Flag Attachment for Brick Column Installations

Mail Boss column installations look really sharp, but can present a problem for sending mail. How does one notify the mail carrier of outgoing mail without using the flag?

Some customers have solved this problem by securing the flag to the outside of the column, while others have forgone the flag altogether. Well, we recently received an e-mail from a Mail Boss customer named Lynn who came up with the perfect solution to this problem.

It’s so brilliant, yet so simple… You just need a magnet, and a bit of glue!

Lynn writes:

Hello,

I don’t know if you have ever had someone raise the question of “How do I mount the Mail Alert flag when using the Mail Boss in a brick mailbox structure?” Here is one man’s way of answering that question.

I was going to mount the flag that came with my MailBoss to the brick, but my wife nixed that idea so I came up with another approach. Glue a magnet to the flag!

The adhesive I used was J-B Weld, a 2-part epoxy. I had tried superglue type but it wouldn’t hold the magnet on the plastic. I don’t have much test time to see if J-B Weld will hold, but it has yet to fail me when used in the past.

The Mail Boss has a natural area (due to the rain shield projection) for the magnet attachment when placed in a brick column. The outgoing letter door provided a suitable place to store the flag when not required.

I thought you might enjoy the pictures of how i solved flag placement. Attached are 4 pictures. Anyway, you can see that the Mail Boss is perfect for my project and I love it!!

Thank You for creating the Mail Boss……

Lynn

Modified Flag in Alert Position

Modified Flag in Alert Position

Modified Flag with Magnet

Modified Flag with Magnet

Modified Flag in Store Position

Modified Flag in Store Position

Completed Mail Boss Column Install

Completed Mail Boss Column Install

Pretty slick, huh? His method of incorporating the flag in the column installation is so innovative, we wish we’d come up with it ourselves!

EDITED TO ADD: Since the original posting of this feature story, Lynn has contacted us to add: “The J-B Weld epoxy I used to attach a magnet to the plastic flag is still intact after several years of service and appears to be good to go for many more years.”

3 Comments

  1. Jenny on May 13, 2015 at 12:47 am

    Thank you so much for sharing this ingenious idea! I just started renting a house with a brick mailbox with no flag, and it has been a struggle coming up with a solution. This is the perfect answer for me. I’m so happy I found this page!

  2. Jenn on July 19, 2016 at 6:00 am

    Thank you so much! Wow, this saves a lot of trouble I’ve been having

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