I want to move my mailbox

[EricU]

Our mailbox marks the corner of our property, so it's all by itself.  Normally, it wouldn't be a problem, but Central PA winters often feature lots of snow, and sometimes it even stays warm enough that the snow doesn't melt right away. I want to move it to be close enough to the driveway that I'm not clearing quite as much snow.  The electric company got the utilities to come mark our yard, and there is nothing to the right of the driveway.  For some reason, the sewer line goes to the left of the driveway, which is probably where I would put it if I had full freedom. I'm just curious what position relative to the driveway that people put their mailboxes.  Kinda don't want to have to replace it when I run over it. I think to the right of the driveway might be best with that, because when we pull out to leave, we pull out to the left.

I don't have a posthole digger. I guess I'd rather not use power equipment in case the utilities screwed up the marking.  There is a sheet of shale down a few feet, but I'm not sure how close it is to the surface in the front yard.

[jteneyck]

The Post Office or your State DOT has requirements for the location of a mailbox and how it may be installed.  Sorry, I can't remember which.  Contact them to find out the details and what latitude you have. 

John

[jlanciani]

Put it wherever it makes the most sense for you, the sewer line is plenty deep that it won't be an issue. Hand dig the hole 24" deep for the post. If you have hard curbs set the front of the box about 1' back from the curb, if no curbs figure where the snow plows run and set it a foot back from there. I'm pretty sure the height is supposed to be 36" - 42" to the bottom but ask your mail man what he prefers and set it there.

[EricU]

A previous owner put about 5' of gravel along the road, so the mailbox will be well back from the side of the road.  That's where it is now, which is one reason I want to move it. Five feet of icy snow from the plows x enough room for the mail jeep is a lot of snow to move.  In Utah, people would put up temporary boxes for the winter, but around here I think the PO would take exception.

[Bope]

Please check with your PO before you move it or you could be in for some trouble. Even if you look around your area and find mailboxes on both sides of driveways doesn't mean they will allow you to move yours to the other side. I don't know why the PO in our area is so concerned about which side of the driveway the mailbox is on but they will not deliver your mail if it is on the wrong side.  Mind you just a block down the road the mailboxes are on both sides of peoples driveways. We are all on the same mail route but they built their houses earlier than we did.

[EricU]

good to know, I'll ask the P.O. I have no idea why they would care where it was at all.  Mine is where it is just to mark the property line, I'm pretty sure of that.  Pretty sure it would be better for them if it was to the left, but I am worried about running into it.  The rest of my family mostly runs into things in front of the car, but I am not totally innocent in backing into things.

[Admiral]

BTDT, got the teeshirt too.  Here's the USPS rules for mailboxes:

https://www.usps.com/manage/mailboxes.htm

[fixtureman]

Please check with your PO before you move it or you could be in for some trouble. Even if you look around your area and find mailboxes on both sides of driveways doesn't mean they will allow you to move yours to the other side. I don't know why the PO in our area is so concerned about which side of the driveway the mailbox is on but they will not deliver your mail if it is on the wrong side.  Mind you just a block down the road the mailboxes are on both sides of peoples driveways. We are all on the same mail route but they built their houses earlier than we did.

That is the way my sil is theirs is on the other side of the road and they wanted to move it to their side like their neighbors but the PO said no

[fredhargis]

For sure ask the PO. I've done this twice, in one case we had a corner lot and I moved it from one road to the other (safety was a big reason). The USPS actually thought the had the right to approve/disapprove the change. It took several weeks of on/off wrangling with one of the underlings at the PO to get them convinced I was going to do it...it helped when my carrier pleaded it out on safety issues. But the first thing the Postmaster said was "no". The second time I did more or less what you want to do, move it down the street closer to the drive. I asked the carrier, since in this case my address didn't change, and she said put it wherever you want, but be sure to get the height correct. I wound up putting it about 5' to the right side of out drive entrance, and moved it back from the road another 2'...I also put in a well packed gravel turnout for the new location. The distance back was to help make the snow blast a little less damaging when the plows go by at 40 MPH. BTW, I did call our county engineer (I live on a county road) and asked if they had any rules/regs I needed to be aware of; in our case there were none.

[EricU]

I doubt they will care unless I don't ask.  We aren't really rural, and it's a dead end street.  There are mailboxes on both sides of the street.  So the dogs bark like crazy both coming and going