New Mailbox

[JonM]

I think the new mailbox is great. But I'm a big believer of 'break-away' type of mailboxes...right after I hit the mailbox in the attached picture. The pickup was totaled. I don't blame the owners of the mailbox one bit, it was my own stupid bad luck...I was reaching to the floor of the cab for something and took my eye of the road for a few seconds.

 

[LarryD]

<font color="blue"> Seems reasonable, and I don't have too many other options anyway. </font>

You could just slow down while driving your tractor on the road. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[midlf]

I guess I'm lucky. We are at the end of the mail route and the mail carrier has to turn around in our driveway. The previous owner arranged to have the mail box put 75 ft down the driveway. The distance is figured into the route mileage figures. We keep a turn around area plowed out in the winter so the carrier doesn't have to back out onto the road. It keeps the box away from the baseball bats.

 

[keeney]

RE: "...I hit the mailbox in the attached picture."

From the picture, it appears to be one of those break-away-brick mailboxes!

 

[keeney]

I was unable to find any actual USPS regulation on the mounting other than the position of the mail opening in relation to the road. I did find some guidlines at the national level from the Transportation Department for safer roads.

I also found lots and lots of State and local regulations which all appeared to be modeled after the national guidlines and required break-away supports.

Here is a link to the MN statutes, for example:

169.072 Unauthorized mailbox installation.
- Rick

 

[Piedmont3]

KevinCook,
Your mailbox Post looks great !

When I was a kid my grandfather had to replace his mailbox 3 times in 2 weeks, as did about 30 other families that lived along the same road. There was a group of kids that would beat them with baseball bats and after several of neighbors made them sturdy enough to handle the bats, they started to drive over them. The police said that the owners had to catch them in the act or they(the police) would not be able to prove who was doing it.
My Granddad got mad and made a nice 6" by 6" post out of 1X6 pine lumber. He placed this around a 7' piece of railroad iron he had laying out behind the barn. He buried it about 5 feet deep and the placed the wood box around it. The next time they came by to drive over his mailbox, they left a 1971 chevrolet pickup stuck on the post. The railrod iron had pierced the oil pan on the engine. The police came and imponded the truck and wrote and mailed citations to the owner of the truck, the parents of the kid that had been doing it. It made the local small town paper. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[kevincook]

The post cost $135, which I thought wasn't too bad. Everyone wanted about that much for a bracket. I decided to build the bracket myself instead. It was actually pretty simple to do. I borrowed a hammer drill and a couple of carbide tip masonry bits from work to drill the holes. I was surprised how easy it was to drill the granite.

My wife is happy with the result.....I probably could have convinced her that I needed to own a hammer drill to complete the project.

Thanks,
Kevin

 

[2nstonge]

Kevin - what did you use for fasteners to secure the bracket to the post?

Thx, -Norm

 

[kevincook]

I used standard wedge type anchor bolts. They are available at any hardware store. I'm a little worried about them rusting over time so I might try to find some stainless ones and then replace them in the spring. Or after the plow takes out the mailbox /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

Thanks,
Kevin

 

[LBrown59]

<font color="brown">It has reflective tape

******************* </font>

I quit using reflectors and reflective tape on my Mail Box.
Makes it to easy for vandals to spot it in the dark.
The mail box is painted Black.
So is the post.
Makes it harder for vandals to see it at night.
I put a dummy Mail box on the post beside the Real Mail box for the vandals.

------------------------------------------------------------