Mailbox cam?

[EGS]

Holyday season/Cristmas is approaching and mailbox teft is already ramping up. Yesterday my neighborhood got hit with almost all mailboxes doors/lids open and all of them got emptied. Some mailbox owners (myself one of them) harvested the box right after mail was delivered but those that didn't, lost their mail several hours later. I'm assuming the theft occurred overnight as one neighbor noticed and reported that a cluster of boxes an the rest he could see along the street where open and soon after more and more people claiming there was nothing on their boxes. Some didn't know if they got any mail delivered or not but at that point it was clear there was an act of crime going on.

Now my question is. Is there a camera designed for mailbox surveillance or has someone had created one of your own. It would be interesting to hear anyone's thoughts or ideas. I feel the need to do something about it and will have to come out with a solution.
I know there are mailbox alarms and in fact I have one of those wireless RadioShack that triggers the alarm when lid is open but it is activated by light sensor and that won't trigger at night since there is no nearby light sources.
Ideally I need to catch the thief in act so I can provide evidence to the authorities. Maybe a camera in an angle that is able to see vehicle and hopefully a plate #.
Also, will it be legal? Well, probably this particular question is for my local authority.

 

[kamkar]

I got a parcel a few days ago, with end delivery by Danish postal.
Normally they ring the door buzzer down below to save them the walk up the stairs if no one are home, also the street door are locket all the time, but this guy had just opened the door ( guess he have the code ) and then walked up to #2 floor and knocked on my door.
When i got the parcel he talked about the option of leaving it at my door ( when i questioned him why he had not used buzzer like others do ) i said i am not signed up for leaving parcels like that, as that would entail a trust in my fellow man that i just do not have in any way.
If no one are home they just put a notification in your mailbox to pick your parcel up at the mail office, and my mailbox are inside the locked door down at street level

I can see the problems Americans can get with porch pirates and mailbox pirates.

Some years ago the mailbox law,,,, or what ever stupid was changed so everyone had to put their mailbox at the street as the post man no longer have time to walk / drive to your door, so in rural places the mail box can be many 100 M from your house / farm.
And its the same with garbage bins, in the old days the bin men would pick them up in the bin room in the basement, but nowadays the janitor have to put them out but the street, cuz they sure as hell cant be bothered to get them where they was in the old days.
So where i grew up as a kid, the garbage bins are now in a little shelter by the road and god know what the old garbage bin room have become,,,,,, have to ask my sister as she now live in the same apartment block where i spent the first 12 y ears of my life.

Back then there was also a locked room in the basements for cycles / prams ASO, these are also in a shed in the yard now .
Some times the future / present day seem stupid to me.

 

[SawMaster]

HERE is a link to a video showing how to build a shock-sensing mailbox 'alarm'. There's another one on this guy's channel too. For identifying the thief I'd try for plate capture of their vehicle and an IR-equipped cam set back from the mailbox but zoomed in on where their face will be. A cam inside the box won;t get a face if they're not at it's level, but for a rural-type box it would be easy to duct-tape a Mobius to the inside top of the box toward the rear and running the cable through a hole drilled in the bottom to a powerbank which could also power a small IR LED hidden outside the box. If you can camoflage it, a trail or game cam is perfect for this kind of thing.

There are other illegal things you can do too but I won't speak of them here. Hope you catch the bastiges first night out

Phil

 

[EGS]

I live in a semi rural area where the mail boxes are out next to the road and mine is about about 150 ft away from the house. The alarm I have works fairly well to let me know the mailman had delivered my mail and I usually pick it up as soon as possible. Though there are rare days I'm not able to do that. I have a game camera that I have laying around. That would be a good start to see what I can do with it..

 

[EGS]

There are other illegal things you can do too but I won't speak of them here. Hope you catch the bastiges first night out

I wouldn't mind learning of those in private. They might not be illegal in my area ;-)

 

[kamkar]

Maybe a camera in some X mas stuff on the lawn or next to the mail box, but probably have to be a few feet from the main target area to have a chance of filming the person coming and going.

Rudolf with the red nose,,,,,,, and camera eye

 

[TonyM]

A nest box camera would let you see what's happening inside, but probably not capture much of anything useful on the outside.

A game or trail cam attached to a nearby tree or post might work.

 

[EGS]

My property frontage is fenced to keep my dogs from running the roads and the mailbox is about 10 ft from the fence. I think it would be easy enough to hide a camera in a small box just inside the fence pointing towards the mailbox and avoiding someone's house front from showing in the picture, so noone blames me for intentionally violating their privacy.
Now I just don't know if my game camera will be good enough but I will try that one first.

 

[Velvetfoot]

Nice fence.
Any moving tree branches will trip the game camera excessively. Also any passing car.

The garbage trucks here are automated-hydraulic arms pick up the bins and dump them in the truck. But the local companies are private, so no gov't employees to protect.

My wife told me she wouldn't have bought the house if there wasn't a mailbox at the end of the driveway, and she had to go down the road.

We have a trash bin outside our deer fence for packages. It's even labeled "packages". Semi-rural. So far, so good.

 

[EGS]

Nice fence.
Any moving tree branches will trip the game camera excessively. Also any passing car.

The garbage trucks here are automated-hydraulic arms pick up the bins and dump them in the truck. But the local companies are private, so no gov't employees to protect.

My wife told me she wouldn't have bought the house if there wasn't a mailbox at the end of the driveway, and she had to go down the road.

We have a trash bin outside our deer fence for packages. It's even labeled "packages". Semi-rural. So far, so good.

Thanks!
I agree about the motion issue and stills from a game camera are not going to cut it. I know they do video too but not sure if it will trigger correctly for the intended purpose.

Another solution could be something like a wyze cam with the constant local recording feature set on. And if I find or hear any suspicious activity, I can review a good portion of the recording to hopefully find the culprit.

I like the idea of the trash bin for the larger packages that won't fit the mailbox and they get usually tossed over the gate or fence. Sometimes they are careful enough to provide and put them inside a plastic bag in case it rains before the package gets picked up by me or one of my dogs decide to pee on it and declare it his, but it is my responsibility to provide better protection of what is already handed to me at my property. So soon I will get me a bin dedicated for that.

 

[SawMaster]

See what your trail cam will do- some can be set to get a series of pics on activation instead of just one per event. You can set a cam for plate capture anywhere as long as there's a corresponding pic of that same car at the mailbox even if you can't get the plate there. A cam with the lens at or near one end (like the B1W) would hide well where a post meets the top rail of the fence. Spray paint a blending color on a roll of masking tape, let dry, then apply that to the exposed parts of the cam. I haven't played with my Wyze cam much yet but the size and cost are great, especially if you've got a HD big enough to hold continuous footage. They do make a waterproof version now. A telephoto Mobius would do excellent for plate capture here if there's enough light, or could have the IR cut filter removed and used as an IR cam. The idea of a "Birdhouse cam" is excellent and would fit right in with the trees and yard.

Something to consider is that there might not be a car involved, urban crooks often use bicycles for their silence and ability to go through places where a car won't fit to escape pursuit. We've had our share of "Porch Pirates" around here stealing packages, but that slowed down when local media broadcast pics and vids from 'doorbell cams' which have become very popular- a pretty good deterrent as nobody wants their face shown stealing on the local evening news. So if you do catch the thief, be sure to get the local media and FB groups involved. Just give them copies of the vids and don't make any statements. Check local laws before releasing audio recordings (other than to Police) in case yours is a "two party consent" State; it's legal to record video in almost all public places by US Federal law, but audio recording is handled by each State and they vary. You might also see if any neighbors will let you set up a cam on their property to get better/additional FOV angles or better lighting to capture plates and faces.

Phil

 

[DAP]

I have yet to find a trail camera that will take a picture at night where one could recognize the person in the photo. This happens to be a pair of sheriffs coming to inform me that I am inside a mandatory evacuation zone at 2:00 AM for this summers fires. (I was actually just outside the evacuation area border). They passed the camera twice, and this is the only picture of them it captured.