Mailboxes

I like taking pictures of mailboxes. They mostly look the same but often times are different enough to create a pattern. I love patterns. In gathering images for this post I began to wonder...where did the mailbox come from? In an effort to keep this a quick read I won't go into the complete evolution involving the Pony Express and the telegraph machine. You're welcome. 

Mailboxes first appeared in the United Kingdom during the 1850s. Ten years later they showed up in the United States. In 1863, the U.S. Post Office Department launched the Free City Delivery mail service, which allowed residents to receive mail at their home address. Prior to that, everyone went to the post office to pick up mail.  However, not everyone had a mailbox. Postal carriers delivered on foot and it was their responsibility to knock on each door and wait for someone to answer so they could hand over the mail. Carriers lost an estimated 90 minutes over the course of their day, time spent waiting on doorsteps, according to the National Postal Museum. Thus in 1923, the Post Office Department required each household to have a mailbox or letter slot where mail could be left. Reminiscent of British letterboxes affixed to the house, the new required mailboxes were also a set height and width, of a design that would keep moisture out, and of a material that would not corrode. Today most household mailboxes are made of aluminum and steel, according to Medium.

Going to the post office was especially not convenient for rural America. Rural Free Delivery Service (RFD) began on a trial basis in 1896 and became an official service in 1902, according to the National Postal Museum website.

Here, people scrambled to find acceptable mailboxes to receive mail at their homes and farms. Old food containers and empty oil drums were common, though sometimes not fully cleaned out ahead of time. It became clear to the Post Office Department (predecessor to the U.S. Postal Service) that regulation of mail receptacles was needed. Regulating mailboxes began in 1901.

One example of a successful mailbox, invented back in 1915 for the Rural Free Delivery service, is the RFD Joroleman-style mailbox (pictured above). The designer, Roy Joroleman, was an engineer for the Post Office Department. The novelty of this design lay in its domed roof, which prevented rain and snow from accumulating on the top, allowing the mail inside to stay dry, according to the Mailboxes and Designs Blog. Because of this, the 100-year-old RFD Joroleman-style mailbox is still widely popular for roadside mail delivery.

Lining up mailboxes in rural areas or apartments saves a tremendous amount of time. Imagine if mail carriers had to physically walk to every single home in the United States.  

Flagstaff gets snow. Yes, in Arizona. Sometimes LOTS of it like last year, January-March, over 200 inches. "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds" is only mostly true. There was about a week in the winter of 2023 where mail service didn't happen for about a week.