snorkel box

n. a roadside mailbox with a projecting slot reachable from within an automobile. Subjects: English

Comments? | Cites | Permalink | Tell a Friend

Citations: 1955 Times Recorder (Zanesville, Ohio) (Jan. 19) “Mailing First Letter in Snorkel Box.” p. 3: (title) 1959 Herald-Press (St. Joseph, Mich.) (Apr. 15) “Change Location of ‘Snorkel” Box At BH Postoffice” p. 2: The “snorkel” mailbox formerly located at the rear of the Benton Harbor postoffice on Sixth street has been moved. 1975 U.S. News & World Report (Mar. 17) “Why Postal Rates Will Go Up Again” p. 31: We find that roughly a third of our complaints are about other things…maybe the location of a cubside [sic] “snorkel” box. 1987 Rick Anderson Seattle Times (Wash.) (Jan. 23) “Tunnel Vision Curbs Downtown Drive-Up Mailboxes” p. B1: It’s tough to drive up and mail a letter when there is no drive-up letter box. The snorkel boxes, as the Postal Service calls them, have stood at Third and Union for decades. 1988 Amy Goldstein Washington Post (Sept. 22) “Mailbox Fatal to Boy, 6, Lacked Bolts” p. D1: The boy…had been swinging on the long chute of a type of mailbox known as a “snorkel box.” The 160-pound mailbox features a regular pull handle on one side and a long, curbside chute on the other, designed for mail deposited from the window of a car. 2005 Jackie Majerus Bristol Press (Conn.) (Oct. 14) “Attention, Santa: all Bristol Postmaster Mike Parent wants before Christmas is a new parking lot”: He said the dropoff mailbox, or “snorkel box,” in post office parlance, will be located at the back of the parking lot near Foley Street.

Posted 18 Oct 05 | Permalink | Tell a Friend