Spring is here and with it comes the inevitable spring house cleaning. There’s also something outside the house that might need attention—your mailbox! Does it reflect a positive image of your home or is it an eyesore to the community? May is Mailbox Improvement Month and the Post Office is holding an “Extreme Mailbox Makeover” contest.
Check out your mailbox and see if it needs a face lift? If so, make your plans now to spiff it up and enter the contest. The rules are simple:
Take a photo of the existing mailbox that needs a makeover. Make the changes you desire and take a photo of the new, spiffy mailbox. Mail both photos, along with your name, address, and phone number to USPS Consumer Council, 79 Mid Cape Terr, Cape Coral, FL 33991. Entries will be accepted through April 30.
The winning mailboxes in Cape Coral, Fort Myers, and Naples will be featured on postage stamps and the owners will receive two sheets of First-Class mail customized postage stamps. Entries will be judged by the Postal Service’s Consumer Advisory Councils for creativity and compliance with postal regulations.
The mailboxes must be approved or traditional, contemporary, or locked full/limited service curbside mailboxes. Custom-made mailboxes may be used if it meets the standard requirements. The mailbox must display the house number on the side of single mailboxes or on the door of grouped mailboxes.
Generally, mailboxes should be installed at a height of 41-45 inches from the road surface to the bottom of the mailbox or point of mail entry. Mailboxes are set back 6-8 inches from the front face of the curb or road edge to the mailbox door. Customers must place mailboxes on motorized city, rural, and contract delivery service routes so a carrier can safely and conveniently serve them without leaving his or her vehicle. The Postal Service does not regulate mailbox supports in any way except for purposes of carrier safety and delivery efficiency.
Make your plans now to participate in the “Extreme Mailbox Makeover” contest. Both you and your neighbors will be pleased—whether you win the contest or not!
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Please Note: For broadcast quality video and audio, photo stills and other media resources, visit the USPS Newsroom at www.usps.com/communications/newsroom/welcome.htm.
A self-supporting government enterprise, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation, 150 million residences, businesses and Post Office Boxes. The Postal Service receives no tax dollars. With 36,000 retail locations and the most frequently visited website in the federal government, the Postal Service relies on the sale of postage, products and services to pay for operating expenses. Named the Most Trusted Government Agency five consecutive years and the sixth Most Trusted Business in the nation by the Ponemon Institute, the Postal Service has annual revenue of more than $68 billion and delivers nearly half the world’s mail. If it were a private sector company, the U.S. Postal Service would rank 26th in the 2008 Fortune 500.
