Friday, July 24, 2020 – Unusual Mailboxes

Mary Reed
Jul 24, 2020
4 min read

I walk in a neighborhood with houses surrounding a golf course. I’m sure the views from their backyards are spectacular. Residents here must be huge fans of the game of golf. This is the target audience that my nephew Chad — who is a producer for the Golf Channel — lives for. So, it is no surprise when I see a mailbox shaped like a golf ball on a tee. In fact, I saw another mailbox just like it a few streets away.

According to Šarūnė Bar’s article “71 Times People Took Their Mailboxes to the Next Level” in Bored Panda, below are some examples of very unusual mailboxes.

The small robot is a replica of Bender Bending Rodríguez, designated in-universe as Bending Unit 22, unit number 1,729, serial number 2716057, born 2996, according to Wikipedia. It is one of the main characters in the animated television series “Futurama.” He was conceived by the series' creators Matt Groening and David X. Cohen, and is voiced by John DiMaggio. In this mailbox, there is a mail slot where the eyes should be, and you open up the stomach hatch to get the mail.

From the talented hands of a woodcarver.

Octopus mailbox — notice camera on top. Don’t know if it is to keep people from messing with the mail or the octopus.

Comments from Bored Panda:

Jacque Costeau, eat your heart out!!

How do you tickle an octopus? With ten-tickles.

Why won’t fish play basketball? They’re afraid of the net.

Bindi Irwin lives here?

So, that’s where the octopus’s garden is. (Beatles song – see video of Ringo Starr below.)

Manatee mailbox dressed for the season. Bored Panda comment: Oh, the humanatee!!!

Bored Panda comments:

Nailed it!

No more bills!

It seems to be a woman’s hand, so do you suppose it’s a “male” box?

9-Inch Nails

According to Wikipedia, TARDIS — "Time And Relative Dimension In Space" — is a fictional time machine and spacecraft that appears in the British science fiction television series “Doctor Who” and its various spin-offs.

The TV show “Doctor Who” mainly features a single TARDIS used by the central character the Doctor. However, in the series other TARDISes are sometimes seen or used. The Doctor's TARDIS has many peculiar features, notably due to its age and personality. While other TARDISes have the ability to change their appearance in order to blend in with their surroundings, the Doctor's always resembles a police box because its chameleon circuit is broken. However, in the new series — since 2005 — a perception filter is used to make the TARDIS blend in with the surroundings, so that it is often ignored by passersby. While the exterior is of limited size, the TARDIS is much bigger on the inside, containing an infinite number of rooms, corridors and storage spaces including several squash courts, a pool, a library and much more.

“Doctor Who” has become so much a part of British popular culture that the shape of the police box has become associated with the TARDIS rather than with its real-world inspiration. The name TARDIS is a registered trademark of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The police box design has also been registered as a trademark by the BBC, despite the design having been created by the Metropolitan Police. The word TARDIS is listed in the Oxford English Dictionary.

Bored Panda comments:

Are there letters from 1789 in there?

It’s bigger on the inside…

If this disappeared one day, he’d have no one to blame. The TARDIS is a sentient being.

Matching your mailbox to your car.

You don’t have to deal with them, if you can’t reach them.

Bored Panda comments:

Is this what they meant by taxes keep on rising?

Seem like an appropriate level of separation.

I’m picturing a mail carrier leaping around to reach it.

According to starwars.com, the All-Terrain Armored Transport or AT-AT walker, is a four-legged transport and combat vehicle used by the Imperial ground forces. Standing over 20 meters tall with blast-impervious armor plating, these massive constructs are used as much for psychological effect as they are for tactical advantage.

Bored Panda comments:

The Force is strong in this mailbox!

Does it become a real AT-AT when Imperial forces arrive?

I wonder if the mail carrier feels weird putting the mail in the butt?

Bored Panda comments:

You can’t have it; it’s mine!

Looks like my cat with something stuck between her teeth.

If I don’t like what you’re putting in there…I’ll eat you.

Bored Panda comments:

I always wanted to “nuke” my bills. This dude can actually DO IT!

Just switched over to Hotmail.

Recycle. Reuse. Refuse.

When life gives you snow, build a snowman for your mailbox!

Bored Panda comments:

He looks hungry. Give him a carrot.

Maaaaaa!!!

Calvin and Hobbes snowman scene!

Now, open wiiiiiiiiiiide!!!

The local fire department’s mailbox is art.

Bored Panda comments:

They should add a dalmatian dog peeing on it.

Chain(saw)mail.

Is this where Ashy Slashy lives?

Bored Panda comments:

Mail-books!

Belong to a library?

Nooooooo, my books out in the rain. Wahwahahaha, yeah I know I’m a wuss, but myyyyy boooooks.

George R. R. Martin’s actual mailbox. He wrote a series of epic fantasy novels “A Song of Ice and Fire,” which were adapted into the HBO series “Game of Thrones.”

Bored Panda comments:

How to make your bills a-fort-able.

I would be tempted to make a “bill” mailbox that looks like a trash can.