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Solar Mailbox
Available only in select locales (those with a lot of sun) | |
There are several problems with the mailboxes in our area:
1. People sometimes steal the mail out of them to aid in identity theft.
2. Vandals sometimes use them for baseball practice.
3. Mailmen skip them because a car is parked too near the box and they'd have to get out of their truck to
reach it.
An in-ground, solar-powered mailbox would solve these problems. When the box was at rest it would be completely underground with only its top visible and flush with the ground. As the mailman's truck came down the street an encrypted signal would automatically be sent out from the front of the truck (much like a garage door opener) that would cause the box to ascend on a telescopic pole until it reached arm height. At that level another pole built into the base of the box would telescope streetwards a couple of feet, putting it within easy reach of the mailman (a sensor would stop it a few inches away from any obstruction that it might encounter, like a parked car). After the mail was put in the box another signal sent from the back of the truck would retract the box and send it back into its hole. Logic would be built into the system to make sure the lid was completely closed and prevent the descent if it wasn't (to keep rain water out). When the homeowner wanted to get the mail they'd click their beeper (similar to garage door opener again) and the box would rise up for them to get it (the box would also have a lid opposite the street side for mail retrieval so they wouldn't have to step out into the street to get it). A second click from the beeper would send the box back into its hole again.
Advantages:
1. It would be a lot harder and more obvious when someone was trying to steal your mail.
2. Mail could be delivered easier because the mailman wouldn't have to do so much reaching (cutting down on workmen's comp claims).
3. There would be nothing above ground for vandals to hit so homeowners wouldn't have to keep buying new mailboxes.
4. Homeowners would get their mail more often when cars were parked too close to the box (but not directly in front of it) because the box would come out to meet the mailman.
Annotation:
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This is probably a very silly question,
but why to US houses have mailboxes
out at the bottom of the garden instead
of letterboxes in their front doors? I
guess if you own a ranch with a 2-mile
driveway it makes sense, but why in
residential areas? |
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The mailmen in our area drive little jeeps around. Having the box near the curb keeps them from having to get out, so the mail gets delivered faster. More cost effective in an area like this. |
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But if they do that, how on earth do you
manage to have a natter, offer them a
cup of tea, discuss the weather, learn
what the neighbours have been up to,
and stroke their black-and-white-cat?
What you need, perhaps, are solar-
powered postmen. |
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What's a postman? Do they eat biscuits and milk? And do they have anything to do with lorries? |
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You'd think the brits would speak proper english, but NOOooooo.... |
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Mailbox baseball would be so much cooler if the box came out to meet you. [+]
Although most people might consider it a bad thing, especially once lots of people start copying the beeper signal. |
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//What's a postman? Do they eat
biscuits and milk? And do they have
anything to do with lorries?// |
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A postman is a man who delivers the
post. It's a sort of code, you see.
They do generally eat biscuits, but they
prefer tea (or coffee) to milk, in general.
And they generally drive vans rather
than lorries, unless they ride a bicycle. |
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This is an interesting idea, here in northern Minnesota, the largest danger to our mailboxes is the county snowplow. In the winter there are a couple of feet of snow on the ground. Can you think of an adaption to your idea for us? The major reason that we use mailboxes instead of letter boxes on our house is DOGs and coffee makers...you see, Americans love to have lots of dogs, and mailmen don't like dog breath with their coffee... and besides we don't make coffee anymore, we have a machine in the kitchen to make our coffee for us, but it can't open the door for the mailman yet... :) |
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We have dogs too. And some of the
fittest postmen in Europe :-) |
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Why not hang the postbox on a wire supported by 2 pulleys, allowing the house owner to haul in the post without ever leaving the house and getting too much of that unhealthy "air" stuff? We could even train the postmen to do it right by putting a biscuit in the postbox. |
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Aha...this one seems to have been last updated in 2005, not 2006. Ah well... |
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