Gizmo to show if lid has been lifted?

[pamela]

I think some people found it wasn't actually true but serves to explain a point.

[pamela]

What do you do on dark days or when you get home after a day out and it's already dark?

Where does the main light enter the box? Mine is an all metal enclosed box.

Thomas's suggestion of something like the "Mail Alert Ball" which I can trap under the lid seems effective.

[pamela]

Excellent ideas. This's the sort of thing I will go for. At a push, if there are no UK suppliers, I could make something with a coiled spring from a retractable pen.

[dennis]

He is a brexiteer so he does actually know any.

[dennis]

[Tim+]

In my case ?local? can be 40 miles away.

Tim

[dennis]

Do you think he is JWS's brother? It runs in his family. Maybe TNP is another one?

[dennis]

A piece of ply on four springs in the bottom and a microswitch connected to a cheap LED light so it comes on when there is some weight on the ply.

[dennis]

Its easier to make one that falls at the side. All you need is a strip of plastic and shape the end so its hinged horizontal and held there by the lid and falls down when the lid is opened.

[dennis]

Not all pencils have graphite in them so the Russians could easily have used one.

I have a few with plastic cores and they work fine.

[Harry Bloomfield]

It happens that pamela formulated :

Low tech indicator, DIY solution...

Magnet with string attached. Magnet stuck to inside (underside) of lid, with string dropped through a hole in base of box. String has a lightweight ball on it, below hole drilled in box bottom, with a knot under ball. Set length of string (the knot), so the magnet becomes detached when lid is lifted. Magnet + string + ball will then all drop, indicating you have mail.

If the box lid is not steel, you may need to fix some steel to the lid.

[Harry Bloomfield]

Harry Bloomfield formulated on Thursday :

The string could be replaced by a rod of some sort with a ball on the end, making it a bit easier to reset with the lid closed than string.

[pamela]

My delivery office is near the town centre on some crowded side street. Not all packages are delivered by Royal Mail and courier offices are in less accessible places than that.

[pamela]

I didn't mean Bob's point about graphite penciles wasn't true. I meant the original story of Russians using pencil at all might be an urban myth.

[tabbypurr]

With pleasure. Happy trolling. Even GG has her permaplonked.

[Fredxx]

I thought that was your typical MO?

[newshound]

I like those ideas a lot (assuming it is a lift up rather than push down lid). Same concept could be adapted for push down, of course.