Mailbox Installation and Repair in Yukon, OK

Three kinds of mailbox, three kinds of job

Most homes on the west side have one of three setups, and each one is a different job.

Post-mount mailboxes are a box on a wood or metal post at the curb. They rot at the ground, get clipped by cars, and lean after a wet spring. A replacement is a half-day job at most: old post out, new post in concrete, box mounted and measured. See mailbox post replacement for the details.

Brick and stone mailboxes are masonry columns with a metal insert. They crack at the mortar joints, lose their caps, and rust out at the insert door. Most of that can be repaired without rebuilding the column. See brick and stone mailbox repair.

Cluster box units are the pedestal units with many locked compartments, used by newer neighborhoods, apartments and offices. They follow their own Postal Service rules. See cluster mailbox installation.

What the Postal Service asks for at the curb

The rules for a curbside box are short, and USPS publishes them on its mailbox installation page. We set every box to them:

• Height: 41 to 45 inches from the road surface to the bottom of the mailbox or the point of mail entry.
• Setback: 6 to 8 inches back from the curb. With no raised curb, USPS says to ask the local postmaster.
• Numbers: your house or apartment number on the box. If the box sits on a different street from the house, the full street address goes on it.
• The box itself: a box with the Postmaster General’s seal of approval meets USPS standards. A custom box needs the local postmaster to approve it.

We measure both numbers with the box mounted, not before, because the bracket and the slope of the yard change where the door ends up.

Posts that give way on purpose

A mailbox post should hold the box steady and still break or bend if a car hits it. USPS passes along a Federal Highway Administration recommendation for a 4 by 4 inch wooden support or a 2 inch diameter standard steel or aluminum pipe, buried no more than 24 inches deep. It advises against heavy metal pipes, concrete posts and farm equipment such as milk cans filled with concrete.

That is why we will not sink a steel I-beam or pour a solid concrete pillar for a box at the curb, even when a mailbox keeps getting hit. A post that does not move turns a fender bender into something worse.

If your home fronts a state highway, the Oklahoma Department of Transportation has its own guidance on what can stand in the right of way. Its brochure, Is my mailbox legal?, covers breakaway supports along state highways. It is an older document, so for a highway address we read it with you and call the ODOT maintenance office it lists before any work starts.

When a mailbox job is not ours

We do not relocate a box on our own say, because the post office decides where a carrier stops. We do not wire lights. And a brick mailbox that has been knocked flat is a rebuild, which we quote honestly against the cost of switching to a post-mount box. Ask us for both numbers.