Mailbox question

[gmaster1]

So I figured this would be a bit more popular now in 2016 to search for, but I've only seen a few articles and threads--nothing concrete.

I wired Ethernet up to my mailbox a while ago. I put a simple PIR sensor in it that reports back to my smart home Raspberry Pi to trigger a pic of who opened the mailbox from a cam mounted on the house. It also logs the activity on a smart home web portal I built from scratch yada yada.. Pretty cool and simple to do. Sensors like these have been around for ages in retail (wireless versions). However--I would like to see whether or not there is mail inside the box though, so my thought was that I could put a tiny IR-CUT cam in there (one of those 1" x 1" x 1" USFF cubes) and use the existing wire I have. Basically let the cam act as the sensor and also give me the ability to see what's in there and when.

Has anyone done this? I realize modifications of mailboxes is a federal situation, but again these sensors and other similar gadgets have been around for years without issue, so I'm wondering how far those laws stretch I suppose...

 

[fenderman]

Federal law prohibits vandalizing the mailbox...putting a camera in there for security would not be considered vandalism....

 

[Keyboard]

WOW! That seems a little overboard to me. Is there a big problem with mail theft in your area?

 

[gmaster1]

Very low crime area to be honest. It's just a convenience thing, really. The mailman for whatever reason opens the box whether he has anything or not, and I never put anything in there for him to take (the flag always stays down), so again more convenience than anything else. Also worthy to note the entire house is wired up more than any other house you'll find in the state, so running Ethernet to all four corners of the yard isn't that outlandish when you consider that almost every appliance in the house has an IP address...