Mailbox Dryer Sheet? What It Means & Why To Leave It

I learned the secret behind a handy tip this summer that I thought I would share with you.

We Found a Dryer Sheet in Our Mailbox

Has anyone ever left a dryer sheet in your mailbox?

I happened at my house last month, and we had no idea what the significance was or what message was intended to be sent.

At the time, I thought it was some joke or prank and took the sheet out and threw it away without thinking too much about it.

Our mailbox is close to the sidewalk on a somewhat busy street in Margate. Many people walk by the house with their dogs or while getting some exercise.

Occasionally, someone neglects to pick up after their dog or drops a cigarette butt on the sidewalk, but we don't usually get much trash.

One time, though, somebody did leave a water ice wrapper, and I think I equated the dryer sheet with a trash dump in my mailbox.

But I was wrong. There was a reason for the dryer sheet being there.

Another Dryer Sheet Found in the Mailbox

About four days later, I checked my mail one afternoon and saw that there was another dryer sheet in our mailbox. This one was tucked in the back of the box behind the mail. WTH?

The next day, I saw our mailman delivering down the street.

We don't have the same mailman every day, but most days it's the same guy. Nice guy, we always say hello and make small talk.

When he walked up to my mailbox, I came out of the house and asked him if he knew anything about the dryer sheet.

It turns out that the mailman knew all about the dryer sheet mystery.

The Mailman Did It!

The mailman told me he started noticing wasps buzzing around our property a couple of weeks before.

He said that one day the wasps were buzzing around the mailbox, and he thought they might be planning on building their home in it.

Then he explained the reason for the dryer sheet.

"We’ve found that [yellowjackets and wasps] hate scented dryer sheets. If we encounter a box that is a problem for nests, we’ll often put one in there, and it does the trick."

Well, how about that? Mystery solved.

So if you see a dryer sheet in your mailbox, that means that a mail carrier likely left it behind—intentionally.

My mailman stopped the wasps from building their nest in my mailbox.

Pretty cool, right?

Unfortunately, the wasps then built their nest on a shady enclosure in my vinyl siding, and I had to pay the exterminator over $200 to get rid of it.