Is It Allowed?
Absolutely.
USPS has no prohibition on a locked insert in your mailbox — in fact, Postal Inspectors keep asking customers to do more to secure their mail. The rule that applies is Postal Operations Manual §632.21: a customer lock is fine when the carrier needs no key and the slot handles the daily mail. SLAYRAD™ is built to meet it.
If customers place locks on their receptacles, the receptacles must have slots large enough to accommodate their normal daily mail volume so that delivery may be made by the carrier without using a key.
USPS Postal Operations Manual §632.21
SLAYRAD™ doesn't alter the box or impede Post Office personnel in any way. It simply secures your mail slot. Period.
Your own compartment
IN HIS OWN WORDS
Why we built it
THE CARRIER
Will my carrier still deliver?
Your carrier needs no key and no extra step — mail goes through the slot the same way it goes through a door slot. No USPS rule prohibits it; the rule that applies is POM §632.21, quoted in our FAQ.
The questions underneath that
Is a locked insert allowed?
Yes. No USPS rule prohibits it, and you don't need USPS permission. The rule that applies is Postal Operations Manual §632.21: "If customers place locks on their receptacles, the receptacles must have slots large enough to accommodate their normal daily mail volume so that delivery may be made by the carrier without using a key." SLAYRAD™ needs no key — your carrier never touches one. Whether your daily mail fits the 3/4 × 9 in slot depends on your mail volume; see "Does it hold packages?" above. USPS does prohibit inserts on curbside and rural-route boxes (§632.527); SLAYRAD™ is for cluster units only.
Do I need permission from my HOA or landlord?
No. The compartment is assigned to you. You don't need permission to protect your own mail and property inside it, and nothing on the cluster unit itself changes.
Could my carrier refuse to deliver?
A postmaster can withhold delivery from a receptacle that doesn't meet USPS rules. Because SLAYRAD™ needs no key, it passes the rule's main test. If a carrier thinks a box isn't working, they report it. The postmaster then sends PS Form 4056, "Your Mailbox Needs Attention," with about 30 days' written notice before mail is held at the post office. A single envelope that doesn't fit is not a refusal; a compartment the carrier can't load is. If you get a Form 4056, email us the same day.
FOR YOUR HOA
If someone asks you about it
USPS has no rule against it, and none is needed. Residents install it in their own assigned compartment; nothing on the unit changes. The rule that applies is Postal Operations Manual §632.21: a customer lock is allowed when the carrier needs no key and the slot handles the daily mail. That is how SLAYRAD™ works. Our FAQ quotes the rule in full.
Nothing to ask. Nothing to sign.
To our knowledge, SLAYRAD™ is the only device a resident can install in their own compartment that still protects the mail after the door — or the whole unit — has been broken open.
It does not stop carrier robbery, theft before delivery, package theft, or damage to the cluster unit itself.