[nickydwuk]

Unlike the UK I know NZ has mail boxes outside the house. Where do you get these from? Do the post office have a shop where you can choose your own design? How much are they? :) Also, if you don't have a mail box what happens to the post? How do parcels get delivered?

[YouMeAndThree]

:yes I had one when I lived on the Isle of Wight - bought it in the local hardware shop where they had several different designs. The postman would knock if he had a larger parcel. Obviously don't know about how it works in NZ yet.

[jubjub]

We got ours in Mitre 10, bunnings also sell them. You can get them online too http://www.letterboxes.co.nz/security.html

You could also build your own creation, seen quite a few weird ones!

[jubjub]

Missed second part of your query..

No post box, no post.... you then collect it from post shop. Parcels either get popped on your doorstep or again you collect and they leave you a card.

[IanW99]

Unlike the UK I know NZ has mail boxes outside the house. Where do you get these from? Do the post office have a shop where you can choose your own design? How much are they? :) Also, if you don't have a mail box what happens to the post? How do parcels get delivered?

It should of course be mentioned that when you buy or rent a house it is normal for the mail box to be left, so you only actually need to buy a new one if the one you have isn't suitable for you.

Ian

[cappuccino]

My rental house has the biggest freestanding letterbox I have ever seen. It has a lid which lifts to reveal a letter slot (lockable) but unfortunately, due to the depth of this box and my short arms and the amount of junk mail we receive, I find reaching into the box really difficult and sometimes feel I am being swallowed up.

If I ever disappear, please get someone to check inside the letterbox first :laugh

[StevieD]

You can get them at most hardware places/RD1 (farm supplies) have them too.

[shakyle2906]

Yes, we had a nice one from Mitre 10 (B and Q ish style shop - same colours too!!), basic, medium size, for about $130 whihc i thought not too bad!

Parcels get left on doorstep if too big for mail box.

Sharon x

[nippa&pippa]

If you live in rural areas, (ie house is not in the village or town areas) like RD1, 2, 3, 4 etc. Then you can pop your outgoing mails (must have stamps on it) into your own mailbox night before, then pop up a flag to indicate that there is mails awaiting to go out. Rural postperson in little red car will collect the outgoing mails while post your incoming mails in the morning ;) that save you a trip to nearer town to post your outgoing mails :nice1. For delivering parcels in rural locations, the postperson usually come up to door to drop it off if too big to fit inside the mailbox, but our postperson has stop come to door since we put up "Beware of dog" sign :roll (to stop people leave gate wide open while drive up to our house before of young children and young dog :roll), so he put the parcel in the plastic bag and threw over the gate!!!! For outgoing parcels, if it in pre-paid package, yes use your mailbox but if not pre-paid or international parcel, then you have to go to post shop....

[Nathan]

Don't mean to hijack your thread, .... but why are the mail boxes so low to the ground? Ours, and nearly every one in the neighborhood, is less than a meter high. The door over the opening in the back, from which you can collect the mail, opens to vertical, so if you want to reach or look inside you have to get down on your knees and bend over. The opening is so small I can barely fit my arm in, and then I have to reach down and feel around in the dark, damp hole to check for small, flat mail. Is it a law here that mail boxes should be designed to be as inconvenient to the user as possible?! How I miss having a big mailbox that has a door that opens wide so I can see inside and reach inside with ease.:(

OK, enough whining.

[chocolate cake]

Renting at the mo, so the mail box is obviously included.

What does get annoying though is the ridiculous design which has a separate section for the newspaper to be rolled up and put in, except either it's not long enough, or the delivery guys only put in 3/4 of the way, so that on a wet day you get a soggy newspaper.

[nickydwuk]

Are all mail boxes lockable? I would be wary of leaving my mail in a box that is accessible by anyone.

[nippa&pippa]

Are all mail boxes lockable? I would be wary of leaving my mail in a box that is accessible by anyone.

nope! well our isn't but you can lockable as I can see very very few of house in city have them.

[IanW99]

Are all mail boxes lockable? I would be wary of leaving my mail in a box that is accessible by anyone.

As said, most mail boxes aren't lockable so this is one of the reasons to get yourself a new mail box.

Many of them aren't exactly weather tight either so if you leave mail in them all day in the rain then your mail is likely to be very wet, which is another good reason to buy a new mail box.

Ian