@ai6yr Many years ago we had a fancy lockable mailbox that someone took a crowbar to and destroyed the lock. The mailbox was otherwise in fine shape so we managed to fabricate anti-crowbar reinforcements and replaced the lock with a new one I got from the local ace hardware.
Some years later a truck ran over the mailbox, and we got a new one. The old key for the ace hardware cabinet lock worked in the new mailbox. I'm still astonished about it.
ai6yr