Another mailbox post

I didn't think it was possible to have more than 1 mailbox post! I mean, how much can you say about mailboxes.

I have a dilemma though. Our mail carrier is....less than stellar. See, about 80 percent of the time, when I put an outgoing letter in our mailbox, she doesn't take it. I still pay bills using a check in the mail, rather than online, so something goes out in the mail at least once or twice a week. I have a couple reasons I do haven't joined the e-bill revolution, but it boils down to keeping closer track of money going out and the fact that I'm just more likely to pay it on time (I check the mail, see a bill, and write the check out right then and there).

Why doesn't our mail-lady pick up our mail? Well, I think there are several reasons.

1. She talks on her bluetooth the entire time she's delivering mail. I've SEEN her. I've HEARD her. Frankly her focus is not on the task at hand.

2. She can reach our mailbox from the bottom of our front steps, so she can't really see into it when she opens it to put letters inside. The design of our mailbox, admittedly, makes it hard to see letters unless you're looking down into it, which she is not doing.

3. Our mailbox doesn't have a little flag that would denote outgoing mail.

I want to get a new mailbox, because our current one is just...lame. It's this design:

Am I right? It's boring, isn't it?

Now, I'm not yet in the market for a new mailbox (there's a huge list of other things that need to come first). So, I'm trying to develop a solution to make this one work. Do any of you have this mailbox, or one like it? How does your mail carrier treat it?

Right now my solution has been to put mail in it vertically and let it bend so a little bit of it hangs out the front. But this leaves my mail susceptible to rain, and I just think it's not an ideal answer. I only sink to that level if the letter has sat for a day or two without being taken.

I'm thinking perhaps some kind of clip-on signal or magnet I can put on the outside that politely gets the outgoing mail message across.

I am carefully taking into consideration this problem while keeping my eye out for a new mailbox.