Letters when you have no mailbox key
Parcels solve themselves; letters need one decision. The post only delivers ordinary mail into the mailbox at the address, so without a key you need a second address that is yours alone. Two exist, and both are cheap.
Post-restant
A letter addressed to you care of a post office, held there until you collect it with your ID. The address goes: your name, then POST-RESTANT, then the office — Oficiul Poștal Craiova 1, Strada Unirii 54, Craiova. The post charges a small fee per item when you collect; the January 2026 tariff sheet reads 3.50 lei. It cuts the house mailbox out of the loop entirely. Confirm at the counter that this office holds post-restant before you give the address out.
A rented box — căsuță poștală
Your own numbered box at a post office with your own key, for anyone who expects post regularly. You fill in a subscriber form at the office and the manager allots a box if one is free; ask first, because offices have a fixed number. Monthly fee plus a deposit returned when you give it up; the 2026 sheet reads 45 lei a month for a named box for a private person. That becomes your postal address for everything.
Registered letters
Anything from a bank, a ministry or a court comes registered, and the postman needs a signature. If nobody is there he leaves a notice, or sends an SMS when the sender gave your number, and the letter waits at your local office for up to 10 days for you to collect with your ID. So registered post never depended on the mailbox anyway — only on the notice slip reaching you, which is exactly the weak point post-restant removes.
Ordinary letters
Delivered Monday to Friday, roughly 08:00–16:00, into the house mailbox, and nowhere else. No mailbox key means no ordinary post. Post-restant or a box is the only fix, or having the sender use registered mail.
The tariff figures are read off Poșta Română’s published 2026 sheet, which is laid out for accountants, not readers; treat them as close rather than exact and confirm at the counter. Office hours were not verified for this page.
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