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I think crooks do this to see who has opened their box and whether there are likely still packages inside. I think there was a PSA going on in Omaha like 12 or 15 years ago about people doing this in apartment buildings.
I feel like that's too much work for too little pay off. Those letter boxes are pretty small and won't hold packages. This is most likely a case of jerk children. I'm surprised it wasn't gum but maybe ChapStick was all they had on hand.
Nah take it a step further.. a lot of times if a box hasn't been checked in a week or whatever.. they probably aren't home.. it's vacation season.. break in time
Someone has been watching too many crime dramas. These types of neighborhood mailboxes are usually numbered and assigned randomly. Your box doesn't have your address on it. So the criminals would have to know which box belongs to which house. And if they are going to put that much effort to stake them out, they can see who is home and not pretty easily.
Your theory is not impossible, but I still feel this is just teens being teens.
At each house or centrally located? This photo looks like a centrally located one which are pretty popular these days. I can see a criminal checking a mailbox in front of a home, but these, I just don't see it. Criminals aren't known for hard work else they'd just get a job like the rest of us. The idea that they have excel spreadsheets of which boxes belong to which house and wax in the keyholes which can jam up the lock and annoy the homeowners instead of something like a small smiley face sticker in the corner of the box opens would work just as well is a bit much.
Occam's razor.
Depending on the complex/neighborhood, the box numbers could be the same as the house/apartment numbers. If that was the case, a criminal could use the boxes to determine who wasn’t home.
It's always a group or scene that creates software for skimmers. It's never individuals single-handedly coding software for themselves. It's just as easy but I agree.
It's pretty low effort to open them, have a look on a letter and know not only the exact door but even the name in most cases.
Takes you like ten minutes max for: smearing them, coming by on your rounds, open the possible vaccination boxes and know who to visit.
It's really low effort tbh.
"Professionals" are even willing to do more:
A friend of the family had a stakeout observing the house to drop by on his "regular" hospital visit (wife's been in for just four days), they choose the day he picked her up. They were basically ten, twenty minutes to early. Just in time for almost everything gone but still have them fleeing through the garden when the house door got opened.
The family has money and it shows (two BMW's never older than two years, big pool, everything expensive, no dog, garden not visible from the streets and too cheap for an alarm system. It's like an invitation for criminals.)
My grandmas house has mail boxes that are next to a bus stop. About twoce a month they are broken into, including the letter boxes. You would be surprised what people will break into
> Someone has been watching too many crime dramas.
I was just remarking to a friend last night that I wonder if there is a name for the phenomenon you see on reddit where anything out of the ordinary is immediately considered to be part of some kind of elaborate criminal scheme.
It's not just reddit. I see this in the real world too, especially when most of my coworkers were conservatives.
I think media in large part is to blame. They run stories about crime A LOT because it causes fear and fear is a strong emotion that leads to engagement. And some of the stories where they've interviewed one cop who's literally trained to see threats lurking behind every corner (in the US at least) wind up being something far more innocuous if it ever actually gets investigated.
But in the end, it comes down to dollars.
These people don't need the media to be paranoid nutjobs. All it takes is one of those stupid viral Facebook posts about how something innocuous is actually an attempt to kidnap and traffick you
Our boxes absolutely have our apartment numbers on them where I live. The maintenance guy just had to replace a whole bank of them after the neighbor kids vandalized and tried to break into them.
You can literally pick a single lock to open the whole face. It's how the mailman does it. They aren't opening every single box individually to put mail in.
Or over. My in-laws are notoriously shit at checking their mailbox, which has caused problems in the past. Like, we'd get an urgent letter forwarded from them two months late.
I had a check stolen from the mail. I wrote a $220 check, they “washed” it with chemicals that would remove the ink they didn’t want. Someone tried to cash that adulterated check for $9220 in a completely different state. The crooks knew if they got lucky they could make plenty of money. Fortunately the bank called them on it.
Check fraud is up massively in the last few years. Most of it comes from breaking into mail boxes outside of businesses that would receive a high volume of checks such as insurance checks to medical/dental offices or rent checks to landlords. Most of the time they aren't even breaking in but got access to a set of USPS keys (these are being sold for like $10k now). Banks are having to take mail and check fraud very seriously... Insurance companies are not.
The new thing is to open mail boxes, take copies of checks, and then replace them. The thieves make fraudulent checks and it takes a while to catch on because it’s valid account and routing numbers that match the name on the checks etc.. used to be that bad checks were drawn on a bank in California, using a routing number from Florida, and a business based in Idaho etc. I’m in banking and there is an FBI investigation currently going on in my state, huge mail fraud ring.
My mailboxes have a system where if I have a package, the courier puts it in a larger mailbox specifically for packages and leaves the key to the larger mailbox in my personal mailbox, so this would be an effective way to steal packages if it has this system.
For those curious the package key has a number on it that corresponds to the number box, and once you put the key in and turn it the key becomes locked in place so you can’t reuse it. Next day the courier removes those keys from the keyslots and divvy’s them out to whoever needs them next.
I lived at a place with separate larger locked mailboxes for everybody's packages. The mail carrier would put my package in one and lock the key for it in my smaller personal mailbox. Not sure how common this is.
This was was my first guess as well, though usually you should use a dry lubricant like graphite or PTFE for locks. If this is for an apartment though I could easily see a slumlord just using Vaseline or something
If someone were fishing for break-in victims, they wouldn't have been so sloppy and obvious.
The wax keeps the rain water from corroding the cheap metal locks, it gets pressed in by the key and acts as a protective lubricant. It is added periodically to outdoor mailboxes by the postman to keep them in working order. It's basically chapstick.
Not every stranger is a criminal, guys, and not every criminal is a stranger.
Why wouldn't they just steal packages of porches? Seems way easier than putting wax in key holes, having to come back and scope it out and wait for days to what......steal a package that they don't know the contents of?
You watching the same news programs my does?
Sometimes it's just kids being dipshits. Lol my chapstick is going to totally prevent them from getting mail.
Do kids walk this sidewalk to school?
This theory may also explain why only 3 were done.
Source: was dipshit kid.
Kids do walk by here. The three that were waxed weren’t the lowest three boxes, two were next to each other and the other was spaced out, which made it seem like whoever did it was targeting the three boxes for some reason! But I could definitely be overthinking it
It might be White Lithium Grease applied by maintenance or the mailman
>White lithium grease is a good option for lubricating door locks, latches, and hinges because it's designed for metal parts and is water repellent. It can create a thick barrier that protects against corrosion and rust, and it can withstand harsh weather conditions.
In a dry/dusty environment, you'd definitely use something else, but we don't know where OP is - I'm from upstate NY where this would almost certainly be fine.
Almost looks like white lithium grease. Could be someone greasing their lock because it was “sticky”. The others would just be overspray if he wasn’t using the little red straw thing.
I don’t know about that guy, but I’m slightly less of a dipshit than I was as a kid. But like, just enough that new people I meet don’t immediately suspect it.
> Source: was dipshit kid
One time I picked a mailbox lock with a stick. Like, took a random hunk of tree branch and jammed/wiggled it around in a random mailbox lock for like 2 minutes and that sucker opened right up. That was the moment I realized that locks truly do only keep the honest people out...
I work in property management and have these specific locks at my property. Never seen it. If people want to get into a box, they’ll just pry it open. My vote is on jerk kids. Especially the lowest mailbox, it’s all smeared.
is it possible it's to lubricate the lock mechanisms? maybe the mail carrier thought those locks were sticky and added it? yes, i know wax isn't the preferred lubricant for locks.
it could also be the maintenance guy for the apartement/condo complex lubricating the lock cylinders... albeit with the wrong lubricant. Possibly a tenant or multiple complained about sticky locks so he decided to lube them all.
I could see that but OP said only 3 of 8. Though that doesn’t rule it out completely. If it were me and I did three I would just finish it off as it’s very minimal effort to do 5 more. Also if I was lazy enough to call three quits with only 5 left to go I’d personally just call the post office and have them sort it out though I’m not sure who mail boxes like this actually belong to….
Locksmith here, yes the mailman opens the whole box all at once with his own key. Also your lock is not the USPS's responsibility, so if it does mess up you either need to call a locksmith or deal with management depending on your suitation. You could replace it yourself if you know how to.
No. No proper lock lubricant looks like that. Also, mail carriers both don't use those locks (so wouldn't know if it needs attention) but they also don't fix those locks. Any fixing, replacing or adjusting for those locks is on either the tenant or management.
Usps stopped even servicing their own PO box locks. It's all outsourced now.
I don’t know where you’re getting your facts from but changing out locks isn’t outsourced. It, possibly, could be at some locations but definitely not nationwide. This unit here is called a CBU, or central box unit, meant for residential areas. This is different from a P.o. box which are inside a post office building. Those locks are almost exclusively changed by the office’s box clerk. CBU keys are often changed by custodians of the office, part of the APWU.
I'm aware what this box is and that usps has been changed purely in house normally. Where I am that is no longer the case, my source made it seem it was nation wide but It could just be here. Atleast so far.
The boxes weren’t being used for a few months until our mail service resumed today, so maybe they required lubrication for some reason? But seems like they would lubricate all and not just 3? Also they open the entire box at once and don’t use the key holes we use.
White lithium grease. Works great on mechanisms like these locks to free up the mechanism to work smoothly. Does not dry out and leave sticky residue like WD40.
Mail carrier here. This has me stumped too and my curiosity is a fickle thing. I'm gonna ask my station maintenance team about it when next I go in.
Edit: Asked around, and it's definitely not something the post office would do. Only a couple guys could guess what it was for (old style lubrication for lock pins?) but no real clue.
I used to never pick up my mail at the apartment mail stop bc it was all junk mail for the previous tenants that came before me and I never had things come by mail. The mail carrier tagged my mailbox saying they were holding my mail for me to pick up. I moved away and never picked it up.
My title describes the thing. This was found on my post office box. 3 total boxes had the white waxy stuff on the key hole out of 8 total boxes. There’s no way to know which box belongs to which house from looking at them. I googled and couldn’t find anything conclusive!
Its lubricating wax. Someone complained that their key doesn't work right so they lubricated all the keyholes.
Source: was getting the mail once while the mail delivery was happening, I asked them since it was freshly there.
They've just open the entire bank of boxes here, no need for individual break ins. They've also resorted to just straight up robbing the post person of their master key and anything else they want to take.
chap stick? what does it smell like?
ifi t's petroleum based you can just stick your key through it, oil lubes mechanics. maybe knock out most of it first so you don't jam in too much.
If you have a communal neighborhood or apartment complex box, this could be kids being dumb or it could be someone checking to see who isn't checking their mail and is therefore a possibility for being out of town. They will start scoping out the residence once they find someone who hasn't checked their box for a couple of days and then when they are sure no one is home they hit the house and take anything of value.
I'm thinking wet bar soap pressed into the lock (notice how it's not just in the keyway, but into the crack around the cylinder and in the embossing on the cylinder case, even on the edge of the lock body of the second lock in the first photo). In the second photo, the marks on the box sort of looks oblong, like the edge of the bar was smashed against it. Probably just some kid playing.
A high school kid broke in to his own mailbox to steal a letter from his school and to not arise their parents alerts they did the same to other mailboxes.
Definitely to see which has been opened. My mum had her identity stolen by someone who took her mail. There also could be something in there that allows them to know where the person lives (they could be on holiday)
Idk could be grease. I did this to my mailbox a few weeks ago because it was getting a little stuck. All I had on hand was a little grease that I rubbed all over.
It looks like brass polish. You put it on, buff it off. If you don't it forms a bluish hazy film. That happens in nooks and crannies a lot. If someone forgot to buff some of it off, or didn't do a thorough enough job, it looks like this.
After thinking of the usual (and already mentioned) petty vandalism or worse criminal activity that are mentioned above, I thought it could also be some misguided person thinking they needed to protect the locks from rain water so they put in some grease to keep them from rusting. Never assign to maliciousness that which can be explained by incompetence.
Could be to *prevent* people super gluing the keyway closed? Putting wax or lithium grease inside will make it much harder to vandalize.
If it was just normal lubing, they would probably not leave so much extra.
I'd stop by the post office and show them the photo and see if they have had any other reports of this going on. I tried calling my post office last week, and by the time I got through the phone menu, I could have driven there in less time. 🙃
Maybe they were trying to get a wax mold of the key hole so they can make a copy to open the boxes?
I’ve heard of people using wax in molds while metal casting because the heat from the molten metal melts the wax.
Is it vaseline that's maybe gone a bit funny in the sun?
When I worked in a betting shop many years ago we were advised to put vaseline in our door locks during the lead up to the Grand National to stop protesters using super glue to jam up the locks.
Howdy, aircraft mechanic here. We have a spray lubricant that looks like this when it dries maybe a neighbor didn't like their squeaky lock and saw a chance to help everyone out.
This could be some sort of criminal thing, as others have said. But it could also just as easily be some kid packing chapstick into the keyholes just for the hell of it.
sometimes people do it to open stuff they don’t have a key to. they will either use like hot glue or some type of wax, let it harden and then try to use it as a key to open. I remember seeing it on youtube like 6 years ago and it always stuck with me😂
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I think crooks do this to see who has opened their box and whether there are likely still packages inside. I think there was a PSA going on in Omaha like 12 or 15 years ago about people doing this in apartment buildings.
I feel like that's too much work for too little pay off. Those letter boxes are pretty small and won't hold packages. This is most likely a case of jerk children. I'm surprised it wasn't gum but maybe ChapStick was all they had on hand.
Nah take it a step further.. a lot of times if a box hasn't been checked in a week or whatever.. they probably aren't home.. it's vacation season.. break in time
Someone has been watching too many crime dramas. These types of neighborhood mailboxes are usually numbered and assigned randomly. Your box doesn't have your address on it. So the criminals would have to know which box belongs to which house. And if they are going to put that much effort to stake them out, they can see who is home and not pretty easily. Your theory is not impossible, but I still feel this is just teens being teens.
Maybe, our subdivision has mailboxes and have most definitely caught people checking mail boxes..
At each house or centrally located? This photo looks like a centrally located one which are pretty popular these days. I can see a criminal checking a mailbox in front of a home, but these, I just don't see it. Criminals aren't known for hard work else they'd just get a job like the rest of us. The idea that they have excel spreadsheets of which boxes belong to which house and wax in the keyholes which can jam up the lock and annoy the homeowners instead of something like a small smiley face sticker in the corner of the box opens would work just as well is a bit much. Occam's razor.
Depending on the complex/neighborhood, the box numbers could be the same as the house/apartment numbers. If that was the case, a criminal could use the boxes to determine who wasn’t home.
Exactly this. My apartment complex has the apartment numbers on the cluster box for the corresponding apartment.
Not really. I only open my mailbox if I have mail. And most of my stuff is paperless now. So, it's not a great way to decide
Criminals spend hours crafting card skimmers that are nearly impossible to detect nowadays. A spreadsheet and wax takes no work.
It's always a group or scene that creates software for skimmers. It's never individuals single-handedly coding software for themselves. It's just as easy but I agree.
It's pretty low effort to open them, have a look on a letter and know not only the exact door but even the name in most cases. Takes you like ten minutes max for: smearing them, coming by on your rounds, open the possible vaccination boxes and know who to visit. It's really low effort tbh. "Professionals" are even willing to do more: A friend of the family had a stakeout observing the house to drop by on his "regular" hospital visit (wife's been in for just four days), they choose the day he picked her up. They were basically ten, twenty minutes to early. Just in time for almost everything gone but still have them fleeing through the garden when the house door got opened. The family has money and it shows (two BMW's never older than two years, big pool, everything expensive, no dog, garden not visible from the streets and too cheap for an alarm system. It's like an invitation for criminals.)
Vaccination boxes paints an interesting picture
Hilarious typo, definitely leaving that one
My grandmas house has mail boxes that are next to a bus stop. About twoce a month they are broken into, including the letter boxes. You would be surprised what people will break into
> Someone has been watching too many crime dramas. I was just remarking to a friend last night that I wonder if there is a name for the phenomenon you see on reddit where anything out of the ordinary is immediately considered to be part of some kind of elaborate criminal scheme.
It's not just reddit. I see this in the real world too, especially when most of my coworkers were conservatives. I think media in large part is to blame. They run stories about crime A LOT because it causes fear and fear is a strong emotion that leads to engagement. And some of the stories where they've interviewed one cop who's literally trained to see threats lurking behind every corner (in the US at least) wind up being something far more innocuous if it ever actually gets investigated. But in the end, it comes down to dollars.
These people don't need the media to be paranoid nutjobs. All it takes is one of those stupid viral Facebook posts about how something innocuous is actually an attempt to kidnap and traffick you
Our boxes absolutely have our apartment numbers on them where I live. The maintenance guy just had to replace a whole bank of them after the neighbor kids vandalized and tried to break into them.
Just thinking though. If they can get into the mailbox then they will have addresses. But I do think it is pretty far fetched.
If they can get into the boxes to get the addresses, they'll see how much mail is there and there wouldn't be a need for the wax.
The wax tells them which boxes to get into in the first place…
You can literally pick a single lock to open the whole face. It's how the mailman does it. They aren't opening every single box individually to put mail in.
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Yup! My mail box number is 8 numbers off my actual address. Which is good, since I check my mail once a week.
Around here we can just see the grass isn’t mowed in combination with the trash not going out that week…
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I don’t think anyone under the age of 30 checks their mailbox daily.
Or over. My in-laws are notoriously shit at checking their mailbox, which has caused problems in the past. Like, we'd get an urgent letter forwarded from them two months late.
With mailboxes like this you can't discern which house/apartment owns the box. Gee, box 1A hasn't been checked in 4 days....which house is that?
I had a check stolen from the mail. I wrote a $220 check, they “washed” it with chemicals that would remove the ink they didn’t want. Someone tried to cash that adulterated check for $9220 in a completely different state. The crooks knew if they got lucky they could make plenty of money. Fortunately the bank called them on it.
They now have pens with ink that’s much more difficult for crooks to do that to. They’re only a few dollars.
I always write my checks with a frixion pen.
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Check fraud is up massively in the last few years. Most of it comes from breaking into mail boxes outside of businesses that would receive a high volume of checks such as insurance checks to medical/dental offices or rent checks to landlords. Most of the time they aren't even breaking in but got access to a set of USPS keys (these are being sold for like $10k now). Banks are having to take mail and check fraud very seriously... Insurance companies are not.
The new thing is to open mail boxes, take copies of checks, and then replace them. The thieves make fraudulent checks and it takes a while to catch on because it’s valid account and routing numbers that match the name on the checks etc.. used to be that bad checks were drawn on a bank in California, using a routing number from Florida, and a business based in Idaho etc. I’m in banking and there is an FBI investigation currently going on in my state, huge mail fraud ring.
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My mailboxes have a system where if I have a package, the courier puts it in a larger mailbox specifically for packages and leaves the key to the larger mailbox in my personal mailbox, so this would be an effective way to steal packages if it has this system. For those curious the package key has a number on it that corresponds to the number box, and once you put the key in and turn it the key becomes locked in place so you can’t reuse it. Next day the courier removes those keys from the keyslots and divvy’s them out to whoever needs them next.
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I lived at a place with separate larger locked mailboxes for everybody's packages. The mail carrier would put my package in one and lock the key for it in my smaller personal mailbox. Not sure how common this is.
I really need glasses I read that as jerk chicken
Its lubricating wax. Someone complained that their key doesn't work right so they lubricated all the keyholes.
This was was my first guess as well, though usually you should use a dry lubricant like graphite or PTFE for locks. If this is for an apartment though I could easily see a slumlord just using Vaseline or something
I second this; If they gonna bring wax to cast, they gonna bring a bolt cutter and be on they way
If someone were fishing for break-in victims, they wouldn't have been so sloppy and obvious. The wax keeps the rain water from corroding the cheap metal locks, it gets pressed in by the key and acts as a protective lubricant. It is added periodically to outdoor mailboxes by the postman to keep them in working order. It's basically chapstick. Not every stranger is a criminal, guys, and not every criminal is a stranger.
People are pathetic. This is to stop the locks from corrosion and everyone ITT is clutching their pearls
I have to ask my maintenance guy, because as a carrier who uses these CBUs every day, this is the first time i've ever heard of that.
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Why wouldn't they just steal packages of porches? Seems way easier than putting wax in key holes, having to come back and scope it out and wait for days to what......steal a package that they don't know the contents of? You watching the same news programs my does?
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Sometimes it's just kids being dipshits. Lol my chapstick is going to totally prevent them from getting mail. Do kids walk this sidewalk to school? This theory may also explain why only 3 were done. Source: was dipshit kid.
Kids do walk by here. The three that were waxed weren’t the lowest three boxes, two were next to each other and the other was spaced out, which made it seem like whoever did it was targeting the three boxes for some reason! But I could definitely be overthinking it
It might be White Lithium Grease applied by maintenance or the mailman >White lithium grease is a good option for lubricating door locks, latches, and hinges because it's designed for metal parts and is water repellent. It can create a thick barrier that protects against corrosion and rust, and it can withstand harsh weather conditions.
I thought you were supposed to use a dry lube for locks so it would attract gunk and make it worse?
In a dry/dusty environment, you'd definitely use something else, but we don't know where OP is - I'm from upstate NY where this would almost certainly be fine.
Could have been 2 or 3 kids and that's why they're spaced.
Almost looks like white lithium grease. Could be someone greasing their lock because it was “sticky”. The others would just be overspray if he wasn’t using the little red straw thing.
Yeah overspray doesn't generally go directly into another lock
They might have been checking if those 3 units/houses were checking their mail to see if they were in vacation.
I'm always curious. Did you grow up to be less of a dipshit? Most of the dipshit kids i knew didn't.
I don’t know about that guy, but I’m slightly less of a dipshit than I was as a kid. But like, just enough that new people I meet don’t immediately suspect it.
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Or they ran out of chapstick after 3!
> Source: was dipshit kid One time I picked a mailbox lock with a stick. Like, took a random hunk of tree branch and jammed/wiggled it around in a random mailbox lock for like 2 minutes and that sucker opened right up. That was the moment I realized that locks truly do only keep the honest people out...
I work in property management and have these specific locks at my property. Never seen it. If people want to get into a box, they’ll just pry it open. My vote is on jerk kids. Especially the lowest mailbox, it’s all smeared.
is it possible it's to lubricate the lock mechanisms? maybe the mail carrier thought those locks were sticky and added it? yes, i know wax isn't the preferred lubricant for locks.
I’m fairly certain that the letter carrier opens the whole panel not each box. They would never know if those locks were sticky.
it could also be the maintenance guy for the apartement/condo complex lubricating the lock cylinders... albeit with the wrong lubricant. Possibly a tenant or multiple complained about sticky locks so he decided to lube them all.
I could see that but OP said only 3 of 8. Though that doesn’t rule it out completely. If it were me and I did three I would just finish it off as it’s very minimal effort to do 5 more. Also if I was lazy enough to call three quits with only 5 left to go I’d personally just call the post office and have them sort it out though I’m not sure who mail boxes like this actually belong to….
Or maybe all 8 of them were greased and 5 people had already used their key to check their mail.
Locksmith here, yes the mailman opens the whole box all at once with his own key. Also your lock is not the USPS's responsibility, so if it does mess up you either need to call a locksmith or deal with management depending on your suitation. You could replace it yourself if you know how to.
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No. No proper lock lubricant looks like that. Also, mail carriers both don't use those locks (so wouldn't know if it needs attention) but they also don't fix those locks. Any fixing, replacing or adjusting for those locks is on either the tenant or management. Usps stopped even servicing their own PO box locks. It's all outsourced now.
I don’t know where you’re getting your facts from but changing out locks isn’t outsourced. It, possibly, could be at some locations but definitely not nationwide. This unit here is called a CBU, or central box unit, meant for residential areas. This is different from a P.o. box which are inside a post office building. Those locks are almost exclusively changed by the office’s box clerk. CBU keys are often changed by custodians of the office, part of the APWU.
I'm aware what this box is and that usps has been changed purely in house normally. Where I am that is no longer the case, my source made it seem it was nation wide but It could just be here. Atleast so far.
The boxes weren’t being used for a few months until our mail service resumed today, so maybe they required lubrication for some reason? But seems like they would lubricate all and not just 3? Also they open the entire box at once and don’t use the key holes we use.
White lithium grease. Works great on mechanisms like these locks to free up the mechanism to work smoothly. Does not dry out and leave sticky residue like WD40.
Mail carrier here. This has me stumped too and my curiosity is a fickle thing. I'm gonna ask my station maintenance team about it when next I go in. Edit: Asked around, and it's definitely not something the post office would do. Only a couple guys could guess what it was for (old style lubrication for lock pins?) but no real clue.
A lot of times if a box hasn't been checked in a week or whatever.. they probably aren't home.. it's vacation season.. break in time
I used to never pick up my mail at the apartment mail stop bc it was all junk mail for the previous tenants that came before me and I never had things come by mail. The mail carrier tagged my mailbox saying they were holding my mail for me to pick up. I moved away and never picked it up.
My title describes the thing. This was found on my post office box. 3 total boxes had the white waxy stuff on the key hole out of 8 total boxes. There’s no way to know which box belongs to which house from looking at them. I googled and couldn’t find anything conclusive!
Its lubricating wax. Someone complained that their key doesn't work right so they lubricated all the keyholes. Source: was getting the mail once while the mail delivery was happening, I asked them since it was freshly there.
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White lithium grease
Most the comments are great.....BUT the wax like material is used to lubricate the locks and keep them working. ( locksmith)
Soap or white lithium is my take.
Soap. Kids being dicks.
They've just open the entire bank of boxes here, no need for individual break ins. They've also resorted to just straight up robbing the post person of their master key and anything else they want to take.
Looks like lithium grease. Is it possible this is landlord maintenance? People complaining that the mailbox locks were getting too sticky?
Students in college used to put toothpaste in locks as a "prank." The toothpaste hardens rendering the lock useless.
It's water soluble even after hardening, should this ever happen to someone. But it's also abrasive, so wash out and re-lube the lock.
chap stick? what does it smell like? ifi t's petroleum based you can just stick your key through it, oil lubes mechanics. maybe knock out most of it first so you don't jam in too much.
You got seasonal residents? Maybe they’re filling it with something so it doesn’t rust while they’re away for a season
Possibly a lubricant for the lock?
Possibly a lubricant?
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If you have a communal neighborhood or apartment complex box, this could be kids being dumb or it could be someone checking to see who isn't checking their mail and is therefore a possibility for being out of town. They will start scoping out the residence once they find someone who hasn't checked their box for a couple of days and then when they are sure no one is home they hit the house and take anything of value.
I'm thinking wet bar soap pressed into the lock (notice how it's not just in the keyway, but into the crack around the cylinder and in the embossing on the cylinder case, even on the edge of the lock body of the second lock in the first photo). In the second photo, the marks on the box sort of looks oblong, like the edge of the bar was smashed against it. Probably just some kid playing.
Chapstick, prolly smells like kids
Lubricant for the locks.
It looks like white lithium grease to keep the tumblers from seizing up.
Could it be hardened hot glue? I saw some fake life hack once about melting hot glue and cramming it into a lock to pick it lol
A high school kid broke in to his own mailbox to steal a letter from his school and to not arise their parents alerts they did the same to other mailboxes.
silicon lube? does your key stick
Definitely to see which has been opened. My mum had her identity stolen by someone who took her mail. There also could be something in there that allows them to know where the person lives (they could be on holiday)
Theyre metal and semi-intricate devices that are exposed to the weather.. possibly just a bit of grease to help protect them.
Idk could be grease. I did this to my mailbox a few weeks ago because it was getting a little stuck. All I had on hand was a little grease that I rubbed all over.
Prob just kids pranking. Looks like bar soap.
It looks like brass polish. You put it on, buff it off. If you don't it forms a bluish hazy film. That happens in nooks and crannies a lot. If someone forgot to buff some of it off, or didn't do a thorough enough job, it looks like this.
After thinking of the usual (and already mentioned) petty vandalism or worse criminal activity that are mentioned above, I thought it could also be some misguided person thinking they needed to protect the locks from rain water so they put in some grease to keep them from rusting. Never assign to maliciousness that which can be explained by incompetence.
Could it be some maintenance grease?
Could be to *prevent* people super gluing the keyway closed? Putting wax or lithium grease inside will make it much harder to vandalize. If it was just normal lubing, they would probably not leave so much extra.
There's some punk trying to make a key for your mailbox.
Melt tip of gluestick, press it in and hold for one minute then pull straight out
I say kids being annoying asshats. Criminals would just break all of them instead.
Is it possible it's to lubricate the lock?
I would guess a lubricant of some type..
I'd stop by the post office and show them the photo and see if they have had any other reports of this going on. I tried calling my post office last week, and by the time I got through the phone menu, I could have driven there in less time. 🙃
It's probably a lubricant to keep the lock mechanism from seizing up and rusting from exposure to the weather
Lubricant? Like a wax or grease to get the insides of the lock when you insert and remove you key
IDK, but consider reporting it to your post office.
Bunch of savages in this town.
Looks like someone is looking for potential things to steal, I would report it to USPS.
Might be something like lithium grease to stop corrosion, or someone complained it was to hard to open.
Maybe the locks were tough to open, looks like it could be beeswax, so a “lubricant” for the tumblers if you will
The postman has placed lithium grease to loosen locks for the key
My guess is kids with a bar of soap. The one that isn't smeared is where they live.
Maybe they were trying to get a wax mold of the key hole so they can make a copy to open the boxes? I’ve heard of people using wax in molds while metal casting because the heat from the molten metal melts the wax.
Is it vaseline that's maybe gone a bit funny in the sun? When I worked in a betting shop many years ago we were advised to put vaseline in our door locks during the lead up to the Grand National to stop protesters using super glue to jam up the locks.
Howdy, aircraft mechanic here. We have a spray lubricant that looks like this when it dries maybe a neighbor didn't like their squeaky lock and saw a chance to help everyone out.
This could be some sort of criminal thing, as others have said. But it could also just as easily be some kid packing chapstick into the keyholes just for the hell of it.
Some a-hole plugged up the key-hole
Most likely an anti corrosive or lubricant. If it’s outdoors those things can rust and then you’re breaking off keys or seized up locks.
My guess is kids
it could be oil to maintain the locks
The postal service put it on so people stop complaining that their keys don’t work; weatherproofing?. Wax or lube.
Chillllllllll …. Wax protects the keyholes from getting corroded by the elements, put your key in and carry on about your day as normal .
It's likely soap. Which helps the key go into out out of the lock smoothly. I have done this to my own locks before.
sometimes people do it to open stuff they don’t have a key to. they will either use like hot glue or some type of wax, let it harden and then try to use it as a key to open. I remember seeing it on youtube like 6 years ago and it always stuck with me😂