Custom Mailboxes and How They Reflect Your Style

!±8± Custom Mailboxes and How They Reflect Your Style

I think being a mail carrier has to be one of the most boring professions there is. I mean, you drive around by yourself with stacks of other people's mail. Stop at the mailbox, open the flap, put in the mail, close the flap, drive off, and repeat. I think I would go crazy after just one day!

So it makes me wonder, is that why some people put up bazaar mailboxes? Don't get me wrong I'm all for personalized mailboxes. I have on more than one occasion put my last name and house number on my box. And I have secretly longed for one of those fancy brick numbers that are not only lovely to look at, but also very functional. I mean they are practically indestructible!

Personalization is one thing. I can handle the family name mounted or painted in a pretty font. I can even tolerate some decorative elements such as birds, flowers, or even a favorite sports team. But I draw the line at larger than life animal statues that make you stop and wonder, "What were they thinking?!"

For example, in a neighboring city there is very nice house located on the gulf of Mexico, and stationed prominently by the road sits an almost-life-sized mother manatee holding a mailbox. Now this in itself is bad enough, but it just doesn't stop there. Down toward the mother manatee's tail there "swims" a sweet little baby manatee. But it's not swimming with momma, no it looks as if it is nursing! Now I know that it is not actually nursing, because manatees nurse their babies from a gland under their armpits. But if you didn't know this little tidbit of useless trivia, you would probably think that this interesting mailbox features a nursing baby manatee! I wonder what goes through the mail carriers head!

This is not the only artistic mailbox out there. There are websites dedicated to nothing but ugly mailboxes. I found pictures of mailboxes featuring sculpted pelicans, ketchup bottles, swimming fish, and even Mickey Mouse. The artistic endeavors didn't end with the mailbox, some home owners got creative with the mailbox post, using anything from rims, to scrap metal, to old tree limbs.

So I guess if you want to stand out in your neighborhood, just think about getting or making personalized mailboxes. And remember, the sky's the limit