Low Level Letterboxes - Do You Have One?

I deliver residents’ association newsletters around the village. I have a few houses on my route that have these selfish letter boxes. I used to bend down to use them. Got fed up with that. So now I just dump the newsletter on their front step. Inconsiderate I know, but so is their letterbox.

I do not have a letterbox in my front door. When we had building work done on the house we had a large letterbox fitted into the porch wall at waist height. The mail drops into a wooden cupboard in the porch, ideal as it is out of sight and not lying on the floor.

mimismo

I used to deliver the Xmas post when I was a student and always hated one particular house which had a glass front door with a floor level letterbox and a Rottweiler who would hurl himself at the door when I bent down to deliver Xmas cards. Very scary!!!

Me too, hated low letter boxes especially trying not to slip on icy doorsteps !

We have one - the door is largely small panes of obscured glass. It was there when we bought the house in 1977. Presumably it is the original from the 60s.

Yes we have one but we put a post box on the wall next to the door some years ago and there's rarely anything coming in via the low letter box now.

SunnySusie

I would love it if low level letterboxes were banned. I regularly deliver the parish news and they are the bane of my life. I have to kneel down, often on a rock hard step and it plays havoc with my knees. I feel so sorry for the Postie. I try to simply bend down but some letterboxes have such a fierce spring and robust draught excluding brushes as well so its hopeless (not to mention the dogs the other side!). After a horrid incident where a low level letterbox snapped down on my fingers I now always wear thick gloves even in the summer.

SunnySusie Perhaps you are in a position to influence, perhaps an article in the magazine, or not delivering to those homes?

When wire free child proof glass became affordable, full size panels became popular, but that was back in the 60s. I guess there are still some around.
Few doormakers offer this now.
Finger traps have moved now to those horrible external wall boxes.

My postie slips letters and small packages through through a small top window in the porch even though we have a normal height letterbox.

I haven’t got a letter box, I have a post box on the gate so the postman does not come to the door. This stops 10 minutes of crazed barking and the chance the postman could get his fingers bitten.

Another reason for using a wooden spatula is because of the resident dog who hurls itself against the door to defend the house from unwanted mail.

Esmay

My neighbours have one and very occasionally I have to post misdirected mail into it .
I feel so sorry for the postman .
It's awkward to access .

Maybe the misdirected mail is intentionally misdirected Esmay silly because of the low level letter box. Take care with your back.

I had to post a lot of leaflets recently and really felt sorry for posties with all those low letter boxes. Can’t understand why people have them.

I deliver a free magazine in my road every couple of months. There are a couple of low letterboxes and I hate the bending to reach them. I wouldn't want to do it more frequently. At least no snappy dogs though!

I think there should be building regulations requiring us to have postboxes at the nearest point of our property to the street. I have been delivering leaflets lately it really is difficult on some of the properties in our town. Not just difficult but sometimes down right hazardous, with potholed drives, steep slippery slopes, poorly maintain steps etc. That’s before we even start on the letterboxes. My hands get so sore trying to force the leaflets through letterbox with those very stiff brushes behind them. We have a real problem with efficiency of the Postal Service, with suggestions that collections and deliveries are going to be further reduced in their frequency. I think this would really help to make the posties job quick quicker and easier. It’s a health and safety issue - we all have responsibility for the well-being of people who come onto our property, and Royal Mail have a duty of care to the people who work for them.

I would love it if low level letterboxes were banned. I regularly deliver the parish news and they are the bane of my life. I have to kneel down, often on a rock hard step and it plays havoc with my knees. I feel so sorry for the Postie. I try to simply bend down but some letterboxes have such a fierce spring and robust draught excluding brushes as well so its hopeless (not to mention the dogs the other side!). After a horrid incident where a low level letterbox snapped down on my fingers I now always wear thick gloves even in the summer.

The aim of the brushes is to stop howling gales blowing through the letterbox. I have a thick fabric flap on a rod on the inside of mine that causes no problems at all when anything is pushed through the letter box, but does stop draughts.

Another vote against low level letter boxes from me! Whoever designs these never thinks of the human element.

If they have 5 or 6 steps up to them, low level letterboxes are okay.

when our houses were built 20 years ago they all have low letter boxes and so many people have put up post boxes on their walls

My neighbour has one - I really feel sorry for the postman/woman. Why on earth would do door manufacturers do this ? I can’t see any logical reason.

Years ago I helped my aunt deliver charity envelopes to collect the next evening—great fun for a 6-year-old! I know there was one 'posh' house that had the box at floor level; you had to kneel on the quarry tile doorstep to get things through the box. I have no idea why the heck this was the idea of door manufacturers.

In Denmark, you have had to have a post-box outside your gate, or in the hall of a block of flats since sometime in the 1990s. This was made law to save postmen and women from developing bad backs and having to walk up and down four or five flights of stairs in older buildings that do not have lifts.

From the end of the year, the postal service will no longer handle letters, as so few people send post now that it doesn't pay.

As there is no monopoly any more, some of the parcel companies like GLS and DAO will be willing to convey letters, but probably not to the recipient's address, so only the local newspaper, pizza bakers adverts and election fliers will be shoved into our post boxes, so maybe they will no longer be a legal requirement.

For CookieMonster, well, if YOU actually bought such a door, that's all on YOU! For your info, a "mail box style thing" is now fitted by many houses, doesn't seem to be an issue for mail being stolen.

And parcels don't actually go in THEM, they are a separate problem, due to opportunistic thieves, compounded by courier drivers who are often several slates short of a full roof.

I'll add to the pretty much universal array of comments on here, I sometimes help deliver the village mag, and I hope the campaign works, the wretched ankle-level boxes may look pretty on some doors, but I've had enough back problems already thanks!

I love the comment about banning them! LOL.
Not sure how that would work…

Good idea eazybee.
Must remember that tip.