Mailbox Geocache?

[+Highland Horde]

I was thinking of making a new mailbox for my house with a separate compartment to hold a geocache. I was just wondering if this is a good idea or not? Opinions? Ideas? Pros vs Cons...

[+tekkguy]

Once you put out a mailbox, it becomes Federal property ... anyone messing with your mailbox would be subject to Federal penalties if someone wanted to get upset about it. (you know, like if your mailman saw someone messing with it)

[+IBcrashen]

Once you put out a mailbox, it becomes Federal property ... anyone messing with your mailbox would be subject to Federal penalties if someone wanted to get upset about it. (you know, like if your mailman saw someone messing with it)

Just to point out the OP lives in Canada.

[+Isonzo Karst]

In the United States, a box being used for posting mail could not legally be used for a geocache.

In Canada, I don't know what the law might be. You might want to ask at your post office.

[+Highland Horde]

just to clarify it wouldnt be "in" the mailbox but it would be a seperate compartment (probably under) and the mailbox is attached to my house...

[+secretagentbill]

In the United States, a box being used for posting mail could not legally be used for a geocache.

In Canada, I don't know what the law might be. You might want to ask at your post office.

Would that still be true of a separate compartment? Many 'newer' style molded mailboxes have a built-in compartment below the mail part for newspapers, etc. IMO that would be no different than a compartment below for a geocache, except for the whole mailman getting suspicious thing.

[+Highland Horde]

good point...and i was actually thinking a "secret compartment" so it would not be obvious that there was a second compartment...so unless the mailman saw someone there..."careful of muggles" LOL

[+kh54s10]

Just a thought I had. I'm not sure I'd want a lot of strangers poking around the front of my house.....

Not to mention the fact that it would look very suspicious!

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

I really would not want cachers poking around my mailbox, nor would most cachers be comfortable doing so. I do however have a large ammo box on my front porch that is a cache and TB Hotel (Irondale Pit Stop GC14B0Z) which gets a good bit of traffic.

 

A cacher from Mississippi came by just this morning to visit the cache then knocked on the door and we had a nice visit. I love that!

 

Cache at your home, cool; on or near your mailbox, not so much.

[4wheelin_fool]

I was thinking of making a new mailbox for my house with a separate compartment to hold a geocache. I was just wondering if this is a good idea or not? Opinions? Ideas? Pros vs Cons...

Bad idea.

Put it on a separate pole 100 feet away and it is a good idea. Identity theft is all too common these days.

[+doingitoldschool]

As nice as 98 percent of all cachers are, I still wouldn't want the ones I don't know showing up uninvited on my porch, and digging though or around my mail!

Also, may finders hesitate to come onto private property, even with the most obvious invitation on the cache page.

[+WRASTRO]

Maybe you should make it a fake Fedex drop box.

[tttedzeins]

You mean like this one

GC1HW0V

Brilliant idea

[+Rainbow Spirit]

There is was one in Sydney, Aust', where the property was under the flightpath of Sydney Airport, and the property had been resumed, and the house demolished.

The brick fence was left standing, and the cache was in the old disused letterbox in the fence.

[+Bundyrumandcoke]

And I am not absolutely sure if its the same one, but I may have found that one in Sydney, (I certainly have found a cache that matches the description- abandoned fence with letterbox still intact and that was the location of the cache) and was the last finder prior to it going missing. I was sprung by the cops whilst retreiving it, and it subsequently went missing, no idea if the 2 are related. And here is the cache in question, http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...47-b7c8cb3541f5

 

Personally, I have a cache outside my house. I have no dramas with people grabbing it, thats why its there. But, we dont have nearly the dramas that you people over in the US have.

 

And, LOL, you cant believe the incredulous I felt, when you people talk about your letterboxes being the property of USPS. Here in Oz, we place our letterboxes in front of our properties, and they are OUR property, certainly not Australia Posts.

 

Cheers

Bundy

Edited December 11, 2009 by Bundyrumandcoke

[+Snoogans]

Once you put out a mailbox, it becomes Federal property ... anyone messing with your mailbox would be subject to Federal penalties if someone wanted to get upset about it. (you know, like if your mailman saw someone messing with it)

Just to point out the OP lives in Canada.

 

There ARE exceptions in the U.S. as well.

 

This one has been around since February 2001 without a hitch. GC29B

 

The cache is quite obviously rural and the actual mail box for that property is about 3/4 of a mile up the driveway. I seriously doubt the Postmaster could object in this case.

 

[+tekkguy]

Once you put out a mailbox, it becomes Federal property ... anyone messing with your mailbox would be subject to Federal penalties if someone wanted to get upset about it. (you know, like if your mailman saw someone messing with it)

Just to point out the OP lives in Canada.

 

That's what I get for thinking and not reading!

[+Touchstone]

We also had one in our area for a few years that featured the little one room school house that is in a few of the scenes of The Red Pony by John Steinbeck. That one was also in an unused mailbox and placed with the blessings of the local School District.

 

Very cool cache, but somewhat of a maintenance headache due to it's being in a fairly public location.

[+Castle Mischief]

Once you put out a mailbox, it becomes Federal property ...

 

I see this frequently, but I've never seen a link to the actual law. I know that there is a Federal law concerning the boxes that the USPS puts out (big blue things with the US Mail logo on them), but I have doubts about mailboxes that I buy at Wal-Mart. I suspect that only the contents are protected by Federal law, not the container- or perhaps the container is "protected" but surely not "owned" by the Federal Government.

 

Bad idea.

Put it on a separate pole 100 feet away and it is a good idea. Identity theft is all too common these days.

 

Not sure where you're going with this. Is your concern that the cache would attract more identity theft or that a cacher could be mistaken for somebody attempting ID theft?

Edited December 11, 2009 by Castle Mischief

[+sbell111]

Once you put out a mailbox, it becomes Federal property ...

That is not actually true.

[+sTeamTraen]

I was sprung by the cops whilst retreiving it

But, we dont have nearly the dramas that you people over in the US have.

[+Snoogans]

I was sprung by the cops whilst retreiving it

But, we dont have nearly the dramas that you people over in the US have.

 

Yessss. I agree! The Aussie blokes are farrr more civilized!

 

[+LadeBear68]

D041 Customer Mail Receptacles

 

Use for Mail

1.3

Except under 2.11, the receptacles described in 1.1 may be used only for matter

bearing postage. Other than as permitted by 2.10 or 2.11, no part of a mail

receptacle may be used to deliver any matter not bearing postage, including items

or matter placed upon, supported by, attached to, hung from, or inserted into a mail

receptacle. Any mailable matter not bearing postage and found as described

above is subject to the same postage as would be paid if it were carried by mail.

 

http://pe.usps.com/cpim/ftp/manuals/dmm_old/D041.pdf

 

The USPS governs your mailbox and in fact there are certain requirements for mailboxes. If I place something in your mailbox and I did not place a stamp on it, it is a violation of Federal Law. If I have a gift for you and place it in your mailbox, hang it on your mailbox or place it on the back of your mailbox it is a violation of Federal Law. Now again, this is in the US so I am not sure about Canada. I come from a family of Postmasters and have heard several stories during dinnertime about this.

 

BTW, the first offense is $250 per item.

Edited December 11, 2009 by LadeBear68

[+sbell111]

D041 Customer Mail Receptacles

 

Use for Mail

1.3

Except under 2.11, the receptacles described in 1.1 may be used only for matter

bearing postage. Other than as permitted by 2.10 or 2.11, no part of a mail

receptacle may be used to deliver any matter not bearing postage, including items

or matter placed upon, supported by, attached to, hung from, or inserted into a mail

receptacle. Any mailable matter not bearing postage and found as described

above is subject to the same postage as would be paid if it were carried by mail.

 

http://pe.usps.com/cpim/ftp/manuals/dmm_old/D041.pdf

 

The USPS governs your mailbox and in fact there are certain requirements for mailboxes. If I place something in your mailbox and I did not place a stamp on it, it is a violation of Federal Law. If I have a gift for you and place it in your mailbox, hang it on your mailbox or place it on the back of your mailbox it is a violation of Federal Law. Now again, this is in the US so I am not sure about Canada. I come from a family of Postmasters and have heard several stories during dinnertime about this.

 

BTW, the first offense is $250 per item.

You will note that the OP was not suggesting that he make his mailbox into a geocache. He was considering creating a separate compartment that will be a geocache.

 

We had a brick mailbox built. It has two compartments. The upper compartment is for our mail. The lower compartment is for our newspaper. If I were to place a geocache in that lower compartment, it would not be a violation of any mailbox-related law or regulation because it would not be located in the mailbox.

Edited December 11, 2009 by sbell111

[+Snoogans]

D041 Customer Mail Receptacles

 

Use for Mail

1.3

Except under 2.11, the receptacles described in 1.1 may be used only for matter

bearing postage. Other than as permitted by 2.10 or 2.11, no part of a mail

receptacle may be used to deliver any matter not bearing postage, including items

or matter placed upon, supported by, attached to, hung from, or inserted into a mail

receptacle. Any mailable matter not bearing postage and found as described

above is subject to the same postage as would be paid if it were carried by mail.

 

http://pe.usps.com/cpim/ftp/manuals/dmm_old/D041.pdf

 

The USPS governs your mailbox and in fact there are certain requirements for mailboxes. If I place something in your mailbox and I did not place a stamp on it, it is a violation of Federal Law. If I have a gift for you and place it in your mailbox, hang it on your mailbox or place it on the back of your mailbox it is a violation of Federal Law. Now again, this is in the US so I am not sure about Canada. I come from a family of Postmasters and have heard several stories during dinnertime about this.

 

BTW, the first offense is $250 per item.

 

I seriously doubt a postmaster could pursue the cache I listed earlier... Given that they would have to treaspass well onto private property to get to it and pass up the designated post box. It is also not visable from the official box, so they couldn't even claim it could cause confusion for proper delivery....

[+Snoogans]

D041 Customer Mail Receptacles

 

Use for Mail

1.3

Except under 2.11, the receptacles described in 1.1 may be used only for matter

bearing postage. Other than as permitted by 2.10 or 2.11, no part of a mail

receptacle may be used to deliver any matter not bearing postage, including items

or matter placed upon, supported by, attached to, hung from, or inserted into a mail

receptacle. Any mailable matter not bearing postage and found as described

above is subject to the same postage as would be paid if it were carried by mail.

 

http://pe.usps.com/cpim/ftp/manuals/dmm_old/D041.pdf

 

The USPS governs your mailbox and in fact there are certain requirements for mailboxes. If I place something in your mailbox and I did not place a stamp on it, it is a violation of Federal Law. If I have a gift for you and place it in your mailbox, hang it on your mailbox or place it on the back of your mailbox it is a violation of Federal Law. Now again, this is in the US so I am not sure about Canada. I come from a family of Postmasters and have heard several stories during dinnertime about this.

 

BTW, the first offense is $250 per item.

You will note that the OP was not suggesting that he make his mailbox into a geocache. He was considering creating a separate compartment that will be a geocache.

 

We had a brick mailbox built. It has two compartments. The upper compartment is for our mail. The lower compartment is for our newspaper. If I were to place a geocache in that lower compartment, it would not be a violation of any mailbox-related law or regulation because it would not be located in the mailbox.

 

True dat!

[knowschad]

Once you put out a mailbox, it becomes Federal property ... anyone messing with your mailbox would be subject to Federal penalties if someone wanted to get upset about it. (you know, like if your mailman saw someone messing with it)

Just to point out the OP lives in Canada.

There ARE exceptions in the U.S. as well.

This one has been around since February 2001 without a hitch. GC29B

The cache is quite obviously rural and the actual mail box for that property is about 3/4 of a mile up the driveway. I seriously doubt the Postmaster could object in this case.

Yup... I did one in Wisconsin this fall that was in a rural mailbox*. The mailbox has a combination lock on it, with the combo given in the hint on the cache page. My guess is that the cache owner cleared it with their rural mail carrier first, but I don't really know.

 

* I should say, the cache was in a mailbox-like container. It was NOT in the cache owner's actual mailbox.

Edited December 11, 2009 by knowschad

[+Hayward Cheezehead]

I know my mailbox has something about property of a federal whatever.

 

And just a side note. A friend of mine who was going to school to become a cop told me that a Postal Inspector is top dog when it comes down to LEO's. So if you ever get pulled over by one, your SCREWED!

 

Thou, I may be wrong cuz he never did make it as a cop.

[+LadeBear68]

D041 Customer Mail Receptacles

 

Use for Mail

1.3

Except under 2.11, the receptacles described in 1.1 may be used only for matter

bearing postage. Other than as permitted by 2.10 or 2.11, no part of a mail

receptacle may be used to deliver any matter not bearing postage, including items

or matter placed upon, supported by, attached to, hung from, or inserted into a mail

receptacle. Any mailable matter not bearing postage and found as described

above is subject to the same postage as would be paid if it were carried by mail.

 

http://pe.usps.com/cpim/ftp/manuals/dmm_old/D041.pdf

 

The USPS governs your mailbox and in fact there are certain requirements for mailboxes. If I place something in your mailbox and I did not place a stamp on it, it is a violation of Federal Law. If I have a gift for you and place it in your mailbox, hang it on your mailbox or place it on the back of your mailbox it is a violation of Federal Law. Now again, this is in the US so I am not sure about Canada. I come from a family of Postmasters and have heard several stories during dinnertime about this.

 

BTW, the first offense is $250 per item.

You will note that the OP was not suggesting that he make his mailbox into a geocache. He was considering creating a separate compartment that will be a geocache.

 

We had a brick mailbox built. It has two compartments. The upper compartment is for our mail. The lower compartment is for our newspaper. If I were to place a geocache in that lower compartment, it would not be a violation of any mailbox-related law or regulation because it would not be located in the mailbox.

 

Yes, mailboxes can be built to hold newspapers which is not a violation of Federal Law, but if it is a separate compartment it is not considered a mailbox receptacle. I would agree that if it is a separate compartment it would not be a violation.

Edited December 11, 2009 by LadeBear68

[+Hayward Cheezehead]

You could always get a fence post, place a ammo can on top of it too.

No problems then.

[+LadeBear68]

D041 Customer Mail Receptacles

 

Use for Mail

1.3

Except under 2.11, the receptacles described in 1.1 may be used only for matter

bearing postage. Other than as permitted by 2.10 or 2.11, no part of a mail

receptacle may be used to deliver any matter not bearing postage, including items

or matter placed upon, supported by, attached to, hung from, or inserted into a mail

receptacle. Any mailable matter not bearing postage and found as described

above is subject to the same postage as would be paid if it were carried by mail.

 

http://pe.usps.com/cpim/ftp/manuals/dmm_old/D041.pdf

 

The USPS governs your mailbox and in fact there are certain requirements for mailboxes. If I place something in your mailbox and I did not place a stamp on it, it is a violation of Federal Law. If I have a gift for you and place it in your mailbox, hang it on your mailbox or place it on the back of your mailbox it is a violation of Federal Law. Now again, this is in the US so I am not sure about Canada. I come from a family of Postmasters and have heard several stories during dinnertime about this.

 

BTW, the first offense is $250 per item.

 

I seriously doubt a postmaster could pursue the cache I listed earlier... Given that they would have to treaspass well onto private property to get to it and pass up the designated post box. It is also not visable from the official box, so they couldn't even claim it could cause confusion for proper delivery....

 

Does the mailbox receive actual mail? I am guessing that if it is on private property and you have to trespass to get to it, it doesn't receive actual mail. I believe the USPS regulations would not apply if you aren't receiving mail in the mailbox.

Edited December 11, 2009 by LadeBear68

[+Castle Mischief]

Yes, mailboxes can be built to hold newspapers which is not a violation of Federal Law, but if it is a separate compartment it is not considered a mailbox receptacle. I would agree that if it is a separate compartment it would not be a violation.

 

Let's say I'm not that skilled with manual labor, can I buy a mailbox at Wal-Mart and place it next to my existing mailbox and somehow alter it so that it becomes a "newspaper receptacle"?

[+Snoogans]

Yes, mailboxes can be built to hold newspapers which is not a violation of Federal Law, but if it is a separate compartment it is not considered a mailbox receptacle. I would agree that if it is a separate compartment it would not be a violation.

 

Let's say I'm not that skilled with manual labor, can I buy a mailbox at Wal-Mart and place it next to my existing mailbox and somehow alter it so that it becomes a "newspaper receptacle"?

 

but you don't actually subscribe, so you could make it a cache.... That would be dishonest.

[+Prime Suspect]

And, LOL, you cant believe the incredulous I felt, when you people talk about your letterboxes being the property of USPS. Here in Oz, we place our letterboxes in front of our properties, and they are OUR property, certainly not Australia Posts.

 

Cheers

Bundy

That's actually to our advantage. It means that damaging or tampering with them is not a simple property offense. but a Federal matter. It also means we don't have people putting junk fliers in our mailboxes. If they want to do that, they have to pay for the privilege and send it through the mail.

[+Prime Suspect]

Once you put out a mailbox, it becomes Federal property ... anyone messing with your mailbox would be subject to Federal penalties if someone wanted to get upset about it. (you know, like if your mailman saw someone messing with it)

Just to point out the OP lives in Canada.

 

There ARE exceptions in the U.S. as well.

 

This one has been around since February 2001 without a hitch. GC29B

 

The cache is quite obviously rural and the actual mail box for that property is about 3/4 of a mile up the driveway. I seriously doubt the Postmaster could object in this case.

 

That's not an exception, since it's not legally a mailbox.

[+Prime Suspect]

Good information (but applies only to U.S.).

[+Castle Mischief]

Good information (but applies only to U.S.).

 

Note to self: do not place new "Loaf of Bread" Travel Bug into the cache in Snoogans' post above.

[+sbell111]

Good information (but applies only to U.S.).

Actually, that's just more (incorrect) personal opinion. You will note that the poster states that Title 18, United States Code, Section 1705 states that mailboxes are 'considered federal property'. In fact, that section of the Code does not state this, at all. It simply states the following:

Whoever willfully or maliciously injures, tears down or destroys any letter box or other receptacle intended or used for the receipt or delivery of mail on any mail route, or breaks open the same or willfully or maliciously injures, defaces or destroys any mail deposited therein, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.

[+sbell111]

It should be noted that the "Mailboxes are considered federal property" verbiage that people are hanging their hat on actually comes from this document.

 

Note should be taken of the word 'considered'. That is not the same as saying that the boxes are actual federal property. This is made apparent if you take a read of the very first sentence of the document which states "Rural area mailboxes are vulnerable to vandalism because they are usually isolated, located on public thoroughfares, and frequently not visible to the box owners from their homes." This makes it pretty doggone clear that the actual owners of the mailboxes are the people living in the associated homes, not the federal government.

Edited December 11, 2009 by sbell111

[+BBWolf+3Pigs]

Whoever willfully or maliciously injures, tears down or destroys any letter box or other receptacle intended or used for the receipt or delivery of mail on any mail route, or breaks open the same or willfully or maliciously injures, defaces or destroys any mail deposited therein, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.

 

It appears that the bolded portion is critical in discussing the OP's question. If the mailbox is never intended to be used for receipt or delivery of mail (e.g. a box down a private lane/driveway), do the regulations even apply?

[+sbell111]

Whoever willfully or maliciously injures, tears down or destroys any letter box or other receptacle intended or used for the receipt or delivery of mail on any mail route, or breaks open the same or willfully or maliciously injures, defaces or destroys any mail deposited therein, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.

 

It appears that the bolded portion is critical in discussing the OP's question. If the mailbox is never intended to be used for receipt or delivery of mail (e.g. a box down a private lane/driveway), do the regulations even apply?

That section of the code only deals with damaging the box or the mail within, so it's really not on point.

[CoyoteRed]

I was thinking of making a new mailbox for my house with a separate compartment to hold a geocache. I was just wondering if this is a good idea or not?

IMHO, no, it's not a good idea.

 

The problem stems from creating a paradigm. When anyone creates a tricky cache that looks like another object, then forever after folks will inspect those items nearby they've been taught looks like a cache. No one should be messing with any mailboxes. Just not a good idea.

 

A separate container like that shown above would be okay, IMHO, but I'd make it clear that it's a geocache with no numbers and maybe even marked as a geocache.

Edited December 11, 2009 by CoyoteRed

[CoyoteRed]

If a residential mailbox is Federal property then how come they don't replace it after mailbox baseball?

 

No, it's still your property. You can move it. You can paint it. You can replace it. You can all manner of things to it. The action of mail moving through it that makes it a Federal matter, not that it becomes Federal property. Because it's a Federal matter, and I don't know whether the area has had problems with missing mail, I wouldn't even consider giving the appearance of messing someone else's mailbox.

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

...The problem stems from creating a paradigm. When anyone creates a tricky cache that looks like another object, then forever after folks will inspect those items nearby they've been taught looks like a cache.

So we're to assume that cachers are pretty stupid folks? The cache coordinates take them to a specific site where there is a mailbox that is obviously not being used as a mailbox and it turns out to be the geocache, so they go around forever checking mailboxes in hopes that one might be a geocache?

 

No one should be messing with any mailboxes. Just not a good idea.

True. But for the purposes of this discussion a mailbox is not a mailbox unless it is being used for mail. Otherwise it's just a container.

That makes it more of a proximity issue... don't put a fake mailbox close to a real one where it might be mistaken.

 

I would add that no cache should be hidden that looks like a real working mailbox in any place that mail would be expected to be delivered. Mailboxes along a road will always be problematic. A mailbox in a field or forest would be quite different. Mailboxes put in unusual locations or made obvious that they are not real mailboxes (the cache coordinates pointing to it should help) should be fine.

 

Just thinking about the road in to my rather rural lake place I know of a number of mailboxes along fence lines with no driveway in sight. Absent a cache page with coordinates pointing to one I don't think any cacher would think "That must be a geocache!".

[+bittsen]

Yes, mailboxes can be built to hold newspapers which is not a violation of Federal Law, but if it is a separate compartment it is not considered a mailbox receptacle. I would agree that if it is a separate compartment it would not be a violation.

 

Let's say I'm not that skilled with manual labor, can I buy a mailbox at Wal-Mart and place it next to my existing mailbox and somehow alter it so that it becomes a "newspaper receptacle"?

 

My old understandng from when someone was going through postal training is that in order for it to be Official US Mail regulated container it has to say "US MAIL" on it somewhere. If it doesn't then the post office doesn't regulate it in any way and post carriers are not supposed to put any mail in it.

So, my understanding would be that you could put a receptacle that "looks" like a mail box on a post next to a mail box and use it as a cache container as long as it does not say US MAIL on it anywhere.

 

And as a side note, I found out very quickly that newspaper carriers are NOT allowed to put newspapers in the mailboxes even if the recipient requests it.

[+9Key]

 

Thou, I may be wrong cuz he never did make it as a cop.

Owned

[+Castle Mischief]

My old understandng from when someone was going through postal training is that in order for it to be Official US Mail regulated container it has to say "US MAIL" on it somewhere. If it doesn't then the post office doesn't regulate it in any way and post carriers are not supposed to put any mail in it.

So, my understanding would be that you could put a receptacle that "looks" like a mail box on a post next to a mail box and use it as a cache container as long as it does not say US MAIL on it anywhere.

 

Conversly, I wonder if it would be okay to label a store-bought mailbox with something simple and subtle. Maybe:

 

NOT A REAL MAILBOX I WILL EAT YOUR HAND OM NOM NOM.

 

It might need some tweeking...

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

My old understandng from when someone was going through postal training is that in order for it to be Official US Mail regulated container it has to say "US MAIL" on it somewhere. If it doesn't then the post office doesn't regulate it in any way and post carriers are not supposed to put any mail in it.

That made me curious so I went and checked my mailbox, purchased six months ago at Home Depot. There is no marking or stamping of any kind indicating that it is a mailbox... it looks like one and it's on the front of my house, so the mailman treats it like one.

 

I wonder if the law has changed or if the Postal Service just quit caring if the box was USPS approved?

 

It appears that most all of these mailboxes have US Mail stamped into them... http://sblom.com/mailbox/

Edited December 11, 2009 by TheAlabamaRambler

[+Highland Horde]

ok so the consensus is no its not a good idea... thanks for all the input...gotta go get a cache before dark...

[+sbell111]

My old understandng from when someone was going through postal training is that in order for it to be Official US Mail regulated container it has to say "US MAIL" on it somewhere. If it doesn't then the post office doesn't regulate it in any way and post carriers are not supposed to put any mail in it.

So, my understanding would be that you could put a receptacle that "looks" like a mail box on a post next to a mail box and use it as a cache container as long as it does not say US MAIL on it anywhere.

 

And as a side note, I found out very quickly that newspaper carriers are NOT allowed to put newspapers in the mailboxes even if the recipient requests it.

My mailbox also doesn't say 'US Mail' anywhere.