Need indicator light in the mailbox to see if anything is inside

[Jack Hammer]

I can help you out but first I want to know how the mail sits in the mail box. Does it lay down flat or on it's side ? Also is this mail box in a sunny location?

[Stormin Mormon]

Popular Mechanics had such a trick, about forty years ago. The trick was to put a weighted flag on the blind side of the box. When the driver opens the box, the bottom weight pulls the flag vertical. Of course you have to reset this after you get your mail out. Not much use in freezing weather.

One other variation was the button inside the box, wired to a buzzer in the house. Or, low voltage door bell that bing bongs when you mailbox door is opened.

[Stormin Mormon]

Mail thieves would never think to follow the mail truck at a distance, or something tacky like that.

[Doug Miller]

When are you going to fix your newsreader configuration so it puts your sig at the bottom where it belongs?

[Doug Miller]

When are you going to fix your newsreader configuration so it puts your sig at the bottom where it belongs?

[aemeijers]

Unless you have outgoing mail, or get mail coming EVERY day, that will piss off your delivery driver. The good ones stop at all raised flags, and if there is no mail waiting, and they have nothing to deliver, that is wasted time for them.

-- aem sends...

[DerbyDad03]

re: "If the box doesn't have a flag, the box doesn't conform to government regulations."

Having never read the regs, I certainly won't doubt what you're saying.

Of course, I live in an area where *nobody* has flags. Our mail boxes are at the houses and there is basically no conformance of any kind.

My neighbor's is a mail slot next to the garage door, mail drops into a box. Mine is a black metal box hanging on the wall next to my front door. The neighbor on the other side has a wooden box on her porch that says "Male" on it. (really!)

The entire neighborhood is a mixture of just about every type of receptacle you can think of, *except* for boxes on posts with flags.

If I have something for Dave (the carrier) to pick up, I stand it "vertically" in the mail box so he knows it's there.

I also shovel a path across my front yard so he can get through the snow from my neighbor's house and I tip him nicely when he wipes off my seat at the local AAA baseball stadium. Nice guy. Been my mailman for 25 years, seen my family go through good times and bad, and always has time for conversation or a quick joke.

[Judy Zappacosta]

That's a GREAT idea ... worth a try.

I had not thought of that.

This is the kind of idea I was hoping to find by asking the question.

I haven't read all the responses yet so we'll see what else comes up. I can imagine whatever we come up with here will be generally useful to anyone who can't see "into" the mailbox from their car.

[Judy Zappacosta]

They deliver my mail fine.

I never put outgoing mail in the mailbox to be taken.

So, I can live without the red flag (although it would be nice to have one).

I went to Lowes today to look again for just the red flag but they don't sell it standalone.

But the more important thing is to figure out how I can tell if mail is inside the mailbox.

I was thinking something like the little red light that is on the garage door. If that beam is broken, there's an indicator that turns on outside.

Seems like a general enough request that others would have resolved it by now. Or, does everyone always look in their mailbox every day even when there's no mail inside?

[Judy Zappacosta]

I used to live in a place like that. Nobody had flags. Some had mail slots in the garage door. Others had a black plastic mailbox next to the front door on the outside wall.

None had flags.

What we used to do was use one of those black office clips to clip outgoing mail on the OUTSIDE of the mailbox so that the postperson knew there was mail.

In reality it didn't work well becausae if they didn't have any mail, they never even looked to see if we had mail waiting for them so we gave up eventually and put outgoing mail only in the blue boxes on the street.

[Judy Zappacosta]

That sounds promising. It seems to work on the door opening and not on mail being placed in the mailbox.

I wonder how that chime works in an all-metal mailbox. (How does it figure out that the door has been opened?)

The ad doesn't say HOW it figures out that the mailbox has been opened.

My mailbox looks similar to this one:

[Judy Zappacosta]

The mail box looks pretty much like this one (but without the lock):

The mail is almost always flat (the box is rather shallow).

Sunny? It's in a shaded area. Trees and a hill overhang it but the road is in front so the sun can get through.

I'm not sure why this matters but I'm intrigued now.

[Ed Pawlowski]

"Judy Zappacosta" wrote in message

Get a Rubbermaid mailbox. I has a yellow flag on a lever that pops up on the side when the door is opened. Easily spotted from in the house 100 feet away. After dark I can shine a bright light o see if it is up.

[Judy Zappacosta]

When I google for a similar mailbox as mine, I find plenty of the type I have that do NOT have any flag.

This one, for example, looks kind of like mine (but I don't have a lock on mine):

It's all metal so anything that indicates mail inside can't be purely on an electrical circuit.

[Robert DeSavage]

You might want to go to this Google search results link. Seems to have the info you desire.

[clare]

Use a microswitch on the door to trigger n electronic "latching relay" to turn on an LED every time the door is opened. A push-button to reset it after you take OUT the mail.

[aemeijers]

Anybody make a clear mailbox, or one with clear panels on top and on the back, so you can look out the window with binoculars and tell if mail is in there? I suppose you could blacksmith a metal box- add a swath of semi-clear (so people driving by can't see in) across the top, or an LED light powered from the landscape lights in OP's case. Then add a window in the back.

Personally, it is a moot point for me. I'm almost never home when the mail is delivered. I just approach from that direction (tiny loop road subdivision), and check it as I get home.

-- aem sends...

[Stormin Mormon]

I got a laugh, at the thought of the mail carrier's reaction.

Serial killer.... how else do you explain the declining population in your area? Hmm?

[Stormin Mormon]

If you make a clear backed mail box (excellent idea). Please buy some of the diagonal reflective tape sold at trucking places. Put that on the inside floor of your mail box, so that you won't be straining to see if that white in the box is the mailbox, or a similar colored letter.

[tom]