how safe are communal post boxes

helperinneed

hi i just have a concern i am thinking of buying a flat, or maybe renting and was thinking what are peoples thought on communal post boxes, are they not a security risk,

anybody who lives in a flat can they please give their views, or am i just being paraniod.

thank you

ormus

all depends where you live. most are a pretty normal risk.
others are very dodgy.
then again if you live in an area like that, missing post is the least of your worries.

London_Town

I've lived in a flat for 3 years now and would admit that a communal post box will never be as safe as a letter box on a house. However, as ormus points out, alot depends on the area where you live and I've not had anything stolen.

My flat is in a nice block in a nice area and is well maintained. That said I still don't feel it is a safe arrangement. Our communal door is programmed to be open for a few hours in the morning to allow the postman and care taker in. Anyone else could sneak in if they realised the door was open. While the locks on the post boxes seem reasonably good, I would imagine you could reach in to get mail out if you were that determined. What concerms me more, is that some of my stupid neighbours will often leave the door ajar without thinking. I find this careless attitude amazing as they are risking their own security as well as mine.

Peoples attitudes are amazing, as the woman who sold me the flat never had a key for the post box and just made the observation "I've never had anything go missing leaving it unlocked.." That probably explains why identity theft is such a problem in Britain.

Personally, I wouldn't make this issue a deal breaker if your looking to rent or buy. Just use your common sense to keep yourself and your post safe.

What I would add is that I would never want to risk having a parcel delivered. I've seen them left by the boxes sometimes and while your neighbours hopefully wouldn't steal it, any dodgy friend or relative of theirs could help themselves on the way out. I'm lucky enough to have a retired parent who is happy to receive any parcels I order at his house. So perhaps bear the parcel issue in mind.

parcival

I used to be a postie and am happy to say that generally you should have no problem.

However the quality of these type of boxes varies considerably. Also need to make sure it is large enough. With the huge increase in catalogues and other marketing rubbish they can get filled up very quickly meaning that mail can get left sticking out.

27col

I wish that there was some way that I could ensure that someone would steal my junk mail.
I opened a Saga magazine today and there were at least 9 pieces of junk mail inside it.

ukbill69

Easy to pull out mail, I had to put some keys in one and had to pull out mail to put keys in back.