Mailboxes Revisited

There's an editorial in today's AZ Republic, Gilbert Section, that revisits the mailbox question. It must be the editorial staff writing the piece, since there is no individual named. Today, I agree with the headline and strongly disagree with the editorial itself.

Retro mailboxes not the best way to build community
May. 10, 2005 12:00 AM
Some housing developments in Gilbert are returning to the past by way of mail delivery. If the Pony Express comes to mind, you've gone too far back. The mail delivery method we're talking about still involves a human mail carrier and vehicle. Unfortunately, it provides less security for mail recipients. For instance, homes in the Higley Groves community at the Morrison Ranch development feature separate mailboxes at the ends of driveways, as opposed to clusters of locked mailboxes serving multiple houses. Higley Groves is retro, if you will. But at what price?

The editorialist then goes on to talk about identity theft, which is a very real problem, and according to recent statistics, Arizona leads the nation in identity theft. The conclusion of this editorial? Forget retro, and down with the individual mailbox! You Gilbillies in Higley Groves that like those mailboxes are wrong, wrong, wrong:

Residents seem to love the idea. Neighbors wave to each other as they pick up their mail. They get to know one another and build the sense of community that many people have said has been lost in recent decades. These are good points. A sense of community and belonging are important in all neighborhoods. And safe neighborhoods are those neighborhoods where neighbors know one another and, ultimately, look out for one another. The mailbox, however, is just an object. If neighbors want to socialize, they ought to socialize. Individuals create the community, not the mailbox at the end of the driveway. Mail theft would not exist in a perfect world, but it does. Individual mailboxes are popular at Higley Groves. But in the name of safety, developers should not rush to implement the retro mailboxes.

I posted about this from an earlier AZ Republic article, but I will reiterate just a couple of facts. First, the Postal Service is the entity that required us to use individual mailboxes in Higley Groves; it is true that, upon seeing the required product, we at Morrison Ranch do love the idea and the look. I also mentioned that future Morrison Ranch communities may be required to use the gangboxes. If this happens, we'll do our best to adapt. Second, I mentioned at the beginning of this post that I agree with the headline but not the body of the article. Retro mailboxes are NOT the BEST way to build a community; they are only one small facet. You have to add to the mix by encouraging pedestrian traffic (by making it pleasant to walk), adding porches, promoting parks and open spaces, encouraging block parties and block watches, and a host of other ideas.

I guess my gripe with this article is that it assumes that all of us that live in Higley Groves and enjoy our mailboxes are acting ignorant about identity theft. Yet I see no opining about getting rid of our blue trash cans, veritable gold mines of information about personal identity, and by the way, dumpster diving is still the number one means of identity theft. And we leave those trash cans out over night, just inviting criminals to come dig through them!

My neighbors are intelligent folks, and they take reasonable precautions to protect their assets, including their identities. Sometimes, the criminals score one anyway. But I'll take my chances with my mailbox, and my community looking out for me any day of the week.