(3) Individual doors and locks. (1) Each individual receptacle must be equipped with a full-length door through which the mail may be removed by the tenant. The doors of the several receptacles shall be secured by key locks or combination keyless locks. If key locks are installed, manufacturers must provide a sufficient number of key changes to prevent the opening of receptacles by the use of a key to any other receptacle in the same house or in the immediate locality. These locks must be securely fastened to the door. Each lock should be clearly numbered on the back so that if a key is lost, a duplicate may be ordered by number. The lock number should also be clearly shown on the inside of the master door directly above the individual box to which it is attached.

(ii) Apartment house managers must maintain a record of the number of keys supplied by manufacturers and jobbers, relating the key number to the receptacle number, so that, when necessary, new keys may be ordered. Key numbers shall not be placed on the barrels of the locks, as this would make it possible for unauthorized persons to get keys and gain access to the boxes. Apartment house managers must keep a record of the combinations of keyless locks so that new tenants may be given the combination. These records of key numbers and combinations must be kept in the custody of the manager or a trusted employee. The record of key numbers must be kept until the lock has been changed, when it may be destroyed. The record of combinations to the keyless locks must be kept until the combination is changed, when it may be destroyed.

clear

(iii) The dimensions of the opening of the door frame of each horizontal-type receptacle must be identical to the cross-sectional measurements of the receptacle itself.

(4) Master doors and locks. (1) Each group of front-loading receptacles must be equipped with a master door which, when open, makes the entire group of boxes accessible for the deposit of mail by the carrier. The master door shall be machined to accommodate an inside Arrow lock furnished by the local postmaster for use so long as mail is delivered

the custody of postal employees. Master doors for horizontal-type receptacles shall be hinged on the side only and shall be no wider than 30 inches.

(ii) The master lock will be attached to the group of receptacles by the postmaster's representative who will see that it is securely attached. The plate to which the master lock will be fastened should be riveted to the face of the box. A metal plate is not required between the Arrow lock and door of a horizontal-type installation with wood master doors.

(5) Slot. In the face of each receptacle there must be provided a slot 2 inches in length and one-eighth inch wide for the deposit of carrier and special-delivery notices.

(6) Backs of front-loading receptacles. These units must have solid backs.

(7) Numbers and name cards. (i) Vertical-type receptacles must be satisfactorily numbered or lettered in numerical or alphabetical sequence from left to right; horizontal-type receptacles must be numbered or lettered in sequence from top to bottom, so as to enable the carrier to expeditiously deliver the mail.

(ii) Each receptacle must be equipped with a clasp or holder to accommodate a name card for identifying the patron or patrons using that box. Preferably, this holder or clasp should be on the frame above each receptacle, but it may be located inside at the rear of the box where the patron's name will be easily visible to the carrier when the master door is open. The holder must be large enough to take a name card at least 34 x 22 inches in vertical-type installations; and in horizontal-type installations, as large as space permits. In the latter case pressure sensitive labels may be used.

(c) Installation (1) Location and arrangement. (1) Receptacles in apartment houses should be located at points reasonably near the entrance in vestibules, halls, or lobbies. The carriers must be able to serve the boxes without interference from swinging or opening doors. The area must be adequately lighted so as to afford the best protection to the mail and enable carriers to read addresses on mail and names on boxes without undue strain on their eyes.

(ii) In mild climate zones the installation of standard, approved apartment

ter of the barrel of the master lock of the lower tier will be no less than 30 inches from the floor.

(b) No more than two tiers may be installed. They should be arranged so as to permit the installation of the largest number of boxes with the smallest number of master locks. The minimum number of boxes to which one master lock may be attached is three.

(c) Boxes must be arranged in groups, as many in each group as is consistent with safety, but normally never less than eight. Where the number of apartments is less than eight or where telephone units are installed with the receptacles, a lesser number may be grouped.

(iv) In horizontal-type installations, the distance from the finished floor to the tenant locks on the top tier of boxes should be no more than 66 inches; and to the bottom of the lowest tier of boxes no less than 30 inches.

(2) Access to rear loading of horizontal-type receptacles. Access to rear loading installations shall be provided by a door fitted with an inside Arrow lock opening into a room having at least 3 feet of unobstructed work space from the rear of the units to the wall. The room must be adequately ventilated and lighted. The rear of the unit must have a screen or cover of plywood or other suitable material to prevent the removal of mail from adjacent boxes and to prevent mail from falling out the back. This cover must be securely fastened and easily opened by the carrier.

(3) Installation with telephone units. (i) When necessary or desirable to install mail receptacles in conjunction with a standard size telephone unit, verticaltype receptacles may be placed in 2 tiers, or they may be installed in groups or batteries of less than 8 if required for the proper arrangement of the groups in the 2 tiers. This does not apply where the telephone unit is installed independently of mail receptacles. Although there is no objection to combining these two services, the mail receptacles must be separated from the telephone or electrical unit. Electric pushbuttons may be placed in the frame of the installation, connecting with wires outside the mail receptables, provided the pushbuttons can be removed from the outside and the wire connection with such pushbuttons can be repaired without removing the receptacles.

(ii) Telephone units combined with mail receptacle units must be constructed

so that access to the telephone unit is not dependent on entering the mail receptacle, and the latter must not be accessible when the telephone unit is opened.

(d) Directories. (1) In all apartment houses having 15 or more receptacles, a complete directory of all persons receiving mail must be maintained. When an apartment house is divided into units with separate entrances and 15 or more receptacles are installed to the unit, a separate directory must be provided for each unit. In addition, if mail is not generally addressed to specific units, a directory must be kept at the main unit of the building, listing all persons receiving mail in the various units.

(2) Directories must be alphabetical by surname and must be maintained and kept corrected to date. The receptacle number and apartment number should always be the same, and the apartment number should appear on the right of the name on the directory. If, for any cause, the apartment number is different from the number of the receptacle, the receptacle number should appear on the left of the name in the directory. same arrangement shall be followed where the apartments and receptacles are either lettered or lettered and numbered.

The

(3) The directory must be of legible type, in a suitable frame for protection purpose, and attached to the wall immediately above or to the side of the mail receptacles where it can be easily read. Where mailrooms are used, the directory should be removable for the convenience of the carrier. If an attendant, such as telephone operator, doorman, or elevator conductor, is on duty between the hours of 7 a.m. and 11 p.m. and mail is delivered either to apartment house receptacles or in bulk for distribution by employees of the building, the directory may be kept in the custody of the employee on duty in the building so that it may be available to the carrier or special delivery messenger on request.

(e) Maintenance and repair. (1) The owners or managers of buildings must keep receptacles in good repair. When an inside letterbox Arrow lock is no longer needed, the building management must immediately notify the postmaster so that a postal employee can be detailed to supervise removal of the lock from the master door for return to the post office. Owners and managers of buildings must return to the postmaster any inside

letter-box arrow locks that become defective or that are no longer needed.

(2) Carriers will report on Form 3521, "Carrier's Report on House Numbers and Mail Receptacles”, all apartment houses that are being remodeled and all mail boxes that are not locked or are out of repair. Delivering employees and postmasters will see that all inside letter-box arrow locks are recovered when buildings are torn down or remodeled.

(3) Upon receipt of a report of lack of repair or irregularity in the operation of apartment house mail receptacles, postmasters will have prompt investigation made and direct what repairs must be made by and at the expense of the owners or managers. So that there will be no question as to the disposition or treatment of mail, repairs must be made only when a representative of the post office is present. It is unlawful for other than postal employees to open receptacles and expose mail.

(4) Failure to keep boxes locked or in proper repair as directed by postmasters is sufficient justification for withholding delivery of mail therein and requiring the occupants of the apartments to call for their mail at the post office or carrier delivery unit serving the area if this action is believed advisable for safety reasons. When such action is contemplated, a reasonable notice of approximately 30 days will be given in writing to the patrons and the owner or manager of the apartment building.

(5) When mail, deposited by a carrier in an apartment house mail receptacle, is reported lost or stolen or when there is indication that the mail has been wilfully or maliciously damaged, defaced, or destroyed, the postmaster shall immediately report the circumstances to the local postal inspector or the postal inspector in charge.

(6) The United States Penal Code prescribes for the wrongful possession of mail locks and the wilful or malicious injury or destruction of letter boxes and the theft of mail therefrom. Manufacturers are authorized to place on each installation of apartment houses mail receptacles the words "U.S. Mail" and a warning notice of these provisions of law. Manufacturers are also authorized to place inconspicuously on each installation their name and words "Approved by the Postmaster General", when the designs have been approved by the Post Office Department.

(f) Manufacturers and distributors. Following is a list of manufacturers and distributors of one or more designs of apartment house mail receptacles approved by the Post Office Department, with trade names of boxes:

(1) Vertical type.

Accessories Manufacturers, Ltd., 595 St. Remi Street, Montreal 30, Canada.

Auth Electric Co., Inc., 84-20 45th Street, Long Island City, N.Y., 11101.

Bommer Spring Hinge Co., Inc., Landrum, S.C., 29356.

Cutler Mail Chute Co., 76 Anderson Avenue, Rochester, N.Y., 14607.

Dura Steel Products Co., Post Office Box 54175, Los Angeles, Calif., 90054. Florence Mfg. Co., Inc., 848-864 North Larrabee Street, Chicago, Ill., 60610. Jensen Industries, 1946 East 46th Street, Los Angeles, Calif., 90058.

Kent Corporation, Bellevue, Ky., 41071. Leigh Products, Inc., Coopersville, Mich., 49404.

Perma-Bilt Steel Products Co., 8324 Graham Avenue, Los Angeles, Calif., 90001. Progress Manufacturing Co., Inc., Castor Avenue and Tulip Street, Philadelphia, Pa., 19134.

S. H. Couch Co., Inc., 3 Arlington Street, Boston, Mass., 02171.

(2) Horizontal type.

American Device Mfg. Co., Steeleville, Ill., 62288.

Auth Electric Co., Inc., 34-20 45th Street,
Long Island City, N.Y., 11101.
Corbin Wood Products, Division of Emhart
Corp., New Britain, Conn., 06050.
Cutler Mail Chute Co., 76 Anderson Avenue,
Rochester, N.Y., 14607.

Dura Steel Products Co., Post Office Box
54175, Los Angeles, Calf., 90654.
Florence Manufacturing Co., Inc., 848-864

North Larrabee Street, Chicago, Ill., 60610. [26 F.R. 11579, Dec. 6, 1961, as amended at 27 F.R. 6498, July 10, 1962; 27 F.R. 6978, July 24, 1962; 30 F.R. 2314, Feb. 20, 1965; 30 F.R. 7393, June 4, 1965; 30 F.R. 11031, Aug. 26, 1965; 30 F.R. 14374, Nov. 17, 1965; 31 F.R. 5964, Apr. 19, 1966; 31 F.R. 6056, Apr. 20, 1966. Redesignated at 31 F.R. 15350, Dec. 8, 1966]

§ 156.1 Rural stations and branches.

(a) Establishment. Rural stations and branches, both personnel and nonpersonnel, are established and maintained in communities where a considerable number of people would be seriously inconvenienced if required to transact postal business with rural or star route carriers only, and where it is determined inadvisable to establish an independent post office. (See § 151.1 (b) and (c) of this chapter for definition of stations and branches.)

(b) Functions. (1) Personnel rural stations and branches accept, dispatch, receive and deliver mail, including registered, insured, COD, and certified mail, issue money orders, and sell stamps and stamped paper.

(2) Nonpersonnel rural stations and branches are self-service units which furnish essential mail services such as the collection and delivery of ordinary mail and sale of stamps. Services such as the sale of money orders, and the acceptance and delivery of certified, insured, registered, and COD mail are provided patrons of nonpersonnel rural stations and branches by the rural carrier at the time he services the unit. Carriers are required to remain at the unit a minimum of 15 minutes each day their routes are scheduled to operate, to afford patrons the services not otherwise available from the unit, such as money orders, stamped envelopes, etc.

(c) Hours. Personnel and nonpersonnel rural stations and branches are open during ordinary business hours of each weekday, except National holidays.

(d) Treatment of mail. Mail addressed to a personnel rural station or branch will be retained there to be called for, unless the addressee is a patron of a rural route starting from the rural station, or of an adjoining route, in which case the mail will be delivered to the patron's box by the carrier. Mail addressed to a nonpersonnel rural station or branch will be placed in the addressee's lock box at the station or branch.

[31 F.R. 8235, June 11, 1966. Redesignated at 31 F.R. 15350, Dec. 8, 1966]

in Rural Delivery, may be obtained from the postmaster for this purpose.

or (b) Extensions. Requests petitions for extension of rural routes should be submitted to the postmaster of the office from which the route operates. Form 4027 is available from the postmaster for use in submitting such requests.

(c) Road conditions. Roads on which rural delivery service is desired must be in good condition and so maintained, unobstructed by gates. There must be no unbridged streams not fordable at all seasons of the year.

(e) Multiple routes. In rural areas, a patron living on a road traveled by two or more rural carriers may select the carrier by whom he prefers to have his mail delivered and collected, in which case only the designated carrier will handle his mail. Unless such selection is made by the patron, each carrier passing the box will deliver mail to it and collect from it any mail that he can expedite in dispatch or delivery, provided the box is on the right-hand side of the road as traveled by the carrier. In suburban or congested areas, the postmaster will designate the route that will provide service.

(f) Star route delivery. Patrons living on or near a star route, where the contract calls for box delivery and collection service, and not within one-fourth mile of any post office, may have their mail deposited on the line of the starcarrier route in a box erected so that the carrier may deliver and collect mail without dismounting from his vehicle. Persons residing on roads traveled by both rural and star route carriers may qualify as patrons of either or both routes. If one box is used for both routes, it must be an approved standard rural route box. [28 F.R. 1999, Mar. 1, 1963. Redesignated at 31 F.R. 15350, Dec. 8, 1966] § 156.3

Carrier service.

(a) Availability. (1) Rural carrier service is provided to persons who erect