Mailbox

A mailbox is a type of container in Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas.

Characteristics
The term mailbox, also colloquially known as a letter box, refers to the many bent and rusted private receptacles for mail, still littering the wasteland after the Great War. They were typically used by the pre-War Post Office Department, and since the nuclear fire, now sometimes contain relics from former mail deliveries, letters from Vault-Tec or magazines for example, or other objects one would not expect in a mailbox, from cheap items, sometimes weapons or apparel through to explosives that surprise the careless wanderer by detonating if he approaches in search for valuables.

Fallout 3
There is a 5% chance that mailboxes in the Capital Wasteland will contain a letter from Vault-Tec, in which the recipient's inclusion in a chosen Vault-Tec facility is rejected.

In addition may be found … [read more] [Looted].

Fallout: New Vegas
There is a 20% chance that mailboxes in the Mojave Wasteland will contain what presumably was the last mail delivery, a skill magazine (True Police Stories excluded).

In addition may be found … [read more] [Looted].

Fallout 3

 * Guns and Bullets, a skill book in the mailbox near a crashed Nuka-Cola truck in the area of Old Olney's gas station. Additionally with a 5% chance the rejection letter.
 * Pugilism Illustrated, a skill book in the mailbox of the second house ruin to the left when entering Springvale via the road from Vault 101. Additionally with a 5% chance the rejection letter.
 * The only letter from Vault-Tec, in which the recipient's inclusion in a chosen Vault-Tec facility is accepted, in a mailbox at the house ruin northwest of the small ranch in Springvale. From the addressees, this house formerly belonged to Mr and Mrs Gomez. Nothing else is to be found in this mailbox.
 * A neighborly letter instead of one from Vault-Tec, along with the usual loot, in a mailbox in the ruins north-northwest of Tenpenny Tower.

Fallout 3

 * Clean mailbox – A unique mailbox that has preserved its pre-War look, located in the Tenpenny Tower suites directly in front of Herbert Dashwoods apartment. Besides the usual contents, it will never contain a Vault-Tec letter.
 * Mailbox – Mailboxes found in Point Lookout, differ from the typical wasteland variants, in regards to their content.
 * Mailbox – A single container in Springvale at the road coming from Vault 101, that has the appearance of the mail dropbox instead of the common variant. Its content differs also.

Fallout: New Vegas

 * Clean mailbox – Six of these, that have preserved their pre-War look, are located in Higgs Village . Besides their unique appearance, they do not differ from typical mailboxes found in the Mojave Wasteland.

Traps
With some mailboxes, their contents have been replaced by a trap. These traps are rigged to explode when one steps near them. The careful explorer can easily distinguish them from harmless mailboxes by the small metallic antenna poking out of the top of some part of the letter receptacle.
 * One in front of Kaelyn's Bed & Breakfast.
 * One of the multiple mailboxes around the raid shack.


 * One near the Monte Carlo Suites.

Bugs

 * Some of the loot lists contain items, that will never spawn. They are calculated into the chance, however.