Having letters delivered to your address should, you'd expect, be a straightforward business. But because apartments rarely have traditional front door letterboxes, that's not always the case. Occupants usually have to make do with a bank of individually numbered, identical mailboxes, usually located in the foyer or hallway of the apartment block.

All of the individual post boxes in the several apartment blocks Iive lived in have been small in size and rarely of a robust construction. Usually they're easily accessed, and that's the big problem.

Retrieving mail, legally or illegally, isn't usually dependent on having a key to open the door. You can easily insert your fingers into the flap and since most boxes are shallow in depth, retrieving mail, particularly if there are several items in the box, is relatively easy, even for someone without any great degree of manual dexterity.

And a thief in a hurry, who probably wouldn't waste time adopting a nimble-fingered approach anyway, could prize open a postbox without expending too much energy: a quick flick of an ordinary kitchen knife would force open the flap, on what are usually "imsily constructed receptacles.

One hapless neighbour told me how he missed his driving test and forfeited the cost, after the correctly addressed envelope containing his brand new provisional licence lay for over a week in the wrong letterbox.

Another resident who subscribes to a weekly news magazine tells me he misses the occasional issue - possibly because the postman, working fast, might not always ensure that that larger objects are inserted fully into the slot, enabling the flap to fall back into place. (Perhaps some fellow resident in the block is availing of the occasional opportunity to keep abreast of current affairs - without having to pay for the privilege. ) "Our postmen are very conscious of how relatively easy it can be for members of the public to gain access to apartment blocks and that mailboxes are open to abuse, " says An Post spokesman, Richard Ryan.

"Some blocks even have a communal box and we're very aware of the fact that items can be stolen. So, if a postman is delivering something he knows to be valuable, like, say, a passport, or even a parcel that won't fit into the box, he'll ring the bell of the specific apartment and attempt to deliver the item personally to the individual addressee. Failing that, he'll usually leave a docket indicating that, on production of ID, the item can be collected from the nearest Post Office or sorting office."

It's still the practice in some complexes for each resident to include his or her name along with their apartment number in the mailbox ID slot. While this probably makes life easier for the postman, it's information which could prove advantageous to a potential burglar too, and so, more and more it's the case that residents are reluctant to advertise their individual address in this fashion.

Because the boxes are invariably small, even a few days uncollected mail can leave them full to overflowing - an invitation for a thief to check out if the particular occupant may be away from home.