Mail Box Destruction

[LBrown59]

The same neighbor also took a florescent green golf ball, put a threaded eye through it, hooked a chain to that and mounted the chain to the door of the mail box with a long bolt so that there is a piece of bolt sticking out. Then when they get the mail (or put mail in the box), they set the eye over the bolt. When the mail lady opens the door, the ball falls down, hangs from the chain and can be seen from the house (letting them know that the mail has been picked up/dropped off).

Aaron Z

I have a yellow flag that does the same thing.
Got tired of running to an empty mail box.

I also put a dummy junk mai box up beside the real one several years ago .
Neither of them has been bothered since.

I paint every thing black an no Reflectors or shiney metal brackets or anything else.

 

[sandman2234]

First house I purchased was right around the corner from a bar, and I lost a mailbox or two, and a couple of posts. Used a piece of 2" diameter and it got hit, so I cut it off at the bend, about a foot above ground, and drove a piece of 3" down over the top of it. Replaced mailbox, two weeks later, somebody hit it, careened over to the other side of the road, and hit my neighbors mailbox, and then into the ditch. They came to rest up against a 14" concrete culvert. Car was a total loss. Neighbors mailbox pole was ship anchor chain welded into a straight length. Don't know how far into the ground it went, but enough.
Driver went to jail, by way of the local ER because no seat belt was in use.
David from jax

 

[rekees4300]

If you put up a strong mailbox and somebody gets injured trying to demolish it, are you liable for his injuries? My neighbor filled his mailbox with concrete to teach a lesson. He later got cold feet and was afraid of being sued so he went the opposite direction and now uses cheap-o plastic boxes. He figures he can buy a 1,000 of those compared to what attorney's fees would be.

 

[D33r3 6r33N]

I ended up going with a $7 plastic mailbox now, much cheaper to replace.. and also it will give so the post doesnt break..

Brian

I'm not worried about the post. I forgot to mention that is a 2 1/4" galvenized pipe, which was in the ground long before we moved there. We had a kid drive his mom's mini van over it a few years ago. Kinda bent it a little bit. I just straightened it up and tamped it real good with a spud bar. :thumbsup:

 

[aczlan]

I'm not worried about the post. I forgot to mention that is a 2 1/4" galvenized pipe, which was in the ground long before we moved there. We had a kid drive his mom's mini van over it a few years ago. Kinda bent it a little bit. I just straightened it up and tamped it real good with a spud bar. :thumbsup:

What did it do the the minivan?

Aaron Z

 

[toy]

If you put up a strong mailbox and somebody gets injured trying to demolish it, are you liable for his injuries? My neighbor filled his mailbox with concrete to teach a lesson. He later got cold feet and was afraid of being sued so he went the opposite direction and now uses cheap-o plastic boxes. He figures he can buy a 1,000 of those compared to what attorney's fees would be.

My brother was loosing mail boxes to ball bats and he put in a real heavy one like sandman2234 mentioned. He dug a real deep hole cemented either a 3 or 4 inch pipe in the ground, I can't remember if he filled in the pipe with concrete or not. He made a heavy metal mail box, seems like it inserted into a regular mail box or he formed a regular mail box around it. He never lost a mail box again but a car did hit it and it totaled the car. The car hit the mail box the mail box never hit the car it just stood there in plain sight of the driver. The same thing goes for the teen trying to demolish the mail box with a bat, the mail box didn't swing the bat and break the vandals arm or hand the mail box was just standing there in plain sight minding it's own business. The vandal was the one that with his infinite wisdom took his bat and with his own free will swung the bat and hit a mail box that wouldn't budge, don't look like he would have any kind of claim at all unless the lady with the blind fold holding the scales was both blind and stupid, anymore that might be the case.

 

[Contagious]

They sure look good.....On the other hand for the price of their cheapest I can buy 41 of the local cheap ones. That will take care of me for a long time.

MarkV

Sure, but if you have a check stolen... How many tin can mailboxes could you buy then? Better yet, get your identity stolen? Hmmmm.... Just a thought!

 

[The Haymaker]

Not sure if I mentioned it, but back 10 years ago they paved the road in front of my grand parents house. Their box was mounted on a piece of 2" galvanized pipe. A legal type letter from the state was left in their mailbox stating that their post was potentially dangerous and it must be replaced. They left a new post laying at the base of it....... A 4x4PT piece of lumber. Neither the state worrying about a post, the state supplying a post, or them thinking that 4x4 was any softer ever made any sense to us.

 

[sixdogs]

A lot of guys around here mount their normal mailbox inside and surrounded by a large diameter piece of heavy plastic ribbed field drain tile. Might be 18" diameter or more. It forms a protective barrier aound the box and gives an impact cushion of a few inches. I can't recall a box set up like this that was damaged.

As well, I have not seen one of those plastic mailboxes--the kind with a partial stub post that you slide over a 4x4 post in the ground. The risk with these is having the whole post and box pulled out of the ground and stolen.
We solved this by setting our post 3 to 4 ft deep and sliding a piece of rebar through a hole in the bottom of the post before we back-filled. Also bolted a small piece of chain to the bottom of the post. It offers great resistance if anyone tries to pull it out of the ground and a few kids have tried. They just get tired and move on.

Around here the above combinations seems to be changing the game and kids seem to be moving to other temptations.

 

[om21braz]

Mine got a M80 tossed in it.

A friend of mine's son had a little "fun" of that sort recently and got caught. The charges read like those for a terrorist attack. It got sorted out without any jail time, but he is'nt interested in planning anymore "attacks" soon as lesson was learned.