"Dave Liquorice" wrote in message
ll.com...
On Thu, 27 May 2004 23:18:35 +0100, Rachael of Nex, the Wiccan Rat
wrote:

... got an outside (metal lockable) letter box.

And a right PITA they are for anyone delivering anything other than DL
or C5 sized mail. Some won't even take a C4 envelope without folding
it in half and of course anything more than about 1/2" thick won't fit
either so a Size 5 Jiffy bag is also a tight squeeze.

Mine takes most jiffy bags (I've had enough from ebay to know ;-) ) - it's a
biggun. But parcels wouldn't have gone through the in-door letter box
either. But then, I do have a doorbell and I know my postie by name so, all
angles covered as best they can be there. My postie seems to have the art of
slipping things into that letter box that I wouldn't have believed would go
in !


I sympathise with the poisoned dog problem though, porches are handy
but also tend to have windows so the heap of mail on the mat can be
seen... A decent sized box on the back of the door (take note of
inflexable C4 jiffy bags) seems the only sensible solution unless you
keep the dog out the area with the door but that defeats the security
aspect.

As I said, my door won't support that because it's a glass door (I long to
replace it, believe me, but it would be expensive beyond my means at the
moment) and the letterbox is on the side of the frame, right below the door
lock. I didn't want to drill into the frame of the door - which is metal -
to mount the box on the door itself so the only solution seemed to hang the
box on the door jamb - which is made of wood. But then the box obscured the
opening of the door from outside. Which was obviously a problem.

I had a small box on the back of the door (which the posty just knocked off
if he couldn't make the letters fit - my bf used to be one and apparently
this used to be standard practise with posties) for a while and kept a baby
gate at the front room door when I went out (and went out of the back door,
which was a total pain in the arse) which meant the dog could see the door,
anyone at the door could see him (the front room door was at right angle to
the front door) should anyone break in he could vault the gate in half a
second to get them but he wouldn't have been able to get to anything put
into the box or knocked out of the box when he was behind the gate (and he
wouldn't vault the gate for anything put in the box - he wasn't that
bothered. He's a very choosy dog about what he eats too - to the point of
looking for approval from me if anyone offers him anything. I didn't train
him like that, he just is like that). I tried throwing stuff through the
letter box to see if I could get it to land over the gate next to the dog
but the angles were wrong and it's a very narrow letter box even for my
little hands. So I was happy with that.
I have two other dogs, one who stays in the kitchen when I'm out, and one
who has his own big crate to stay in when I go out (he's a pup of just over
a year and he is going through a destructive phase, so I crate him to save
my house from total destruction). So they weren't an issue here.
But then I had a few problems with a lady who was threatening and harrassing
me (now dealt with by the police and solicitors) and she threatened to put
unsavoury items through my letter box for the very purpose, we think (well,
we know, she just said it in a roundabout way), or hurting my dogs or
damaging my property. Petrol and other unpleasant things were mentioned. So
an outside letter box was purchased and anyone delivering anything that they
either won't ring the bell to fetch me for or happen to come when I'm out
will just have to take it back until I can collect it or dump it if they
really can't be arsed. Other than that they are SOOL I'm afraid. My dogs are
*far, far* more important than any mail I might miss by having the outside
box (it worth pointing out it is a criminal offence to "withold" mail if
you're a posty, afterall.)



Rachael