Re-energize yourself, your crew, consumers and, ultimately, the housing market by investing in a renovation project or facelift. It’s amazing what a new coat of paint and some repairs can do to improve the visual look-and-feel of an existing property. It’s “feng-shui” for the soul! Giving tenants a higher quality of living gives them a reason to make higher quality, status-based purchases in other areas; encouraging spending and driving the economy back up. A makeover for a community can do so much to inspire the positive attitudes of those affected.

The Hudson Dockett community in Valdosta, Georgia, is doing just that: Receiving a facelift of $1.4 million, the makeover features a completely remodeled and expanded community center, and an updated look for the housing units with new color schemes, roofs, patios, etc., all aimed at building a stronger, more satisfied community. Check out what they doing, and see if you can’t spot your favorite vario^TM Florence mail shelter:

“Hudson Dockett Getting a Makeover” by Johnna Pinholster, Valdosta Daily Times. Photography by Jonathan Chick.

It seems to be all about the web around here this month. . .which may be unusual coming from a manufacturing company I know. . .but we’ve had a lot of fun doing it and I just couldn’t keep it all to myself!

As you saw last week, we are no longer just dipping our big toe in the social media pool, but rather we have jumped in head first to the likes of FaceBook, Twitter, and coming soon UTube and Flicker, too! (Forgive all the cool pool references – it’s been really hot here in Kansas lately!) As exciting as social media is all by itself, I’m even more pleased to tell you about some recent cool changes to our main website.

Why does that matter, you say?

Many of the new features we have included came directly from your input. . .thank you very much!. . .and I couldn’t help but brag and share what cool things we have come up with together. So, drum roll please, introducing the. . .

Top 8 Cool New Features of florencemailboxes.com:

(Why eight? Because it is the eighth month of course!)

1. An enhanced member profile tool so you can now update your information quickly and easily;
2. a brand new order history tracking tool so you always know the status of your online order and where it is in production;
3. freight tracking numbers at your finger tips for your online order with links to the carrier website so you can see where in the country your order is at that moment;
4. the Stay Connected Tab so you can quickly find links to follow and talk to us;
5. expanded Custom Product Pricing to help you quickly get a quote on your unique job or product options for one of our Authorized Florence Dealers;
6. to help you find exactly what you are looking for, more detailed product search capabilities on the site;
7. for our media friends, a newly expanded newsroom. . .and. . .
8. oh yeah, a few new products to boot, too! (Check out the What’s New tab for details)

 We hope you are as excited about these enhancements as we are – especially since they came from your ideas in the first place. So keep the hot ideas coming, whether it is for another new product, a new feature, or a new way to communicate with you – we want to hear all about it.

Until next week – stay cool!

• First, we want to be relationship-centric

 We’ll admit it; there’s a method to this social media madness. We have a plan – a plan to make friends and colleagues with those who use Florence products or gain knowledge from our website. We want to be the first people that you think of when you think ‘mailboxes’. And from that last sentence comes two very key things:

1) Note the word “people”, not “company” in that sentence. At Florence, we believe we offer more than a mailbox, we offer a team of fantastic people – people who are worth getting to know and building relationships with. Like Tami Velasco, fashion accessory guru and mother by night, customer service manager by day. Or Curtis Johnson, our resident Florence “Network Protector” and avid fisherman. And of course Mike Molt, our product designer extraordinaire who also builds the most fantastic model airplanes – one of which I used to take aerial photos of our building this past Fall! Social media is an opportunity to give a face to an organization or name. And let’s face it, by offering faces to go along with our corporate identity (check out our photos on our web page), we hope to be more approachable and interesting to talk to; because who really wants to talk to just an email address??! Yes, we still think mailboxes are pretty cool (for who hasn’t stopped their family vacation and made them turn around so you could take a picture of that really cool installation that just went by?!) but we like other things, too! We want to share these likes, as well as find out what you, our customers like, in order to more effectively deliver the products and services you want and need in your every day lives.

2) Who do you go to when you need advice? Friends. Those whose opinions you trust and value. We believe that if we provide relevant industry knowledge and tips, we can help you get the most out of your centralized mail delivery systems. Hopefully the content we deliver is useful, and you’ll come back time and time again. And if you come back, we hope you will want to talk with us as well; because by building a strong relationship together, when you do have a question, comment or problem with centralized mail or related products, you’ll know you have a friend in the mailbox business (US!) who will help you along the way.

• The second reason may surprise you: it’s not because it’s trendy!

Too many people and companies are getting caught up in the social epidemic simply because “everyone else is doing it”. While it’s important not to be left out, it’s more important to realize the significance of you/your company’s actions – something we’ve learned well in our 76 years of existence. We believe that social media is about a better way to communicate because it allows a real-time and instantaneous flow of information. Social media feeds users up-to-date information, accessible at their own convenience; and it allows for more informal communication which generates a stronger relationship between customers and brands.

• And the third reason is to get feedback!

 This whole social media initiative is useless if you don’t respond! We want to improve the customer service status quo. You are worth something to us! Help us out by keeping us accountable in the quality of service and product you receive and we’ll help you have an easier, more flawless customer experience, saving you time and money in your projects. It’s a win-win situation! We’re only in this business because of the needs of our customers. Because of that, it’s important that we learn from you what works and what doesn’t. Visit our new Twitter feeds or post comments on Blog updates to let us know what we should be doing differently to better deliver upon your needs. Every thought counts! 

Those are the three reasons why we are jumping back onto this “bandwagon”. I can’t promise we will always post something at the exact same time every week – but I can promise that we will communicate as openly as we possibly can. So let us know what you think, because I can’t wait to hear back from you because to me. . .Mailboxes Matter!

Donna Logback (marketing manager and amateur photographer)

These multi-family residences and tall office buildings required new ways to collect and distribute the mail. So, the USPS created guidelines which dictated the specification of wall-mounted vertical or horizontal mailboxes in these settings.

To represent the various levels of “approval” by the USPS, these wall-mounted mailboxes were “rated”. The original vertical and horizontal type boxes were rated STD-4B and related to specific form factors and security levels of the mailbox. Eventually, a newer STD-4B+ regulation increased the security of these types of mailboxes. Then, after more than 30 years of the same regulation, the first changes to “apartment style” mailboxes were introduced in 2004.

This new regulation, STD-4C, replaces all previous regulations for mailboxes such as this which were previously approved under STD-4B and STD-4B+. (Full details of the USPS STD-4C specification are published in the Federal Register.

The STANDARD-4C (or simply STD-4C) is the current USPS regulation for any wall-mounted mailbox. This regulation came into full effect as of October 5, 2006. USPS STD-4C compliant mailboxes are now required for all new construction, and major renovations. 

However, if residents would like to increase the security of their existing STD-4B products without doing a complete mailbox replacement, some manufacturers like Florence Manufacturing offer a STD-4B+ security upgrade kit for their existing mailbox products. While not able to fully bring the security up to the new STD-4C standards, these upgrade kits will enhance the security of the existing STD-4B box by hardening the arrow lock master door; typically the most vulnerable portion of older mailboxes.

The good news is that the STD-4C rules which govern design layout and installation are the same for both inside and outside applications. That means it applies to any centralized, wall-mounted mailboxes…whether located inside an office or condo high-rise, or within a new single-family subdivision as an outdoor centralized mailbox kiosk.

But be sure and remember that 4C mailboxes are much larger than their predecessor mailboxes to accommodate today’s mail size — taking nearly three times the space of any previous wall-mounted designs. So, don’t forget to include adequate space for not only the mailboxes themselves – but for sufficient maneuvering space around the mailboxes for customer mail retrieval and USPS mail loading as well.

New 4C mailboxes and cluster box units are commonly referred to as centralized mail delivery equipment – which can be in the form of any “clustered” type mailbox – including free-standing, pedestal-mounted cluster box unit (CBU), or other cluster mailboxes mounted in a wall, kiosk, or shelter.

We’ll talk more about centralized mail delivery and its benefits next week. Until that time, have a great week!

Mail delivery can be traced back to its system founder and first Postmaster, Benjamin Franklin. Since that time, the amount of new mail delivery points have steadily increased from year to year to its present estimate of 1.2 million NEW delivery points a year.

Part of the change in mail delivery can be traced to the changes in transportation over the years (horseback, dog sled, train, car, plane, etc). And, as delivery territories have grown, so has the need for more efficient delivery techniques. For instance, during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, letter carriers knocked on the door and waited patiently for someone to answer. Efficiency experts estimated that each carrier lost an hour and a half each day just waiting for patrons to come to the door. (Something we can hardly imagine today!)

To gain back those precious hours, in 1923 the Post Office Department mandated that every household have a mailbox or letter slot to receive mail. By the 1930, as a convenience to customers living on the margins of a city, letter carriers began delivering to customers with “suitable boxes at the curb line.” Multiple receptacles appeared, but with no regulation.

In the ensuing decades American suburbanization, which exploded in the 1950s, brought an increase in curbside mailboxes. The Post Office Department first introduced curbside cluster boxes in 1967. Then, by 2001, the US Postal Service (USPS) was approving locking mailbox designs to help customers protect their mail. Neighborhood Delivery Collection Box Units (NDCBUs) were the predecessor to today’s cluster box units and had multiple compartments for the centralized delivery of mail to the residents of a building or an entire neighborhood – instead of door-to-door or curbside delivery. These NDCBUs morphed into the “E” series cluster box units (CBU).

New cluster box unit (CBU) specifications were then developed in 2005 and became the standard for ALL manufacturers. Only manufacturers who are approved by the USPS may produce the new “F” series CBU. The USPS began to officially license this new standard in 2007 – which continues today. Now manufacturers must be approved AND licensed in order to manufacture the four types of CBU.

Because the newer USPS compliant mailboxes are much larger than their predecessor mailboxes, it is vital that adequate space for the mailboxes themselves – as well as sufficient maneuvering space around the mailboxes for customer mail retrieval and USPS mail loading – be provided. It is now critical to address the outdoor ‘common space’ that this new centralized mail delivery equipment will require and hence the importance of community planning.

There are more to mailboxes than you might think; something we will continue to look at every week. Until then, keep sending your favorite mailbox story as we begin to build our Top Ten list!

 Have a great week.

We discussed new postal regulations in last week’s blog posting which have changed the security level and form function of mailboxes; but what exactly does that include?

Put quite simply, it is a much more secure mailbox. The USPS Std-4C specification created a new form factor and increased the minimum size requirement (12”W x 15”D x 3”H); completely eliminating the vertical form factor (5”W x 6”D x 15”H). Std-4C also requires that one parcel locker per every ten tenant compartments be available for larger deliveries. In addition, the security features and lock design requirements are more stringent, which includes mandatory security testing by the USPS.

Some manufacturers, like Florence, have even taken this a step further by beefing up the collection doors to prevent break-ins; giving the master loading doors an interlocking, overlapping seam and utilizing a one piece extruded hinge to prevent prying; and using a double-latching parcel locking mechanism for added door security.

The USPS then rigorously tests each mailbox and once approved, a manufacturer can label the box as USPS Approved. A complete listing of approved manufacturers and their approved mailboxes are reviewed on an annual basis and can be found on the USPS website or in their regularly published Postal Bulletins.

Bet you never thought there was so much to know about mailboxes! Let me know what your favorite thing to receive in the mail is and we’ll put together a Top Ten list! Until then, have a great week!

Commonly known as STD-4C, this regulation replaces all previous regulations for mailboxes which were approved under STD-4B or STD-4B+ and requires STD-4C (or simply 4C) compliant mailboxes for all new construction and major renovations.

(I know, regulations can be dry and boring, but I wanted to make sure you knew what to expect!) The STD-4C installation requirements include:

• At least one customer compartment shall be positioned less than 48 inches from the finished floor.
• No parcel locker compartment (interior bottom shelf) shall be positioned less than 15 inches from the finished floor.
• No patron (tenant) lock shall be located more than 67 inches above the finished floor.
• No customer compartment (interior bottom shelf) shall be positioned less than 28 inches from the finished floor.
• The USPS Arrow lock shall be located between 36 and 48 inches above the finished floor.

That being said, if you are remodeling an existing mailbox installation and do not plan to disturb the wall the mailboxes are already mounted in, then replacing old mailboxes with a product similar in style, or adding security kits to existing boxes is typically acceptable. Any adjustment to the rough opening in the wall however, will require the new 4C compliant mailboxes, so be sure to check with your local Postmaster or Postal Growth Coordinator to determine mailbox requirements for your specific renovation/replacement project if there is any question related to compliance.

New 4C mailbox equipment provides a simple, easy-to-use ‘pre-configured’ suite of mailboxes which are all designed to meet or exceed every security requirement of the USPS STD-4C regulation for wall-mounted mail receptacles – making it easy to pick just want you need for your project. Next week, if you are interested, I’ll share with you the details that make up this new equipment and how it differs from the old equipment. Until then, keeping sending me your mailbox photos and stories so we can share with everyone.

Have a great week!

Take a CBU for instance. . .this often used term may not have much meaning if you are looking for a new neighborhood mailbox – you just know you need a new unit that the USPS (US Postal Service – another well used term!) will approve so you can get your mail. So what is it anyway? Well, a cluster box unit (CBU) is a free-standing, pedestal mounted cluster of mailboxes with a long and varied past.

The first curbside cluster box units were introduced in 1967. Since that time, they have gone through several transitions in material – from plastic to steel to aluminum; design, and feature offers. For instance, the first locking feature didn’t appear until 2001 – known as the NDCBU (Neighborhood Delivery Collection Box Unit), these units are no longer acceptable for new installations. 

The current USPS Approved CBU is often referred to as the “F series”. This cluster unit was originally designed and engineered by Florence Manufacturing and is now the design standard for all commercial CBU’s manufactured in the United States. In 2007, the USPS began to officially license this design and only manufacturers who are approved and licensed may offer the F Series CBU. This design not only includes multiple compartments for residents, but also incorporates a parcel locker and an outgoing mail slot for residents’ convenience.

Today, many communities such as Las Vegas and Denver require that all new neighborhoods install centralized mail delivery equipment such as the CBU. So be sure to check with your local postal officials to ensure you are installing the correct mailbox as you don’t want to disrupt your mail delivery.

Have a great image of a CBU in your neighborhood or a story about getting your mail over the years? Be sure and post your comments and/or pictures so we can share with everyone.

Have a great week!