We needed a secure, larger mail/parcel box to take/hold deliveries at our rural location - but this product is also suitable for urban/suburban applications. It must be bolted down securely for security and safety.

We experienced NONE of the manufacturing defect or product issues that a few reviewers experienced. Note: This box was purchased in late 2017 and just installed (Apr 2019) concurrent with a new driveway apron/culvert replacement project. This product is made from cast and/or rolled aluminum, and steel.

Our Installation/Modifications:

We installed the Elephant trunk parcel drop on a 16 inch tall aluminum mailbox pedestal to raise the bottom of door opening to 42 inches above grade/ground/road (pls see USPS guidelines below). We relocated the flag from our prior mailbox to the Elephant Trunk as this product does NOT include a mail pickup flag. Please see Amazon links below for the pedestal we used/adapted, and a new flag you can purchase if you need one.

*** The height range required for USPS rural mail carriers [bottom of rural mailboxes can be a) no lower than 41 inches, and b) no higher than 45 inches from ground level]***

All new hardware or relocated hardware was spray-painted a matte brown to match the new Elephant Trump product.

Our Mounting Requirements:

We purchased a four foot long threaded rod (and three bolts (one for mounting and two for fender bolt anchor to imbed in concrete), and one fender washer for it) and four ½ inch diameter foundation "J-bolts" which we all embedded in the concrete support pad for the pedestal for the Elephant Trunk box.

We passed the threaded rod through the center of the pedestal in the existing holes and bolted it into the center base hole of the Elephant Trunk, in place of the included ground level mounting bolt/threaded hand knob (which includes a concrete mounting anchor if you need it, we did not use this and the threaded handle knob did not match up to out threaded rod. ).

We also cut and painted four spacers from 1" PVC schedule 40 pipe, and bought 4 extended nuts and bolts to mount the pedestal to four holes we drilled in the recessed bottom areas of the Elephant Trunk (because it has a downward protruding base center for the center threaded ground mounting bolt/rod).

Amazon sourced 16 inch tall pedestal - Salsbury Industries 4395BLK Standard Pedestal Bolt Mounted for Mail Package Drop, Black
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ATXCA06/ref=oh_aui_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Possible Amazon sourced mail pickup flag if you need one:
https://www.amazon.com/Heavy-Duty-Steel-Mailbox-Replacement/dp/B00IS87EDC/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=Heavy-Duty-Steel-Mailbox-Replacement+mailbox+flag&qid=1554762463&s=gateway&sr=8-2

First, it's definitely not as big as you may think it is.

It will accept an average sized Amazon box (11x 14x9), the kind you can carry under your arm or in one hand, anything bigger will not fit.

Getting it secured to the ground was another story. Not sure if it was the type on concrete I used or the cold but the bolt that is supposed to be put into the supporting structure (concrete or wood) would not stay in the concrete. 24 hours after installing and letting the concrete harden you could pull it out with no effort. Will try again when the weather gets warmer with mortar mix and a deeper base (I went 2 inches).

I painted the top of my box to match the house siding to conceal it a bit (guess I won't be returning it), won't stand out as much as white against a light green backing and it's in the corner.

As some have said before getting the key into the lock is tight, you would feel either the key is upside down or it is the wrong key. Go slow and it will fit. I ended up lubing the key with WD-40 and running it in and out a few time to lube the cylinders. Now very smooth.

Overall I like the box though I do wish it took bigger boxes. Sometimes you order a lot of stuff or the shipper uses the biggest box they have just because. So far we've had 2 snow storms (6" each) and it appears to be holding up.

Getting the carriers to use it will take time. I told my USPS carrier (he was the one to deliver it) the next day that it was installed and to drop any packages in it, he said okay and the day after that he left a box that would fit on the steps (shrug). I told the regular FedEx driver so we'll see what happens when I get another delivery. Haven't told UPS yet, will if I see him.

It's hard to get people to go with new changes, even if it just a new drop box.

For the price, it fits my needs for clients to drop off packets. Very sturdy. I was skeptical upon purchasing it. This product saved me over $1000 to have a slot built into my garage! Best of all, didn't have to cut into my home and garage structure and I can move it at any time.!

For the price this thing is hard to beat. The instructions say that this is for parcels only and not for letters etc., but for us it's our new rural mailbox for all mail items, and it's been working great for that.

Lubed the lock (including the keyhole) and related moving parts with some good garage door lube since it's not a heavy duty mechanism as others have pointed out. Will probably do that every few months for good measure.

There are some small holes on the bottom near each of the leg holes, and also by the center bolt hole, that may be there for drainage, but they look like they might be causing some of the moisture issues that some people have run into and may give us problems with snow if nothing else, so I filled them with silicone. Also put some silicone in all of the bottom corners, even though the outside of that part of the box looks to be sealed well. Still need to run some silicone around the leg bolts/holes inside on the bottom. The rest of the box looks pretty watertight, but I might line the bottom-door frame with some thin sticky-backed window/door insulation strips just in case, provided I can do it without hindering the closing/locking of the door. Maybe the people who have complained about moisture get sideways rainstorms that spray water in from the top drawer or something, but we luckily don't get that kind of weather very often.

Also put some threadlock on the handle screws to keep them from loosening.

This is a review of Architectural Mailboxes 6900RZ Elephant Trunk mailbox. I think my home has a neon sign on it that says "Please, come steal from me". Seriously, my home has been robbed (safe, jewelry etc taken), packages stolen from my front door (I know this because the police came to my door with packages addressed to me they found in a stolen car!!), and now, my mail has been stolen and the thief tried to deposit a check (luckily the bank caught on and stopped it). Because of this new mail theft, I had to change my mail delivery situation. My home was built in the 70's and had a brick column with a simple large metal mailbox in it. I went on a search for a locking mailbox. I wanted dark brown/bronze, preferably one piece, something other than the ordinary square box on a pole, and it had to hold a lot of mail and soft packages. It also needed to work with my homes modern/transitional style. I did not worry about having boxes fit in it. When the police brought back my packages, they suggested I put a box at my front door for deliveries. I found my box on amazon.com Suncast storage side table. SSW1200. That has worked like a charm, and so has this mailbox!!!! I knew the mailbox change could be a huge pain in my fanny, but it has been one of the easiest, fastest, most satisfying projects I have ever done. True perfection!! I hired a man to demo the old brick column. He then ground down the old cement support at the bottom of the demo work, and poured a new concrete pad. By the time it dried, the elephant trunk mailbox was delivered. May I just say a big YAHOO for Prime! The whole project was complete in 48 hours from the time
of the theft. Could not have done it without amazon.com and this mailbox! It came in a large box and was in great condition. I did make one adjustment. Because of the rolling drum (it is like the package drop off at the post office), there isn't a place to put outgoing mail. So I found, on amazon.com of course, a heavy duty plastic pouch (Wilson Jones Clear Tabbed Envelope W61070), cut the top down, used Gorilla Tape (no girl should be without it), and taped it with the open side toward the front of the pull down. Totally fixed the problem. Got the mailman's seal of approval, and he LOVES the mailbox too!