[rekoil]

I can think of several reasons:

    - Reading information from utility providers which few people are able to measure locally
    - You want to integrate with some system which is physically outside your home, like I don't know a smart mailbox if those exist (and god damnit now I want that...)
    - You are forced to because the product you have can't be controlled any other way and it's not feasible to replace it
    - A locally controllable version of X exists, but it's three times the price of one from vendor Y which requires a cloud integration

[paradox460]

RE: Smart Mailbox

I've seen a few people DIY them. You can put a reed switch or similar on the door, and watch for state changes, to trigger a "PostBox opened last at" style sensor, or use a light sensor in the box to do the same.

If you want to seriously over-engineer, you could put the box on a load cell, and measure the weight of the post.

Use an ESP32 for your control board, and its pretty much just basic ESPHome plumbing

[rekoil]

Unfortunately I can't do any of those things because I live in an apartment and we have mailboxes like these: https://kopbrevlada.se/pub/media/webp_image/catalog/product/...

But I appreciate the suggestions!

[drra]

Surely low power PIR sensor would work. Something like this maybe? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGZFg4SVySM

[paradox460]

A light sensor on an ESP taped to the inside of the mailbox would probably work, and a note to the postal carrier informing them of its function, but I suspect you'd have issues with the range of the device.

[rekoil]

Yeah, I live 3 floors up and on the other side of the building from the mailboxes.