Commercial Mailboxes

Commercial Mailboxes are Complicated

Your boss has delegated you to handle the purchase of the commercial mailboxes for the new multi-family building your company is currently building. The first reaction you have that this task should relatively easy and you will just go online and find a high security commercial mailbox and buy it. As you begin to do some research on commercial mailboxes you begin to learn about the different types of commercial mailboxes including cluster box units, horizontal mailboxes, 4C pedestal mailboxes, 4C horizontal mailboxes, and vertical mail receptacles. Now you have come to realize that the centralized mail receptacle industry might just be a little more complicated than you first anticipated.

Cluster Box Units & 4C Horizontal Mailboxes are USPS Approved

In an effort to achieve clarity you decide to pick up the phone and talk to USA Building Supplies, a commercial mailbox supplier and come away thankful that you called an informed company. The experienced representative begins to go through your commercial mailbox options one by one with giving you the pertinent details on each.  The representative starts off with the USPS Approved commercial mailboxes for new construction which are cluster box units and 4C horizontal mailboxes. F Series cluster box units are an outdoor pedestal mailbox which is currently the only USPS approved pedestal mailbox in the industry. Cluster box units come in preset configurations which cannot be modified per USPS regulations. Then the representative from USA Building Supplies moves on to the 4C horizontal mailboxes which are the USPS sanctioned centralized mail receptacle for wall installations. The 4C mailbox, about a decade ago replaced the outdated designed commercial mail receptacles commonly referred to as horizontal mailboxes and vertical mailboxes.  4C horizontal mailboxes were developed by a collaboration of industry manufacturers and associations along with the U.S. Postal Service. The primary reasons for the development of the high security 4C mailbox was to have larger resident doors sizes to more effectively accommodate today’s mail, incorporate parcel lockers into the mail receptacle cabinet configurations to better serve package customers, and to enhance security and durability of the receptacle.

Vertical & Horizontal Mailboxes Still Exist Today in the Marketplace

If vertical and horizontal mailboxes are no longer USPS certified why are they still offered by commercial mailbox suppliers? Horizontal and vertical mailboxes still have remained in the marketplace primarily due to the Postal Service granting them what is commonly called in the industry as USPS-4B+ certification. This classification allows these mailboxes to be used for replacement purposes. Both of these USPS-4B+ compliant commercial mailboxes are also used for private applications which do not involve USPS delivery of the mail directly into the receptacle. Horizontal mail receptacles garner a large portion of the private use receptacle market seeing as they are commonly used in college dormitories and private postal stores.

4C Pedestal Mailboxes are the New Kid on the Block

Recently, the 4C pedestal mailbox was introduced into the commercial mailbox marketplace. The 4C pedestal mailbox has been marketed to suppliers as an alternative to cluster box units; however there remains one sticking point. The USPS has yet grant USPS certification for 4C pedestal mailboxes because it is in direct competition with cluster boxes which the Postal Service has a manufacturing licensing agreement which it draws royalties from. However, it should be noted that 4C pedestal mailbox offers many more configuration options than the cluster box unit while providing significant security. Because of these reasons, many local postmasters do grant local postmaster approval to use the 4C pedestal mailbox in their area.  As this local approval trend continues, many in the industry wait to see if the USPS will ultimately grant certification to the 4C pedestal mailbox.

Contact the building supply experts at USA Building Supplies for more information on our full line commercial mailboxes and building accessories CALL 1.855-373-5381.