A major change is coming to mailboxes

The United States Postal Service (USPS) is encouraging Americans to upgrade to a new larger capacity mailbox.

The new mailboxes are wider and taller, meaning they are better equipped to accommodate packages ordered online, USPS said.

The new dimensions are shown in the image below and make mailboxes approximately one-fifth larger.

“Today’s newer mailboxes are wider and taller to allow for delivery of items you order online and reduce the need for leaving notices and trips to the post office to pick up a package,” the USPS said.

A larger mailbox can limit the damage to packages that occurs when postal workers put them in boxes that are too small.

It can also reduce package theft, which is more likely if they are too large and are instead left on the ground or on a porch.

The theft of packages by so-called ‘porch pirates’ is even increasing explosively. According to Capital One, an estimated 119 million boxes were stolen from porches in 2023 – the equivalent of one in 200 package deliveries.

Collectively, Americans lost $13.4 billion to crime last year, it found, with the average stolen package worth $112.30.

New larger capacity mailboxes are designed to enable the delivery of larger packages and reduce the need for notices and trips to the post office to pick up orders.

The dimensions of the ‘next-generation’ mailboxes are approximately 13.63 inches wide, 19.75 inches high on the sides, 12 inches high in the center and 16.5 inches deep.

The mailbox fits most standard mailers, but USPS is urging Americans to reconsider their installation guidelines before installing a new mailbox.

They can contain multiple parcels, plus regular letters, cards and magazines.

Major retailers, including Home Depot, Walmart and Lowe’s, are selling the package-friendly mailboxes, according to USPS.

Although prices vary depending on the retailer, Walmart sells mailboxes from Architectural Mailboxes that cost between $46.77 and $86.43.

As part of its annual Mailbox Improvement Week, which takes place every third week of May, USPS also urges homeowners to inspect and repair their mailboxes.

“Repairing suburban and rural mailboxes improves the appearance of communities and makes delivering and receiving mail safe for our carriers and customers,” the agency said in a statement.

‘The Post makes this annual request because of the wear and tear that occurs on the mailboxes every year.’

USPS is also urging Americans to sign up for Informed Delivery to help prevent package theft.

The free service lets you sign up for text or email notifications, schedule delivery alerts, request a redelivery, and enter delivery instructions.

It comes after the USPS announced that stamp prices will rise again in July under new proposals aimed at countering losses from declining mail volume.

The price of a premium “Forever” stamp will increase 5 cents from 68 cents to 73 cents, according to a notice filed by the US Postal Service.

It marks the fifth proposed price increase in just two years – and the 19th change since 2000.

In recent years, the agency has accelerated price increases, with stamp prices increasing 36 percent since 2019.

The United States Postal Service (USPS) is encouraging Americans to upgrade to a new larger capacity mailbox

New larger capacity mailboxes are designed to enable the delivery of larger packages and reduce the need for notices and trips to the post office to pick up orders

Interest rates were last raised by two cents in January, just a few months after a three-cent increase in July last year.

The changes, like several others since 2021, are part of the financially troubled service’s 10-year plan to raise prices and delay some delivery times in an effort to avoid $160 billion in projected losses over a decade.

Like other postal services around the world, it is facing headwinds as fewer people send physical mail.

In 2023, USPS processed 116.1 billion pieces of mail, up from a peak of more than 213 billion in 2006.

In a statement, USPS said “price adjustments are necessary to achieve the financial stability” sought in the 10-year “Delivering for America” ​​plan announced by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy in 2021.

“USPS prices remain among the most affordable in the world,” it added.