Mailbox Locks
A person’s personal information is vital to their safety and well being in life these days and identity theft is a major problem across the country. One way to protect yourself from identity theft is locking residential mailboxes from the public. Having a mailbox that locks will keep unwanted guests from browsing through and stealing your mail. Tampering with the mail is a federal offense in the United States, which comes with lengthy prison terms if convicted. Plenty of important and confidential documents arrive in your mailbox each day that have your personal information on them. Documents such as stock options, bank accounts, insurance policies, paychecks, wills and trusts are sent through the mail each day.
A locking mailbox can help prevent mail theft as much as 100 percent. Thieves will not be able to open your mailbox and look for bills, greeting cards, outgoing checks, incoming checks or other personal items that can help them defraud you. We say that locking mailboxes work almost 100 percent effectively because criminals, if they want your information bad enough, will find a way to get into your mailbox. They still have the ability to rip the mailbox off its post our out of the ground and take it with them. Once it is in their possession they can smash open the box to get all of your mail out of it. This is an incredibly risky thing to do, especially if you live on a very busy street, where they can be seen committing this crime.
The ability to prevent thieves from stealing your mail will help ease your mind, relieve stress, and keep you safe from identity theft. Identity theft can cost a person thousands to millions of dollars in problems if their identity has been stolen and their accounts have been compromised. When thieves steal a person’s identity they open accounts in their victim’s name, charge thousands of dollars to their credit card accounts, and access their bank accounts using their pin number at ATM machines across the country.
A mailbox that locks can be purchased at a local home improvement store, on the internet, or at a mailbox-only store. These mailboxes will cost a little more than a regular mailbox since there is added material to cover the opening and a log must be installed. The opening on your mailbox will be a tiny slot that is big enough for letters and magazines to be placed inside. The downside of this is that boxes that normally fit in your unlocked mailbox will not be able to fit inside a locked mailbox. They will need to be left on your doorstep and if you are not home it is possible that the box can be stolen by someone trolling through your neighborhood.
You can choose to have your mailbox changed completely to a locking residential mailbox or you can install a lock kit on your current mailbox. The lock kit will include a lock that keeps the door shut and can only be opened by someone with a key.
