Sometimes there are little things that really bother you when you have to live with them every day, and this is absolutely one of them. Being a part of a family where our average height is comparable to that of a fully-grown giraffe, those little things are sometimes a big deal.
In my neighborhood we aren’t allowed to have mailboxes on the street, and they have to be located at the easiest accessible place on the house. For many of the homes in my neighborhood that would be the garage door, as my house is set up. That means I have one of two options for mail delivery
- Let the mail fall onto the garage floor and hope the PA winter road soup hasn’t pooled where the mail lands.
- Catch the mail using some sort of a garage door mounted system.
The previous owners decided (correctly) to take option two. Much to my surprise, products made for this purpose are rare, and the few that do exist are quite expensive or bulky…
- Snail Sakk – $40
- Snail Sakk (Suede) – $45
- Rubbermaid Mesh Basket – $20
- PCI Garage Door Mailbag – $40
- Gladiator GarageWorks – $25
The previous owners opted to bolt a plastic Tupperware brand basket to the back side of the garage door. This is a really common solution, but being tall and having a rigid basket in a walkway meant that if the door was up, you either had to duck or split your head open on the corners.
I decided that I wanted something cheap and soft, which didn’t exist, so I would make my own. My father had leftover vinyl from reupholstering chairs and a bunch of Velcro. I decided to take the fabric and stitch it into a pouch with a flap at the top. I reinforced the corners so it would last longer, and then stuck the Velcro in place and also stitched that so it was sure to stay in place. I designed this so it would stick above the mail slot and redirect the mail down into the pouch, and the bottom of the pouch sticks below the mail slot to keep mail from missing the opening.
I have had this up for about a month now and haven’t had one problem with it. Usually the coupon papers would be too big for the old basket and would jam up in the mail slot, since I have installed this I have not had mail crumpled through the slot once and get jammed up in a ball!
If you check the gallery below you can see how it is installed and can also see what it looks like when there is mail in it. The pouch is so thin it is never in the way, and when the door is up you can still duck under it, but if you forget your head will remain intact. That is usually a goal I strive for.
