Waterproof parcel letterbox: why parcels get wet

Parcels get wet in outdoor boxes because there is no standard that tests a parcel compartment against rain, and because almost nobody in this market publishes what their box actually does. What you can judge for yourself is the construction: where the openings are, whether the flap closes by itself, how the seams run and whether the water has anywhere to go.

Below is what we checked on 26 August 2026 with standards publishers, with the consumer desk of the ACM (the Dutch Authority for Consumers and Markets), with the KNMI (the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute), with PostNL and with ten brands of letterboxes and parcel boxes. For each source you can read what it says, and just as important: for each brand, whether or not we were able to check it. You will not find that distinction at a webshop, because a webshop passes on the manufacturer's text and does not put the sources next to it. We make our boxes ourselves in our own factory, so we know where a sheet steel box lets water in and where it does not, and we write it down with the source alongside, or with a note that the source is missing.

• 795 mmnormal annual rainfall in the Netherlands, KNMI
• 53frost days a year in De Bilt, KNMI normal value
• 12.5 l/minwater jet in the IPX5 test according to IEC 60529
• 55 µmzinc layer that lasts 50 to more than 100 years in class C3, Zinkinfo Benelux

What does the letterbox standard say about rain and water?

The European standard for letterbox openings is NEN-EN 13724:2013, titled "Postal services - Apertures of private letter boxes and letter plates - Requirements and test methods". It was published on 1 April 2013, runs to 33 pages and costs €92.65 from the Dutch standards institute NEN, or €85.00 with a discount. That is the first thing that stands out: the only standard cited in this market is a document a consumer cannot read without paying almost a hundred euros for it.

The scope of the standard reads literally: "This European Standard specifies the requirements and the test methods of the apertures for the delivery of letter post items when fitted in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions. It takes into account security, impregnability, safety and performance for the recipient, and ergonomics and efficiency for delivery personnel." Read that word apertures carefully. The standard is about the opening through which post goes in, not about the box as a whole and not about a parcel compartment. The words rain and water do not appear in the scope or the abstract on the NEN product page.

The water test we could not confirm

There is a figure doing the rounds. A summary of the standard published by the British trade union CWU in February 2018 says: "resistance against water penetration (to test this a special sprinkling system is used, maximum penetration allowed is 1 ccm)". Put simply: there is said to be a sprinkler test in which no more than 1 cm3, so 1 millilitre of water, may get in. That figure is not confirmed anywhere else and it comes from a union document, not from a standards publisher. We have not been able to see the full text of the standard: NEN sells it, as do DIN Media, BSI and AFNOR, and the iTeh Standards catalogue page gave no content. So treat the figure of 1 millilitre as an indication from a summary, not as a quote from the standard.

Manufacturers who summarise the standard do say something about it. Max Knobloch describes the requirements of DIN EN 13724 as including "Resistance to corrosion according to EN 1670 and against the ingress of water (rain test and determination of the permitted amount of water that has penetrated)", with the practical result of "no wet mail with proper delivery". Briefkasten-Manufaktur writes that posted items must not be affected by the defined water test as long as the openings are closed, and adds that its page is only a summary. The Knobloch configurator phrases it as an absolute requirement: "Das Postgut darf grundsätzlich im Briefkastenfach nicht durchnässt werden (oder gar im Wasser stehen)." Cenator writes that only closed letterboxes may be used, so that the post does not get wet in the rain.

Four manufacturers, four phrasings, and not one that gives the spray flow rate, the spray angle, the duration or the distance. We looked for those test parameters and did not find them. That does not mean the test does not exist; it means that as a buyer you cannot check whether a box passes it.

Water ratings do not exist here

More important than the missing flow rate: in none of the sources we consulted is there a classification for rain or water tightness within EN 13724. The standard works with posting size classes. According to Briefkasten-Manufaktur and the Knobloch configurator there are three: format 1 transverse, 325 to 400 mm wide by 30 to 35 mm high; format 2 longitudinal, 230 to 280 mm wide by 30 to 35 mm high; and format 3 transverse and taller, 325 to 400 mm wide by 35 to 45 mm high. The test uses a flexible test piece 24 mm thick that must go in and come back out unfolded and undamaged. For comparison: a C4 envelope, which holds an A4 sheet, is 229 by 324 mm.

So that is what does get classified: the size of the hole. Not how much water blows in through it. If you want to know more about the dimensions that matter in the Netherlands, read the letterbox requirements in the Netherlands.

The sources disagree about the height

Another example of how shaky the secondary information is. On the installation height of the posting opening, three sources say three things. The CWU document gives 700 to 1700 mm above the ground. The Knobloch configurator gives the same 700 to 1700 mm for the bottom of the lowest and the top of the highest opening, plus a separate requirement that the lock axis must be between 900 and 1300 mm. Cenator gives a minimum of 70 and a maximum of 170 cm and recommends 120 to 140 cm. Three summaries of the same standard, three different sets of figures.

What the Dutch regulator requires

Through its consumer desk, the ACM does publish requirements that apply in the Netherlands. They are concrete: the letter slot must be at least 26.5 centimetres long and 3.2 centimetres wide, the slot is best placed at 110 centimetres from the ground and in any case not lower than 60 and not higher than 180 centimetres, the letterbox is no more than 10 metres from the public road, and the space behind the slot is at least 27 by 15 by 38 centimetres. Those requirements say nothing about rain, water or weather protection. So in the Netherlands you can fully meet the published requirements with a letterbox in which post gets wet. See the requirements page of the ACM consumer desk.

Which brands publish anything about rain tightness, and what could we check?

This is the section this page exists for. On 26 August 2026 we retrieved, for each brand, the homepage and where possible a product overview, and scanned them for water, rain, moisture, waterproof, drainage, sealing, weather-resistant, EN 13724 and IP code. The result is below, and we make a distinction you rarely see: what we could read, and what we could not retrieve. A site that returns a 401 or a DNS error says nothing about the brand. So that is how we write it down.

The conclusion is sharp and limited to what we actually read. Of the brands with a readable page, Allux, Bravios, Logixbox, Frabox, Knobloch, Cenator, Briefkasten-Manufaktur and Bloq.it, none publishes a test method, a measured water ingress, an IP code or a specification of sealing or drainage. The strongest claims are a twelve-year guarantee against rust and the word weather-resistant without a definition. The only manufacturer that gives a measurable figure does so about corrosion, not about water.

About five brands we can say nothing, and we write that down too: eSafe, Renz, Burg-Wächter, Keilbach and Parcel Home could not be checked on 26 August 2026 in the way we checked the other brands. For Radius Design, Juliana and the letterbox manufacturer MEFA, we could not even establish which domain was the right one. Anyone who wrote on that basis that those brands publish nothing would be selling you a conclusion that has not been researched.

What do IPX4, IPX5 and IPX6 mean in litres per minute?

If there is no water rating for letterboxes, what do you measure with? The only objective system there is, is the IP code from IEC 60529. The current edition is IEC 60529:1989 plus AMD1:1999 plus AMD2:2013 CSV, edition 2.2, published on 29 August 2013. And there is an immediate catch: the scope says the standard "applies to the classification of degrees of protection provided by enclosures for electrical equipment with a rated voltage not exceeding 72,5 kV".

A letterbox without electronics is not electrical equipment and so does not need an IP code. A manufacturer that puts IP44 on a post box is using the code outside its normative scope. That can be informative, but it is not conformity with IEC 60529. Even so, it is the only figure with which you can compare two boxes on water tightness, and that is why we explain it here. The notation IPX4 means: the first digit, for dust and solid objects, has not been tested or stated, and the second digit, for water, is 4. Hyphens do not belong in it: IPX-8 is not a valid code.

The parameters in this table come from a technical summary of IEC 60529 and were consulted on 26 August 2026. We could not retrieve a primary IEC page with the full table: two pages on iec.ch returned HTTP 403. Only the scope and publication date of IEC 60529 are established from a primary source, via the IEC Webstore. A second supplier of IP tables, DSMT, gives the same descriptions but publishes no litres, no kPa and no durations.

The difference nobody explains in the shop

We found no citable source for the exact flow rate of the IPX4 test in litres per minute. In practice 10 l/min is often quoted, but that did not come back in a source in this research, so we do not state the figure. What is established is the difference between the two families. IP44 and IP54 test against spraying water. IP55 and IP65 test against a jet of 12.5 l/min from a 6.3 mm nozzle at 30 kPa. That is exactly the difference between ordinary rain and driving rain hitting a seam under pressure. Two boxes that look identical can sit on either side of that line, and without a published code you do not know which side.

Where exactly does water get into a parcel letterbox?

Now the technical part. Unlike an ordinary letterbox, a parcel letterbox has at least two large openings: the drop flap where the delivery driver puts the parcel in and the door where you take it out. Every opening is a seam, and every seam is a possible water path. Below we name the seven places where water gets in. This is structural analysis based on how a sheet steel box is built, not a measurement, and we do not attach any figure to it that we do not have.

1. The letter slot. A slot of at least 26.5 by 3.2 centimetres is by definition a hole in the front. With wind blowing straight at the facade, water blows in through it unless there is an overhang or a hinged inner lip behind it.
2. The parcel flap. The flap is the largest opening on the box. According to the Knobloch configurator, a drop flap must close by itself after posting, regardless of where it stands and how it is mounted. A flap that stays half open is the most direct water path there is.
3. The flap's hinge line. Where the flap pivots, there is a continuous gap. If that gap is on the top and there is no overhang above it, rainwater runs along the sheet towards it.
4. The door seam. Around the door runs a seam that moves hundreds of times a year in use. Above the door, what matters most is whether the top edge of the box falls over the door or dips in behind it.
5. Screw holes in the top. A hole in the top panel, made for mounting or for a name plate, is a funnel. Water that sits on the top panel looks for the lowest opening.
6. The seam between lid and body. Two sheets butted against each other let water through by capillary action, unless they overlap in the direction the water runs or the seam takes a detour.
7. Wind-blown and splashing water. Briefkasten-Manufaktur names driving rain, splashing water and the lack of a canopy as the three risks you need to weigh up when planning the location. Water splashing up from the paving slabs gets into a low-mounted box from underneath.

Each water path is matched by a structural detail: a drip edge that keeps water off the seam, a weather bar that guides it forwards, an overhang that keeps the seam out of the rain, and a labyrinth seam in which water has to turn two corners before it gets in. Those terms come from the building trade, and that is exactly where our source research stalled: the Dutch building reference that describes these details refused the request, and we could not find a standards page with water tightness classes for windows and doors. So we present the details as trade logic and not as a sourced claim.

Why is a box wet inside when it has not rained?

This is the question we are asked most often, and the answer has nothing to do with rain. It is about condensation. The KNMI defines the dew point as "the temperature at which water vapour starts to condense as the air cools". Relative humidity indicates how much water vapour the air holds at the current temperature; at 100 per cent the air is saturated. Outdoors, according to the KNMI, relative humidity ranges from less than 20 per cent to 100 per cent. Indoors it is usually between 60 and 70 per cent.

If a surface drops below the dew point of the surrounding air, water vapour settles on it as liquid water. A sheet steel box is the perfect setting for this: sheet steel has little heat capacity and follows the outside temperature quickly. On a clear night the top panel radiates heat to the sky and cools below the air temperature. If moist air then passes, for example as the sun comes up and the temperature rises, moisture condenses on the inside of the sheet. Not a drop of rain has got in, and yet there is water in the box.

Calculating the dew point, if you want to know

If you want to be precise, you can approximate the dew point with the Magnus-Tetens formula: Td equals b times alpha divided by a minus alpha, where a is 17.625 and b is 243.04 degrees Celsius, valid from minus 40 to plus 50 degrees Celsius. In practical terms: at an air temperature of 10 degrees and 90 per cent relative humidity, the dew point is just below the air temperature, and then a sheet only needs to cool by a few tenths of a degree to get wet. On a Dutch autumn night that is the normal situation, not the exception.

What helps against condensation is air movement and a way for water to get out. Ventilation holes let moist air escape before it cools, and drainage holes at the lowest point make sure no film of water is left standing for a cardboard box to sit in. We found no building physics source with a figure for this: as far as we could check, there is no publication with a dew point calculation example for an unheated metal outdoor box. So treat this as trade knowledge with an explained mechanism, not as a measured value. If you want to track condensation and moisture without opening the door, read our article on a smart parcel letterbox with sensor and notification.

Which material lasts longest outdoors, and what does 240 hours of salt spray say?

A box that keeps water out but rusts through in five years has only postponed the problem. For material and corrosion, unlike rain tightness, there are hard figures and there is a system of standards. This is the best-substantiated part of this article.

Galvanised steel and corrosivity categories C1 to C5

ISO 12944-2:2017, published in November 2017, defines atmospheric corrosivity categories based on the mass loss or thickness loss of standard test pieces. The classification C1 to C5 and CX comes from EN ISO 9223 and 9224. Chlorides and sulphur dioxide are the decisive parameters: the more salt and sulphur in the air, the higher the category. Zinkinfo Benelux, the trade association for galvanising, quotes the table with zinc loss in the first year for each category.

The figure to remember is one line further down in the same publication: with a standard zinc layer thickness of 55 micrometres, category C3 has an expected time to first maintenance of 50 to more than 100 years. That is why zinc on steel is the standard solution outdoors and not a compromise.

We also say what we could not establish here. The descriptions per category, in other words which category belongs to rural, urban, industrial or coastal with moderate or high salt exposure, we did not find in a citable source. So there is no source for a hard distinction between the Dutch coast and inland either. What is established is that chlorides determine the exposure and that salt exposure is higher by the sea. If you live a kilometre from the beach, assume a higher category than someone in Gelderland, and treat that as a reasoned assumption, not a published figure.

Galvanising, coating and the duplex system

There is a difference between methods of galvanising. Hot-dip galvanising to BS EN ISO 1461 requires a minimum layer thickness of 85 micrometres for steel thicker than 6 mm. According to the same source, electrolytic galvanising forms a thinner but much stronger bond with the steel. We did not find a layer thickness figure for electrolytic galvanising, so the practical consequence can only be put qualitatively: a thinner zinc layer has less in reserve if it gets scratched.

Then there is the coating. According to the technical literature, powder coating usually needs a film build of more than 50 micrometres for an acceptably smooth result, and above 300 micrometres the fluidised bed method is used. Pretreatment is decisive: oil, dirt, grease, metal oxides and mill scale must be removed, chemically with phosphates or chromates by dipping or spraying, or mechanically by blasting with steel grit. Powder coating is used outdoors for its corrosion protection, weather resistance and temperature resistance.

Powder over zinc is known in the trade as a duplex system, and it is the strongest combination: the coating keeps water and oxygen away from the zinc, and the zinc protects the steel wherever the coating gets damaged. Zinkinfo Benelux has a separate technical information sheet on it, number 31, on outgassing effects in powder coatings on hot-dip galvanised steel. We mention it as a reference, because we did not retrieve its content.

Plastic, aluminium and stainless steel

Here we have to be brief, and that is exactly the point. For UV degradation of plastic letterboxes, for aluminium outdoors and for stainless steel outdoors, we did not retrieve a citable source in this research. Nor did we find anything usable on filiform corrosion, the thread-like corrosion that spreads under a coating from a point of damage, or on the difference between polyester and epoxy powder coating in terms of UV resistance. Anyone who tells you that aluminium is by definition better than galvanised steel, or that plastic never discolours, does so on their own authority. We would rather write down what we do not know than make a comparison that cannot be substantiated.

Why 240 hours of salt spray is not a lifespan promise

For corrosion resistance, EN 13724 refers to EN 1670, and that standard can be read freely. EN 1670 has five grades, each with a corresponding duration in the neutral salt spray test according to ISO 9227.

Put those two figures side by side and you see the problem a consumer never comes across. The summary of EN 13724 mentions a 240-hour salt spray test. The manufacturer that is most open about it states grade 3 for its own installations, so 96 hours. That is a factor of 2.5 within the same system of standards, and it does not appear in any webshop specification.

Now the most important nuance, and it comes from two sources that confirm each other. Zinkinfo Benelux writes about the salt spray test according to ISO 9227 that samples in a temperature-controlled cabinet are continuously sprayed with a salt solution at 35 degrees, and states explicitly: "Salt spray tests are not intended to be used for comparative testing as a means of ranking different protective systems against each other in terms of corrosion resistance." The reason is that the conditions are unrealistic: permanently wet, with 5 per cent sodium chloride, compared with about 2.4 per cent in North Sea water.

The technical literature on the salt spray test says the same. ASTM B117, the first internationally recognised salt spray standard, was originally published in 1939 and uses 5 per cent sodium chloride, a pH between 6.5 and 7.2 and a collection rate of 1 to 2 millilitres per 80 square centimetres per hour. And then the core: "the salt spray test has little application in predicting how materials or surface coatings will resist corrosion in the real world, because it does not create, replicate or accelerate real-world corrosive conditions." So a number of hours of salt spray is a check on how well a coating has been applied, not a prediction of how many years your box will last. Anyone who presents it as a lifespan promise is stretching the meaning of the test.

Salt spray tests are not intended to be used for comparative testing as a means of ranking different protective systems against each other in terms of corrosion resistance.Zinkinfo Benelux, technical information sheet 14, consulted 26 August 2026

What do frost, snow and ice do to your parcel letterbox?

The Netherlands is not the Arctic, but winter is a fixture. The KNMI gives De Bilt a normal of 53 frost days a year, meaning days on which the minimum temperature drops below zero. In 2025 there were 55. The comparison normal on that page is the long-term average, with the period 1991 to 2020 explicitly named for January. That same year was very warm, averaging 11.4 degrees against a normal of 10.5 degrees. So a warmer year does not mean fewer frost days.

53 frost days is more than seven weeks a year in which water left behind in a seam or a lock cylinder can freeze. Water expands when it freezes, and that is why frost can push open a seam that was tight in itself. Three things happen to an outdoor box in winter.

First, condensation in the form of hoarfrost. The Magnus formula for the dew point is valid from minus 40 to plus 50 degrees, so the dew point can be below zero. If it is below zero, moisture settles on the inside of the sheet not as droplets but as frost. At the first bit of sunshine it melts, and only then do you have water in the box, hours after it formed.

Second, snow on and under the flap. According to the manufacturer summaries, the self-closing drop flap is a requirement of the standard: the flap must close by itself after posting, regardless of where it stands and how it is mounted. A layer of wet snow on the flap, or a lump of snow stuck under the edge, can leave that flap hanging open. At that moment, a box that meets the standard is an open box. This is one of the few points where a user really can do something: brush the top and the edge of the flap clear when there is snow.

Third, ice in the lock. Here we hit a blind spot in the public information, and we name it explicitly. We tried eight pages from two well-known suppliers of lubricants and locks, and all of them returned a 404 or contained nothing about lock maintenance. So this research established no manufacturer advice on lubricants in frost. What can and cannot go into a frozen cylinder, and why hot water backfires, we cannot back up with a source. If you are considering a combination lock or a smart lock, the comparison is in combination lock, key lock or smart lock.

We were also unable to retrieve the lowest temperature ever measured in the Netherlands from a KNMI source: both lists of extremes returned a 404. So that figure is not in this article, because a figure from memory is not a figure.

What does moisture do to cardboard, and who is liable if your parcel gets wet?

The box is the means, the contents are the goal. Almost every parcel delivered in the Netherlands is packed in corrugated cardboard, and corrugated cardboard is a material that absorbs moisture and loses strength as it does. The technical literature gives a moisture content range of 6.5 to 9.5 per cent, explaining that below a certain limit cardboard starts to crack and above it loses stacking strength. That is why a box that has been wet feels limp, and why the bottom gives way first when you lift it.

What we did not find is a percentage of strength loss at a given relative humidity, nor Cobb values for water absorption of parcel cardboard. So there is no source that lets you say a box loses so much of its strength at so much humidity. The mechanism is established, the figure is not.

What carriers say about moisture

Very little, is the answer. On 26 August 2026 we looked at three PostNL pages on packaging and delivery. The retrieved text on packaging gives as the reason for packing well that parcels travel along conveyor belts through sorting machines and are stacked in containers. The retrieved text says nothing about moisture, water, rain, waterproof packaging, double-wall corrugated board or padding. The underlying text blocks are loaded via JavaScript and we could not retrieve them, so we do not say PostNL writes nothing about it; we say it was not in the text we retrieved.

DHL's packaging guidelines could not be reached: two pages returned a 404. And PostNL's general terms and conditions are indexed, in three categories, but we could not open the underlying PDF files with the liability clauses and maximum amounts. So this research did not establish a single carrier condition on water damage or on liability after delivery into a box. That is a big gap in the public information, and it is not a detail: it is about who gets the bill.

The agreed location, and why that category matters

On its page about delivery when you are not home, PostNL lists these alternatives: "Then we deliver your parcel to the neighbours or to a PostNL point." And further down: "For example at a PostNL point or parcel locker nearby. Or at an agreed location, such as your shed." On that page PostNL does not mention a parcel letterbox or parcel box as a delivery option, and says nothing about who is responsible once the parcel has been left at an agreed location. See the PostNL page about not being home for a delivery.

That wording, "at an agreed location, such as your shed", is legally exactly the category a parcel letterbox falls into, and PostNL does not work out the consequences on that page. If you want to know how that plays out in practice and what a delivery driver may and may not do, read can PostNL put a parcel in your parcel letterbox and what each carrier does.

The picture is the same at the regulator. The ACM consumer desk has six pages under the Post theme: no advertising in the letterbox, complaints about post delivery, requirements for my letterbox, the registered letter as proof, the price of stamps, and a letterbox or service point that disappears. There is no ACM page about a damaged or wet parcel and no ACM page about liability for delivery at an agreed location. Nor does the ACM set any water requirement for a letterbox, as the list of requirements earlier in this article showed. In short: there is a regulator, there are requirements, and water appears in neither.

Which eight questions should you ask a seller about rain tightness?

Because there is no standard and no rating, you have to test it yourself. Below are eight questions you can put to any seller or manufacturer, whatever the brand. They are phrased so that an answer along the lines of "weather-resistant" or "high-quality materials" will not do. Print them out, or keep them open on your phone in the shop.

1. Has the box been tested for water ingress, and by what method? Ask for the method, not the verdict. If the answer names the standard, ask which part of which standard and what result was measured.
2. Is there an IP code, and which part of the box does it apply to? We did not find a published IP code at any manufacturer. If one is mentioned anyway, ask whether it is IP44, IP54, IP55 or IP65, because that is the difference between spraying and a jet of 12.5 litres per minute.
3. Does the drop flap close by itself, in every mounting position? According to the manufacturer summaries, this is a requirement of the standard. Have it demonstrated: open the flap, let go, see whether it drops fully back.
4. Is there an overhang or drip edge above the flap and above the door? Check whether the top edge falls over the opening or dips in behind it. You can feel that with a finger.
5. How does the seam between lid and body run? Do the sheets overlap in the direction the water runs, or are they butted against each other? An overlap in the right direction costs nothing and always works.
6. Are there drainage or ventilation holes, and where exactly? At the lowest point of the parcel compartment, water should be able to drain away. Without drainage, the bottom of a box sits in a film of water.
7. What is on the steel, and how thick is it? Ask about galvanising and the coating on top. A duplex system, coating over zinc, is not the same as coating directly on steel.
8. What is the salt spray grade, and what does it mean according to the supplier? If someone quotes 240 hours, ask whether they know that the galvanising trade association states that salt spray tests are not intended to rank protective systems against each other.

If you get no concrete answer to seven of the eight questions, you know something important: nothing has been measured, or nothing has been published. That does not by definition make it a bad box; it means you have to judge it on its construction, not on its copy. When setting your budget, what a good parcel letterbox costs helps, as it explains where your money goes.

What can you do yourself to keep your box drier?

Where the box stands does more for keeping your parcels dry than any specification. Briefkasten-Manufaktur names driving rain, splashing water and the lack of a canopy as the three things to weigh up when planning the location. That is the only placement advice on water we found at a manufacturer, and it is good advice.

Three measures we give as our own advice, without claiming a source, because we found no citable publication for these three. One: put the box on a raised base, so that rainwater lying on the paving does not reach the bottom edge. Two: make sure there is a drain at the lowest point of the compartment and keep it clear of leaves, because a blocked hole is no hole at all. Three: check the seams and the edge of the flap twice a year, when you tidy the garden in autumn and in spring. Five minutes' work.

If you move the box to keep it drier, bear in mind the placement requirements of the Dutch Postregeling 2009: the slot at 1.1 metres, not lower than 0.6 and not higher than 1.8 metres according to article 6 paragraph 2, and reachable within ten metres of the edge of the road according to article 5 paragraph 4. The ACM consumer desk and PostNL give the same figures in centimetres. The delivery driver must be able to find your letterbox easily and reach it without difficulty. A box under a deep overhang behind the house is dry and gets skipped. Why that happens is explained in why your delivery driver skips your parcel letterbox. For trouble-free wall mounting on your facade there is hanging a wall-mounted model without leaks or cold bridges, and for a column in the garden freestanding installation: foundation, height and the ten-metre rule. If you fix a column in place, do it on paving slabs or in concrete; how that works is in anchoring a parcel letterbox.

How is a BunnyBox built, and which model suits your location?

Up to this point this article has been about the market and the technology. Now the facts about our own models, and nothing more than the facts. All series are made of 0.7 mm galvanised sheet steel with Qualicoat Class 2 powder coating with zinc phosphate pretreatment, so coating over zinc. The drop flap is on top, where the delivery driver uses it. The door where you take the parcel out has a key lock and comes with two keys. The colours are RAL 9005 black, RAL 9010 white, RAL 7036 platinum grey and RAL 7016 anthracite, plus combinations with dark teak or light oak. We make them ourselves in our own factory, and that is why we can be exact about material and construction.

Two things stand out when you put those dimensions next to the ACM requirements. The freestanding models are 100 to 112 centimetres high, so the posting opening falls within the band of 0.6 to 1.8 metres prescribed by article 6 paragraph 2 of the Dutch Postregeling 2009, and close to the 1.1 metres given there as the standard. That makes choosing a column a practical choice for the delivery driver too. And the parcel compartment of a freestanding model is almost half a metre high, so it holds a week of orders: the Home and the Style take up to 14 book packages, the Plus 18, and every freestanding model takes four shoeboxes. Phone boxes: 40 in the Home and the Style, 42 in the Plus, 9 in the Compact.

This is how you choose in practice. If you have a facade or a storage shed next to the door, the Compact is the wall-mounted model, and it is the only series supplied pre-assembled: unpack, hang, done. If you want a column with a wood-effect front and a separate letter slot, the Style is the answer. If you want the largest parcel compartment of the freestanding models with a single compartment, that is the Home. If you often order boxes deeper than 370 mm, or you want to keep post and parcels strictly separate, the Plus is the model: parcels up to 450 x 320 x 210 mm and post in a separate compartment. Still not sure? Which BunnyBox suits me goes through the four models, and which size parcel letterbox do I need starts from your own ordering habits. Always someone home with a BunnyBox.

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Frequently asked questions about a waterproof parcel letterbox