How to catch a vandal??

[MarkF48]

I put a flat black painted 1 1/4" pipe about one foot in front of my box that is about one foot taller than the box. It can't be seen easily at night and seems to have protected the box for the last 5 or so years.

 

[sixdogs]

I bought a plastic mailbox. It was bashed a couple times, with nothing more that some scars for their trouble.

That's what we did and zero problems in 18 years. We have it mounted on a 4x4 PT post that is set 5 ft in the ground with a cross piece in the bottom. The kids had taken to pulling the posts out of the ground and taking the whole thing.

Anyway, they must whack it with a ball bat every now and then but it's still just fine. And they try to get the post out of the ground because we can see signs of the struggle. They twist and tug and grunt and groan but all they get is tired. Then they give up and move on. Case closed.

 

[JRobyn]

When we lived in the 'burbs, with nice concrete curbs, we occasionally had mailbox or burning rubber through the grass issues. I cut a couple dozen pieces of 1/2" rebar about 8" long, drilled 1/2" holes about 4" deep in the concrete curb about every 10'-12' and inserted the rebar "pikes". Covered each one with a "decorative" piece of 4x4 with a nice beveled top and a 1/2" hole drilled in the bottom. Looked very nice - kinda like a low fence.

It only took one time for the perps to run over several of them. The 4x4 easily split and shredded and the rebar then shredded some tires.

 

[tonyq60]

Did not read all...

Years ago we bought a lot to build on and mailboxes were on our side of road.

Mailbox in front was a large maybe 9 inch steel pipe concrete filled planted well.

Was told punks would drive arround with chain attached to hitch and toss chain in passing to yank out box and post.

After second time the guy across street made that one and one day came out to find a chain attached to a bumper next to it.

 

[MarkF48]

This thread is bad luck Haven't had a problem in years with my mailbox and this morning I go out and evidently it took a whack last night. Was able to bend it back in shape with some pliers.

 

[Deere Dude]

The best thing you could do is find the ugliest most beat up mailbox and put that up. More than likely they would leave that one alone. It is the nice ones they like to hit. Tells you something about our society.

I know some guys that would stop and pick up a couple six packs of beer for the trip home after work. What to do with the empties? Throw them at mailboxes obviously. That went on for a few weeks, hit some, missed some. Then one time a piece of glass bounced back and hit a guy right under the eye. I think that cured their mischievousness.

I lived on a busy wide state highway and got my mailbox creamed from a snowplow a couple times. In Wisconsin that is par for the course. Then one day I took the bottom half of a 35 gallon barrel, stuck a 6x6 post in and put a mailbox on top. The concrete was sitting on top of the ground except for an inch to make it level. Everyone steered clear of that mailbox.

Then I got a letter from the post office and said that wouldn't work because it is to dangerous. What if someone drove off the road and hit my post before they hit a tree, oh goodness. But, I am easy to please so I rolled the whole thing 5' farther from the road and put a 2x8 on top long enough to get the box closer to the road. I didn't have any problems in 15 years after that, but it still looked wicked.

About 10 years ago a guy was going to put a trailer house down the street but the mailbox was on the corner and the driver couldn't make the turn without the trailer swinging and hitting it. I noticed two guys out there starting to disassemble the box and pole. I went out and showed that all they had to do was lay it over, then I did it. When they were done I just stood it up again.

 

[forgeblast]

My mail box gets hit by water trucks monthly....sometimes nightly depending on the drivers. I have a 4/4 with a sideways piece of L steel from a weight lifting bench that I welded a hinge onto. This is screwed into the post and I have a metal mail box on top. When it gets hit it spins away and I just go out and reset it in the morning. Its held in place with a piece of coat hanger. We can hear it at night get hit but it just swings away. before I did this I would find it down in the creek smashed up etc.

 

[Dftodd]

I've seen several in our area where the owner enclosed the mail box with decorative brick. Looks nice and no getting the box smashed.

Had a buddy who kept getting his mailbox destroyed by the town's plow truck. Driver would clip it with the wing. Buddy made a tall shepherd's hook and suspended the box on a chain.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I've seen several brick mailbox structures broken in half. Without reinforcement they aren't that strong.

 

[jymbee]

When it gets hit it spins away and I just go out and reset it in the morning. Its held in place with a piece of coat hanger. We can hear it at night get hit but it just swings away. before I did this I would find it down in the creek smashed up etc.

Similar concept here in that we have a 4x4 PT post across the ditch with a flat board spanniing the ditch which the box is mounted on. It does spin but still can suffer a pretty good dent if smacked with something like a baseball bat.

The most incomprehensible aspect of all this is I just can't comprehend what kind of loose wire must exist in someone's brain whereby they get the idea it would be "fun" to ride around and destroy people's property. More than likely more than one person involved as well. Also like some others posted here-- throwing rocks from a highway overpass? Tipping over gravestones? What on earth would inspire someone to do such a thing? Absolutely no comprehension of the potential implications? Just don't give a rat's a**? I have to believe that these people have some very real mental issues. Complete lack of empathy for a start.