Mail Box

We have this mail box that hangs on the outside wall. It had a lock with no key.  The previous owners said they never got a key from the first owner. We have been unable to unlock the mail box.

We get one bill a month from the utility company. Once, we got a couple of tax bills addressed to the previous owner.  We don't really need a mail box but we have it so we keep checking for mail in case we actually get something important. We also want it to work properly, for some unknown reason.

For months, we have tried to "fish out" mail  from the small slot at the top of the box.  Our hands are too large to actually fit into the slot to retrieve mail.  We can reach down just far enough to touch a piece of paper.  We can't retrieve mail.  Nor can we determine if there is actual mail in the box. Rick has used my makeup mirror and long tongs to retrieve items from the box.  

We had a brilliant plan to remove the lock and get a new one from the hardware store with a key.  Rick started fiddling around with the door on the box and discovered that it was held shut only by a small spring.  All we had to do is pull the door open...with or without the lock.  

All this time of struggling with that mail box and all we had to do was pull it open.  Geeesh!