This time of year creatures are coming back to life or migrating up to Maine for the warm season. With this comes new neighbors that we may or may not be particularly fond of. One of those 'new neighbors' may be the nesting kind and where they may decide to put their nest may be very inconvenient or even dangerous for our mail carriers.

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Be mindful of your mailbox in the spring

Right now, there are flying and stinging insects that want to nest in our mailboxes. It's a relatively quiet, enclosed, and stable place to build a hive so, you really can't blame them. But, we need this space safe for our mail carriers.

The Common wasp.
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Right now in the State of Maine, we are seeing wasps, hornets, and yellow jackets starting their nests. This is according to the UMaine Cooperative Extension webpage about these aggressive, stinging insects we see here. And one of the places that may seem quite appealing for these insects could be your mailbox.

Ways to deter aggressive pests from your mailbox

According to Reader's Digest, a dryer sheet placed in your mailbox will deter certain aggressive pests to avoid making your mailbox home. It is claimed that a scented dryer sheet or two will help keep away stinging insects like hornets, wasps, and yellow jackets and prevent them from wanting to stay in your mailbox and build a nest.
There is some debate on whether this is urban legend or fact but, the argument behind this method is that the smell given off from the dryer sheet is a strong smell and an unusual smell that these insects won't be familiar with. Both of these points could be reasons why these insects will avoid the mailbox. Additionally, stinging flying insects like wasps aren't big fans of strong smells like eucalyptus, citronella, and cloves. So swapping out your aired out dryer sheets with fresh out-of-the-box ones will supposedly help keep the insects away and hopefully make for a stress-free visit to your mailbox for your mail carrier.

Let's keep our mail carriers safe this spring!

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Even if it's just urban legend, it may be worth your effort and make your mail carrier know you are looking out for their safety.

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