Drop Off Box For Customers

[photoman]

I am looking for a drop off box to put out in my drive that a customer can just come up and drop their envelope in the chute. I have looked on line and have not found any that seem large enough for large envelopes and then give space in the belly to hold and protect from the elements. Any help would be appreciated.

[Ross]

I put a mail slot in my side garage door: http://www.rossbriggs.com/tax/mailslot.htm

I also have a box on my front porch for outgoing documents: http://www.rossbriggs.com/tax/taxbox.htm However, I don't use the outgoing box much, just if someone really needs something and I won't be home or am meeting w/ a client when they need it.

[photoman]

That's an Idea

Yes , I may go with something like you have. I just thought someone might be aware of a specialty box being built.

Thanks for the response and the picture

Ron

[AZ-Tax]

Looked in mail slot and decor fence with gate....

I was first considering a mail slot for my door but I have a solid oak door. Briefly looked into some pricing. Then I obtained pricing for a wrought iron gate 10 ft in front my front door. My community gets hit up with late night solicitors ringing the door bell for which my Dachshund goes buzek. So the clients can slide their envelope thru the opening in the fence and w/o installing a door bell, I conquer 2 countries at once. Well then I thought what if the client cannot get their envelope to drop far enough from the fence. Most of my clients fear U.S. Mailing their tax documents to me. So I am back considering the mail slot but most likely I will not get to that till after tax season. Any of you use a mail slot and if so where did you purchase it from and is it big enough for large envelopes like 10 X 13 to fit thru? What about thickness of the envelope?

[rjholmes]

Might try Lowe's

I got mine a few years back at Lowe's. It has a slot at the top front and is deep and narrow enough that a hand cannot reach into it. The front door locks and lets down to remove the papers. I have it on the outside wall next to my office door, and all my clients know to raise the flag when they put something in. It works really well.

[Lion]

Carpenter

I had a client that's a carpenter, so I gave him a call last year to ask if he'd installed any mail slots. Said he hadn't but could and was going to be at Home Depot that day so would look at what they had. He called me later with three possibilities, all with openings of about 11" X 2". He suggested brass as weathering best, so that's what I have. Only once did a fat package get stuck in it. My clients love using it. I love having it. If I'm with a client or just working in my PJs and fuzzy slippers, I don't have to answer the door for an unexpected drop-off. I have two clients who go to work by 6 a.m. and like to drop off; I'm still asleep. Clients' documents are safely in the entryway in my locked house. He charged me $208.50 including parts and a helper in our pricey Fairfield County, CT. It's been worth every penny. After the deep snows this year, I'm considering adding another in my basement door that requires less shoveling to access.

[Burke]

I got mine a few years back at Lowe's. It has a slot at the top front and is deep and narrow enough that a hand cannot reach into it. The front door locks and lets down to remove the papers. I have it on the outside wall next to my office door, and all my clients know to raise the flag when they put something in. It works really well.

I have the same thing and it works fine. It will hold quite a bit, but an envelope cannot be thicker than about an inch for each . However, I have seen an advertisement for a type of mailbox which would go out on a residential street or perhaps in a driveway next to a house, which looks like a regular mailbox, drop down lid, but you remove the bottom plate and the contents fall down in the column on which it stands. Used for when you are out of town and don't want to stop the mail. It has a locked door on the back which you can retrieve the mail later.

[outwest]

Quick look but how about one of these?

I am looking for a drop off box to put out in my drive that a customer can just come up and drop their envelope in the chute. I have looked on line and have not found any that seem large enough for large envelopes and then give space in the belly to hold and protect from the elements. Any help would be appreciated.

http://www.steelmailbox.com/#vandal

[oceanlovin'ea]

mail box outside my office door

I put up (my husband put it up) a mail box that hangs on the wall outside my office door. It is inside a screen porch so it doesn't get rained on. My clients put things in there for me. It is just an average size.
But there is a cabinet below it that they could put something on top of and I would see it there.

Linda, EA

[rgtaxservice]

....

I had one built about ten years ago. It's about the size of a post office mail box - 2' x 2 ' x 3'. The top compartment has a slanted lid (for rain to drip) that holds 9x12 envelopes for a client's documents to fit. It also has a few sharpies so clients can write name/phone on the envelope label (remove the labels so you can reuse envelopes). Clients then place the envelope thru a 1" x 13" slot in the front of the box that leads into a second lower comparment. This compartment is sealed except for a padlocked side door at the base of the box. The entire unit is discretly chained/padlocked to the banister to prevent theft.

My descriptoin does this box no justice. It's a functional work of art. It was constructed by 3/4" plywood and has been painted twice. Over 70% of my clients use the dropbox so it's a real time saver. It cost me $50 in materials plus labor.

As for the labor, when asked what I owed the guy that built it, he replied "Ehh, is $10 too much?"

A dropped another $50 bill into his hand and told him not be afraid to charge what he's worth.

[photoman]

Thanks for all the suggestions. This gives me plenty of ideas to work with

[kpangelinan]

I got mine a few years back at Lowe's. It has a slot at the top front and is deep and narrow enough that a hand cannot reach into it. The front door locks and lets down to remove the papers. I have it on the outside wall next to my office door, and all my clients know to raise the flag when they put something in. It works really well.

I have the exact same one and it's been working well.....as someone said, it can't hold some huge files that are over several inches thick, but has worked for the majority of my clients and again, as mentioned earlier, the slot is narrow enough where one can't get their hand in it.

I would like a bigger one though and may have one of my carpenters make one for me.