail as they drive, pick out the few things of value and immediately dump the rest on the road to avoid any potential trackers. After a break they've been back at it for a week, which the neighborhood presumes is because they're trying to get stimulus and unemployment checks; we wake up to mails strewn up and down the roads.

Like chipsa, I live in an otherwise quite safe and low-crime area. Our location just seems to be particularly appealing for mail thieves - semi-rural, but 15 minutes to downtown, most houses set far back off the road with mailboxes on the road (so you can't see your mailbox from your house), pretty minimal traffic at night. We're hoping the new house will be slightly better, as the mailbox won't be on the main road but on a cul-de-sac (so no quick getaway) that isn't visible from the main road and is within sight of the other house on the street. We're also considering something like this:

https://www.fortknoxmailbox.com/product/the-vacationer/

which is made locally and supposed to be just about as close to theft proof as you can get. It might be overkill, though.

i had the same issue, and it sounds like we live in a very similar kind of location.. I switched everything i could to online statements, but the credit card companies would still send those balance transfer checks, which would get stolen and I'd have no idea until i got a weird bill.. Bought the fort knox mailbox. No more problems. I highly recommend them - one of my neighbors got the exact same one after seeing mine. It's expensive, but much less so than having someone steal your mail. I did go overboard - i got the welded closed front and the upgraded lock. The difference between this mailbox and my old locking mailbox is night and day. No one is prying this box open. Problem solved.

I feel sorry for you, having just built a house in an area where this is a problem. :(

I've never been unfortunate enough to have lived in such a place, so I can't suggest a secure mailbox, but I have a more whimsical (or crazy) thought.

I wonder if anyone has ever considered developing something for mail that would be roughly equivalent to the pneumatic tubes that bank drive-throughs use for transactions.

Here's how it might work. The mail carrier opens the mailbox and puts your mail into what is really the pneumatic carrier. When she closes the mailbox, the mailbox sends a "mail's here" signal to the house. The house end pulls a vacuum on the tube, drawing the carrier to the house. It might deliver it to a port in the kitchen wall. The carrier then waits for you to take the mail out and hit a button to send it back to the mailbox, to receive the next day's mail.

In the deluxe version, the carrier pops out of the wall, opens itself, drops the mail on the kitchen counter, closes itself, then poofs itself back out to the mailbox.

Don't bother getting up, I'll just let myself out. :)

I was also just thinking about one of my neighbors where I lived years ago. He'd have a much simpler solution to that problem. He'd sit out on his dark front porch with his shotgun on his lap and a can of Bud on the table beside him. :)

DavidR, don't feel sorry for us! In my case, it actually means we live in a very desirable area and therefore get targeted by the criminals because they know there is a high probability of stealing something of value. The current CA theft laws and bail laws just aren't a deterrent for them, mostly a slap on the wrist and sent on their way to commit another crime. So we make things as secure as possible, have alarms and cameras, and 2 large shepherds. Our local police is also very responsive, but their hands are tied having to follow the lax CA laws.

Our 4-house community put in a locking CBU (Cluster Box Unit) three years ago and it was a good investment. Get the info sheets from the USPS on installation specs (setback, mounting pad, etc.) as they will want to inspect the installation before you can start using it. I seem to recall that they also wanted a signup sheet to confirm that all of the immediate neighbors had agreed to the installation and to give up their individual mailboxes. The USPS also has a list of approved CBU manufacturers; the one we went with was: https://www.florencemailboxes.com/. It's heavy duty, comes in a variety of colors, and still looks as good as new.

I will point out that: 1) locking community boxes are usually much more substantially built than individual locking boxes, and 2) the per person cost goes down dramatically the larger the number of people who join in. For example, our 4-unit community box cost about $1000, or $250 per person, while a 16-unit community box might be about $1500, or less than $100 per person.

Get some of your neighbors to go in with you and you can get mail protection that is cheaper and more secure than a single box. If you install a CBU, you also have to pour a small concrete pad for the unit, but the additional expenses are only about $100 total, and you should know someone who can build a form out of 2 X 4's, and help you mix up bags of concrete. I did it by myself and it took about 2 hours.

I have a box at the post office. It is worth the drive into town to know my mail is more secure. However, several years ago, a felon just out of prison was jumping the fence at my former post office and stealing out of the mailbags before they were taken inside the post office! He was stealing those “convenience checks” the credit card companies send. I notified my credit card companies and ordered them to stop sending those blank checks. The only mail delivered to the roadside box is junk or older friends who don’t want to send to a PO Box!

@kudzu9 Ironically, our new street started with a community box, but it was broken into so many times (even when it was replaced by a supposedly theft proof, heavy duty model) the one house on the street got permission from the post office to move to a single mailbox off the main road and down at the house. With only two houses on the street (with a possible eventual max of three) I think we'll probably end up sticking with individual boxes (the location is also much more convenient).

@remodeling1840 There really is no perfect solution. When I was in college we had a USPS location with post office boxes on campus. We had terrible service, which culminated when the student newspaper got photos of post office employees dumping bins of main in the dumpster to avoid having to sort it (definitely a federal crime). It did get better after that, though!

I know this is an old post, but maybe you could mock up one of these and leave it overnight in the mailbox. Be sure to coordinate with the post office and local law enforcement.

You get like 1-3 years and a 200k fine for messing with mailboxes. People don't know or don't think when they mess with someone's mailbox or any federal property in general.