While we can't simply say yes or no, by determining who owns your mailbox, you should be able to decide whether DIY replacement is an option or you have to reach out for help getting a new key. If you own your mailbox, you're responsible for any repairs and can replace the lock if you please. Your personal curbside mailbox or wall mailbox If you live in an apartment or condominium with a cluster box setup, the landlord, management company, or housing association is responsible for mailbox maintenance. Cluster Mailboxes for Apartments or Communities They are responsible for arrow lock and master door maintenance and will advise you. If the USPS owns the mailbox or parcel locker, reach out to your local post office from Mon. We break ownership into three categories: USPS owned, Cluster Mailboxes for apartments and communities, or your personal property. The USPS does not directly answer the question, but they do discuss responsibility for mailbox maintenance.īefore you start your lock replacement project, your first step is to figure out who owns the mailbox. We went straight to the top authority for our search on the matter, the United States Postal Service. Since non-lawyers shouldn't dispense legal advice, here's how we can answer the question of legality. Even an internet search didn't reveal a clear answer. Some lawyers must be experts on post offices and mailbox locks, but they haven't published much case law on the subject. Check out our tips, warnings, and how-to guide below before you panic. Here's a list of items you need and mailbox features to consider. You're also not the first person to search through a junk drawer full of keys for a copy of the key with no luck. You're not the first person to have to deal with a broken lock or missing mailbox key. If you don't have any other key options, brute force is still not the solution. What should you do? Pick the lock? Grab your cordless drill?įirst, does someone have a copy of your key? Landlords have all kinds of keys. However, if your mailbox lock breaks or if you lose your key, you're unable to access your mail, that can cause a considerable amount of stress. Whether you're a tenant in an apartment complex with a shared bank of cluster mailboxes for one address or a homeowner with a street box, you're no stranger to unlocking your box to pick up your mail.Ī locked mailbox offers an extra layer of privacy and security protection for personal information. Since the USPS services USPS Cluster Mailboxes, you will need your local postmaster or postal carrier to open the master door before you can replace an individual tenant lock by following these instructions. Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.IMPORTANT - Regarding USPS Cluster Mailboxes: NEVER attempt to Drill Out a Mailbox Lock Whoever, being engaged as a contractor or otherwise in the manufacture of any such mail lock or key, delivers any finished or unfinished lock or the interior part thereof, or key, used or designed for use by the department, to any person not duly authorized under the hand of the Postmaster General and the seal of the Post Office Department or the Postal Service, to receive the same, unless the person receiving it is the contractor for furnishing the same or engaged in the manufacture thereof in the manner authorized by the contract, or the agent of such manufacturer. Whoever knowingly and unlawfully makes, forges, or counterfeits any such key, or possesses any such mail lock or key with the intent unlawfully or improperly to use, sell, or otherwise dispose of the same, or to cause the same to be unlawfully or improperly used, sold, or otherwise disposed of or Whoever steals, purloins, embezzles, or obtains by false pretense any key suited to any lock adopted by the Post Office Department or the Postal Service and in use on any of the mails or bags thereof, or any key to any lock box, lock drawer, or other authorized receptacle for the deposit or delivery of mail matter or
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