Apartment Mailboxes Location, Size & Security Help in Attracting and Retaining Tenants

For new construction of residential apartment complexes, tenant conveniences and amenities like multi-unit apartment mailboxes matter significantly in both attracting tenants and improving tenant retention rates.

Choosing residential apartment mailboxes can be one of the most crucial decisions that architects, developers and apartment management teams must make, so here are some things to consider, courtesy of The MailboxWorks, the nation’s leading supplier of apartment mailboxes.

3 Key Things to Consider when Buying Apartment Mailboxes

UPDATE: 4C Pedestal Mailboxes have been discontinued as of November 30, 2020. The USPS Cluster Box Unit (CBU) Mailbox is now the standard for all multi-family mail delivery.

In the eyes of one’s tenants, apartment building mailboxes (also referred to as apartment cluster mailboxes) are simply one of the most utilized amenities in the apartment complex. After all, mailboxes are on the short list of amenities that are utilized at least six of every seven days, each week of the year.

Whether it’s indoor recessed or wall mounted, surface apartment mailboxes, or free standing exterior apartment mailboxes, given their prominence and utility on the property, they require careful consideration in three key areas, or the management team risks turning high impact amenities into irritating drawbacks for their property.

Thus, in all architectural drawings and developer plans, one must consider these three important factors to ensure their investment in apartment mailboxes is fully maximized.

1. Mailbox Security
2. Mailbox Placement
3. Mailbox Sizes

Secure Apartment Mailboxes

Above all else, security is the first key consideration regarding residential apartment mailboxes (and even commercial apartment mailboxes for that matter).

Many apartment tenants, especially single persons who live alone or the elderly, find that retrieving their mail to be an especially daunting task when it comes to risk. After all, how better to make yourself a target than to pick up incoming mail (that could possibly be checks or mail-order packages) and then try to return to your apartment safely.

When architects, developers, and property managers take the time to consider how to provide secure apartment mailboxes, tenants whose term may be over just might think twice about relocating for a better lease rate with a competitor, especially when they consider how safe they feel at their current apartment.

For added measure, some property managers have even mounted security cameras and signs near their apartment mailboxes, indicating the cameras are operative 24 hours per day.  Security cameras are a great investment, even with secure apartment mailboxes, and help to give tenants a much stronger sense of safety and security.

Additionally, property managers have discovered that the residential apartment mailbox installation, the way the mailboxes are grouped, also makes a difference in their tenant’s perception of security.

When apartment mailboxes are placed in a single “U” shape, or parallel to each other, or in such a way that there is a line of sight from any tenant’s mailbox to the rest of the apartment mailboxes, the perception of security rises sharply.

But when apartment mailboxes are grouped in such a way where alcoves and hidden areas are evident, tenants perceive those mailbox groupings as less safe and they feel more vulnerable to potential threats to their safety.

For property managers who are seeking enhanced secure mailboxes, high security apartment mailboxes such as the high security CBU mailboxes, can be specified for their property. These high security CBU apartment mailboxes work well for outdoor apartment mailbox applications and are crafted of heavy gauge steel with reinforced tenant doors to thwart vandals and would-be mail thieves.

Interior or Exterior Apartment Mailboxes

The second consideration regarding apartment mailbox installation is placement on one’s property.

As with security concerns, the architect or developer should keep in mind the convenience factors to their apartment tenants and prioritize those factors over the build-out costs. Simply put, higher tenant retention over the life of the property will nearly always outpace most one-time build-out costs.

So the real question is this – In the eyes of your tenants, what is the safest and most convenient location to consider when it comes to apartment mailbox installation?

Many developers discover the most convenient mailbox location for their tenants is most often between the property entry point (front door, tenant parking spot, main elevators, etc.) and the tenant’s apartment.

The challenge then is to locate the apartment mailboxes in such a way that they are along the pathway for each tenant. This can be a difficult task since the tenants may live in various directions along that path.

Often architects must make the decision to decentralize the typical centrally located apartment mailboxes to improve the convenience of this key amenity for their tenants. And it is crucial for tenant retention that the mailbox placement not only provides a convenience to one’s tenants but also opportunities for tenants to engage each other socially as they gather their mail. After all, when one helps their tenants to develop strong friendships, the up side is a distinct rise in tenant retention.

How to Pick Apartment Mailbox Sizes

The third and final key consideration regarding new apartment mailbox installations is yet another tenant convenience item: the size of each tenant’s mailbox.

With the socio-technological shift to mail-order delivery of many items that used to be purchased in neighborhood stores, many tenants enjoy the newfound convenience of simply having everyday items delivered to their home and consider large apartment mailboxes a great asset.

Yet the size of one’s tenant mailbox can confound such a plan and as mail-order delivery continues to grow as a national trend, many tenants are making their selection of a condo or apartment based upon lifestyle factors such as this one.

Thus, architects and property managers might specifically request large apartment mailboxes in order to accommodate the growing needs of their tenants. They also might specify apartment mailboxes with secure parcel delivery drop boxes such as CBU apartment mailboxes.

Certainly, architects and developers will also consider other key aspects such as mailbox color selection and decorative mailbox accessories so that the apartment mailboxes will compliment the overall design of their complex.

Still, safety, location, and mailbox size are some of the most important key attributes that will significantly enhance your tenant attraction and retention rates. And, of course, it is always wise to confer with your postmaster to ensure that your choices comply with their local apartment mailbox regulations.

Categorized in: Commercial Mailboxes