If you receive your mail through a post office box, a private mailbox provider or an apartment building, you have to unlock it to retrieve your mail. These locks come in different forms and utilize either a combination or a key. You can open a mailbox lock as long as you have the combination or the key.

Things You Will Need

  • Mailbox number

  • Combination

  • Key

Enter the post office, mailbox facility or apartment mailbox area where you rent a locked mailbox. Find your mailbox, identifiable by the number given to you when you paid for your mailbox rental.

Place your mailbox key into the lock, if your mailbox utilizes a key to unlock it. Insert the key with the teeth facing downward until you can't push it in any further. Turn the key clockwise until you hear the lock click, then pull open your mailbox lock.

Set your combination dial at 0 to start opening a combination mailbox lock. Turn the knob so the 0 on the combination knob is even with the notch next to the dial. Turn the knob clockwise, pass the first number in your combination twice and line that number up with the notch on the third time around. Turn the knob counterclockwise, pass the second number in your combination once and line that number up with the notch on the second time around. Rotate the knob clockwise to the third number in your combination. This time, land on the number immediately without passing it. Turn the lever on your mailbox downward and pull open your mailbox.