mailbox money

Noun

mailbox money (countable and uncountable, plural mailbox moneys)

1. Synonym of passive income
   • Mailbox money is the idea of having passive income arrive in your mailbox every month with little work..2023 September 5, u/Iam_motivated_jay, “Mailbox Money! 📫”, in r/hiphopvinyl (Reddit post), archived from the original on 19 Nov 2023

   Synonyms:

   passive income

2. (film industry, music industry) Income from royalties or residuals, especially from work done in the far past.
   • Shapiro has played small roles on TV shows such as "Will & Grace," "House" and "2 Broke Girls." The residuals she earns from those appearances can be worth anywhere from a few cents to a couple hundred dollars, depending on what shows are in syndication.
     Shapiro said finding those checks in her...2020 May 7, David Wagner, “LA Actors Are Losing Unemployment Benefits Based On Work They Did Years Ago”, in LAist, →OCLC, archived from the original on 16 Jun 2021
   • What was once called “mailbox money,” referring to the small but steady stream of checks sent to hit songwriters in the pre-digital age, Khaled dubs “forever money.” He explains of a record like 2010’s “All I Do Is Win”: “It’s not like it’s hot this year and it’s over, right? It’s a winner’s anthem...2023 June 21, “How DJ Khaled Built a Hip-Hop Empire Off of Relentless Positivity, Self-Promotion and Friends Like Drake and Jay-Z”, in Variety, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 21 Jun 2023
3. (oil industry) Income from oil royalties.
   • Brent Rowell leased 60 acres in east Texas for $250 an acre and what he thought was an exceptional 20% cut of whatever the wells produced -- monthly royalty checks known in these parts as “mailbox money.”2008 August 1, Miguel Bustillo, “A new lease on life at their feet”, in Los Angeles Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 12 Oct 2019
   • Gerald and Kitten Dowden have a name for the blessing that’s changed their lives and that of their family: “mailbox money.” Not long ago they found that their Shreveport, La., home sits atop a natural-gas well, and now they receive six-figure checks for the hard work of staying put.2012 January 20, Jon Caramanica, “2 Families Face a Gust of Fortune”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 24 Jul 2017