Our apartment has one mailbox key and two adults who get home at different times

My partner and I moved into an apartment with one mailbox key. We assumed the second key was missing from the move-in packet. The leasing office says each unit receives one because the boxes use a restricted key system and residents are not allowed to make copies.

This sounded like a minor inconvenience until we tried living with it.

I leave for work before my partner wakes up and usually return later. If I carry the key, he cannot collect a package-locker notice or time-sensitive letter during the day. If he keeps it, I pass the mailbox every evening while the person with the key is twenty minutes away. We have started hiding the key in a kitchen drawer and texting “MAIL?” like air-traffic controllers.

The office offered to hold a second key temporarily if one of us presents identification each time. That solves access during business hours, which overlap almost perfectly with our jobs. They also said we could pay for the lock to be changed to a style that includes two keys, but they could not quote the cost until maintenance inspects it.

I am not interested in forcing a copy through a hardware store or experimenting with a shared hiding place in the lobby. The key controls personal mail, and any workaround should not make it easier to lose or borrow without a record.

My current plan is to ask for the lock-change price in writing, confirm how many keys the replacement includes and propose splitting or waiving the cost because two named adult tenants share the unit. If the price is unreasonable, we may use informed-delivery tools where available and choose fixed mail days rather than passing the key constantly.

What practical arrangement would you use while waiting? Is one mailbox key a problem worth paying to solve, or does a disciplined household routine make the second key less important than it feels during the first week?