it's like that everywhere around here. Big city or not. In the city, the mailbox is mounted on the side of the house/building by the front porch...most of the time you dont even have to step outside...just open teh door and reach over. We had a mailbox like that when we first moved into this house..but theyre trying to do away with them in the smaller communities and just have the mailboxes at the end of the driveway.