# Damaged Mailbox: Who Repairs It? (USPS Rules) | Who Pays the Repair?

> Your mailbox is your own property under USPS rules; willful destruction is a separate federal crime.

**Who pays:** owner

Under USPS rules the purchase, installation, maintenance and replacement of your mailbox are not the Postal Service's responsibility; willful destruction of a mailbox is a separate federal crime.

**Boundary:** A curbside mailbox is the customer's own property under USPS regulation (DMM §508), so purchase, installation, and maintenance are the owner's responsibility, not the Postal Service's; willful destruction of a mailbox is instead a federal crime under 18 U.S.C. §1705.

**Exceptions:** Willful or malicious destruction of a mailbox is a federal crime under 18 U.S.C. 1705

## Sources
- [Domestic Mail Manual (DMM) §508: Recipient Services, Mail Receptacles](https://pe.usps.com/cpim/ftp/manuals/dmm300/508.pdf) — "The purchase, installation, maintenance, and replacement of mail receptacles used by customers for mail delivery are not the responsibility of the USPS. However, the USPS may authorize neighborhood delivery and collection boxes and parcel lockers to be purchased, installed, maintained, or replaced by the USPS." (accessed 2026-09-29)
- [18 U.S. Code §1705: Destruction of letter boxes or mail](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1705) — "Whoever willfully or maliciously injures, tears down or destroys any letter box or other receptacle intended or used for the receipt or delivery of mail on any mail route, or breaks open the same or willfully or maliciously injures, defaces or destroys any mail deposited therein, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both." (accessed 2026-09-29)

_Last verified 2026-09-29. Source: Who Pays the Repair? — https://whopaystherepair.com/rules/damaged-mailbox-who-repairs-it/ — every claim checked against a primary source before publication (see /methodology/)._