
The most common in post-Soviet space is a mailbox, made in the form of a rectangular box, which is attached to the fence near the gate or the wall near the front door of the country house. Letters and correspondence enter the mailbox through a horizontal slit at the top of the item, and the contents are removed by opening its bottom, door or lid. Such a box is made of metal and less often of wood. It is most convenient to attach standard letterboxes to the fence so that the postman can easily deliver his correspondence. Also such a mail box is suitable for apartments. In this case it can be attached directly to the door. | Historically, a street letterbox for a home in Europe or America has a radically different look. In these countries, mailboxes are used not only for receiving but also for sending letters. If the box contains letters to be sent, they are picked up by the postman and taken to the post office, after which they are delivered to the recipients. Accordingly, in order for the postman to see that there is mail in the box that needs to be delivered, some kind of sign had to be invented. In America, the issue was resolved with a checkbox. There is a small checkbox attached to the side of each mailbox – if it is omitted, it means there are no mails to be sent, but if the checkbox is raised, the postman must look inside. In addition, in western countries, a street mailbox is not attached to a fence or wall, but mounted on a lawn near the road, using a vertical support. |
The shape of an ordinary American letterbox is like a horizontal container with a semicircular lid. In recent times, however, it has been rare in America to find a standard mailbox shape. The fact is that many American states hold annual competitions for the most original mailbox, which residents prepare with the utmost care. Therefore, in these states you can see mailboxes made in the form of animals, fairytale characters or even grand garden sculptures. | A slightly different but no less interesting design of the best locking mailbox is used in the UK. Residents of this country try to adhere to stylistic unity in everything, so the characteristic English letterbox resembles a miniature house made of bricks or made of any other materials. In the UK, a street letterbox for cottages or houses is installed directly on the ground. Since in this country the territory of the country house is very rarely fenced, the box is near the front door. |

Often, the mailbox belongs to the citizen who owns the housing to which the box belongs. In this case, any act of vandalism or layout of advertising leaflets at the request of the owner will be prosecuted. Naturally, a citizen will take care of his property and treat it accordingly, maintaining its reliability and appearance … . And as the fixed capital in any HMO is owned by the state, the management of this organization certainly not to the mailboxes. Although recently the homes have been transferred under the management of management companies, organizations – the situation with mailboxes also remains relevant.
Many residents of apartment buildings, in the nineties, wanted to protect the entrance, mailboxes, which in fact did not belong to them – from encroachments on them, through the installation of intercoms, organization of watch in the entrances. The first to fail was the organized watch, which instead of protecting the owners’ mailbox, slept in the workplace, and those who worked, in an era of rapid economic growth, considered their wages unworthy and left, so the watch in the entrances is now rare.
Intercoms also showed their second weak points. Everybody hoped that only they had the keys and nobody would get into the entrance except them. But it wasn’t so cloudless. Teenagers, who are most often vandals to the mailbox under some pretext call the residents of the entrance and ask for help to get into the entrance. The same is true for advertisers. Sometimes they just wait for someone to open the door and walk through it unobstructed – and here your mailbox is in their hands. You have to admit, if the people in the driveway were to be careful, some of them wouldn’t get to your mailbox. But even in this case, some of them would still have gotten to it, because in your entrance there is sure to be some “grandmother” ready to always help everyone and everything.

P.O. BoxWhat’s the attitude of the residents on “attempts” on their mailbox?
If with acts of vandalism everyone is clear and everyone understands that without radical changes in society, in the minds of young people this problem is not eradicated, then about the advertising that is placed in the mailbox every day – the residents have different views, but almost 90% of them negative.
According to a sociological survey conducted among the residents of Kazan, the question: How do you feel about the daily delivery of advertising in your mailbox?
The following answers were received:
- 50% of respondents answered: – The mountains of advertising garbage that are placed in our mailbox are simply annoying.
However, when asked, “Do you try to avoid the brand that your mailbox advertised? – 65% gave a clear answer of “yes.” - 30% of those surveyed said: – I consider it categorically unacceptable to send advertising leaflets to our mailbox, because several times along with this “trash” threw away important documents for us.
- 15% of respondents said: – I think it’s necessary to be more polite about it and close your eyes to the fact that the heap of advertising that got into our mailbox, may be a potential burglar to say that you are away.
- 5% of respondents said: – We need to get used to it, we live in a highly competitive environment and advertising is another source of information for a potential buyer.
As we see, there are not many people who approve of this type of mailing in their mailbox – only 5%. It turns out that advertising customers and performers work more for the “paper mill”, if for their own purposes.
Really, nothing protects my mailbox?
- Strange as it may seem, the law says everything clearly, it just is not executed or is not executed in full.
- Sending advertising via mailboxes cannot be banned in any way, because the state’s attitude towards this kind of advertising is not reflected in the “Law on Advertising”. But according to the Postal Communication Act.
- Do not think that we do not pay anything in this case. To perform all this list of services, we pay a certain amount per month, which is included in the line of rent called: “Entrance service.”
- Therefore, we have every right to apply to the court: either to return the funds or to demand that we perform our duties. Apparently, only in this case will our mailbox please us every day.