Mail Box Destruction

[jdmar]

I hit a neighbor box's one night with my truck on a gravel road one night after work after putting in 70hours work week. I fell asleep at the wheel. I pick up everything and set it in the yard it was 3am. It was a old rusty mail box's on a rotten fence post. I was feeling guilty, ashamed and embarrassed about it. So I went and got a new mailbox and a post the neighbor live a mile down the road. I drove by and just set it in the yard and drove off. A few days later the neighbor put the new one up. I never told him I hit it. Not sure it was the right thing to do? But they got a new one out of it anyway.

It was a nice thing for you to do. At least they knew it was an honest accident. I didn't hit one, but...
I was digging a ditch into a field I have to put a culvert and drive. I was working close to the mailbox of a very elderly lady across the street. The Sheriff came and said she had called concerned I would hurt her mailbox...seems it had been hit many times. He and I assured her I would not hurt it (and infact was putting a gravel pad so it would be easier for her to get her mail). I told her if if ever gets hit call me and I'll put the new one in...what $10 total and an hours work...no big deal to me. But for her it would be a lot of money to hire it done. Sometimes kids don't realize they are hurting those that can't fix the destruction. On a very limited fixed income that IS a big deal. The same kids would be P.O'd if anyone did that the THEIR grandmother...brains just don't hink when young. As luck would have it the box has not been hit since (I did move it closer to the telephone pole!).

 

[Eagle Dude]

Have fun paying the lawyer fees when some kids mother sues you for breaking the little turds arm!

No problem with hiring a lawyer and having a case heard in front of a jury. But the Kid and Mom would be admitting to a Federal crime just by filing a law suit.

 

[larryccf]

No problem with hiring a lawyer and having a case heard in front of a jury. But the Kid and Mom would be admitting to a Federal crime just by filing a law suit.

don't be too sure of yourself on that - i just got thru with a bad faith lawsuit (i was the defendant) - on a lawsuit that my atty (i've dealt with hundreds in 30 yrs, and this one i wish i had known 30 years ago) anyway, on a lawsuit that he estimated would run $165 - 250K for a full defense, i spent 280K and we never got out of discovery .

The other side's strategy and only strategy was to win by "playing to the game" not playing to the facts - the more facts we dug up the more we realized they, not only never expected this case to go all the way to the facts of the matter, but didn't want to go all the way. While it was obviously a bad faith lawsuit, the atty involved would play the same strategy in defending himself if i choose to sue him - we caught him (the other atty) in outright lies and not even defensible ones like Clinton when he parsed the word "is". Fortunately we killed the lawsuit when we did, or i'd be filing bankruptcy - they never got a penny from me, but they played this same game on 11 other defendants prior to me - and in every case, got the defendants to pay up coin to make this nightmare go away

not contesting your position is correct, but the reality of what the law allows and attys get away with

just 02

 

[LBrown59]

That's rite their target is the nice shiny new box.
Who wants to bash up and old dilapidated one.
I put up a new Mail Box about 10 years ago but I didn't throw the old one away but instead installed the old box rite beside the new one on the same post.
This did 2 things: Blocked the view of the new box when coming up the road and drew attention away from the new Mail Box.
Works great : Not only has the new Box been left alone the Vandals haven't bothered the old junk mail box either.

P S
[FONT=Frutiger SCIN Rm v.1][FONT=Frutiger SCIN Rm v.1]My mail box the post and everything else but the red flag is black. [/FONT]
[FONT=Frutiger SCIN Rm v.1]Makes them easier to hide in the dark [/FONT][FONT=Frutiger SCIN Rm v.1] [/FONT][FONT=Frutiger SCIN Rm v.1]than all those other bright shiny galvanized boxes with all those sparkling reflectors hanging all over them and their post .[/FONT]
[/FONT]

 

[LBrown59]

PS
Also there is less ilumination of the mail boxes when they are aproched from the opposite side of the road by a vehicle .

Mail boxes generally get attacked from vandals in vehicles.
The vehicles and mailboxes are on the same side of the road therefor there is no need to make them (Mail BOX) less visible to the traffic on the other side of the road going the other way.
If you're still concerned about that all you have to do is put up another Dummy/Decoy mail box on the other side of the real one.

 

[mrcaptainbob]

My and the neighbor's box were on the same post. Even had the plastic newspaper boxes on either side for 'bat' protection. Idiot kids from a mile away are setting off fire crackers in them and adding more and more. We were watching them this particular eve and each time we started after them, they'd scootch and be gone before we could act. I sat in my van in drive and idling, all the lights off, parking brake in place, sure enough, here come the idiots. I let off the parking brake, zoomed down the drive, turned the brights on and the chase was on! I knew those roads at least as well as those kids. I must've put on wayyy over ten miles chasing them! Made sure to not actually get too close, just enough to give them the 'thrill' of being chased by somebody who's appearing to be crazy. After that night, never again had an issue with them.

 

[mjncad]

The same kids would be P.O'd if anyone did that the THEIR grandmother...brains just don't hink when young.

Unfortunately I doubt the brats would give a darn if it happened to their grandmother; but destroy their Ipod or cell phone and they'll get P.O.'d no doubt.

 

[Oldmax]

They kept tearing up my sons Mail Box so I went to junk yard and bought a section of square tubing just big enough to hold a mail box. Used 3" square post Welded post to tubing and set Mail box back off road about 4' . No more trouble.

 

[FxdGrMind]

My neighborhood had the same problem 5 or so years ago. 6 mail boxes in a row and on a "Privat Drive" (not on the main road) got blown up or vandalized. Durring that same time, there were Mail Thiefs that were going arround also.
So we all got together and decided to purchase an "Apartment 6 pack mail box group" and I built the container for it and roof.
It looks like a GIANT H with two cross members (counter sunk into the verticals with 1/4" thick T brackets front and back for strength) in between is where the Mail box is contained. Built with 6x8s, 4' in the ground with an X (rebar)through the posts surrounded by concrete. Looks GREAT, locks up nice, easy for the Postal person to fill (only one lock and bingo, stuff away)
I don't have a pic online sorry.

I'm the only one that has hit it..... "Newbie" tractor owner... clearing the snow and hit the gutter with the Rops..... OOOOOOPS!

It would probably take a Semi and still come out shining =)

 

[carpenter383]

My and the neighbor's box were on the same post. Even had the plastic newspaper boxes on either side for 'bat' protection. Idiot kids from a mile away are setting off fire crackers in them and adding more and more. We were watching them this particular eve and each time we started after them, they'd scootch and be gone before we could act. I sat in my van in drive and idling, all the lights off, parking brake in place, sure enough, here come the idiots. I let off the parking brake, zoomed down the drive, turned the brights on and the chase was on! I knew those roads at least as well as those kids. I must've put on wayyy over ten miles chasing them! Made sure to not actually get too close, just enough to give them the 'thrill' of being chased by somebody who's appearing to be crazy. After that night, never again had an issue with them.

I've been known to chase people here and there who pass me when I'm already speeding or pull out in front of me or whatever. BUT these days I can't help but consider the soccer mom's minivan full of children that may be around the next turn when the idiots I'm pursuing come around the turn on the wrong lane.
It's just to dangerous to drive that way especially when there is anger and or fear involved

 

[alltoys]

I found a broken bat next to my mail box this morning, well not next to about 12 feet away. Box is still in one piece not even a dent. I wonder how dinglenuts faired??

 

[ragkar]

I think that when I was researching mailboxes last year, I
came across the USPS guidance that a breakaway mailbox
support would be no heavier than two inch pipe or a four
by four.

 

[Scooby074]

I found a broken bat next to my mail box this morning, well not next to about 12 feet away. Box is still in one piece not even a dent. I wonder how dinglenuts faired??

LOL... Im sure somebody somewhere has sore hands this morning.

 

[ragkar]

There's a farm well south of me with a funny mailbox.
It's mounted on top of a twenty foot pole and is marked 'air mail'
It hasn't been baseball batted yet.

they have a regular box too.

 

[ccsial]

No problem with hiring a lawyer and having a case heard in front of a jury. But the Kid and Mom would be admitting to a Federal crime just by filing a law suit.

Good point.

 

[2manyrocks]

I found a broken bat next to my mail box this morning, well not next to about 12 feet away. Box is still in one piece not even a dent. I wonder how dinglenuts faired??

Don't you wish you had put up a game camera for the pictures?

 

[Ken45101]

The first year we lived here, I think our mailbox was vandalized 4-5 times. (We then understood why the previous owner didn't have a mailbox.) We average at least once a year. They've even driven over the post.

I buy the cheapest mailboxes I can find, two at a time. I just put them on with bungee cords.

When I suggested to the local postmaster that she should be reporting this to the postal inspectors, she asked "why?" I said it's a federal crime. She wasn't interested in doing anything.

The sheriff will take a report and tell me that there is a lot of this going on. But of course with only one deputy on duty, they can't do anything but take reports.....

I've been tempted to sit down there some night with a .45 or a 12 ga and scare the heck out of them, but then they don't show up for a while anyway.

Next time they knock over the post, I'll probably put in a railroad tie as a new post. If "the government" complains, I'll tell them to do their job so that I don't have to do this.

One time I walked into the local Carter Lumber store to buy replacement boxes. I commented to the clerk about the vandalism. He laughed and said that he did that as a teen. What an idiot to insult a customer that way! I should have went to the store manager and informed him that if they hired idiots like that, they permanently lost me as a customer.

Ken

 

[Mike Costello]

Sometimes, you just gotta get proactive in these situations. I lived in a nice neighborhood where nothing happened -- until a new family moved in with their punk kids. All of a sudden, damaged mailboxes, cars egged or painted, trash tossed on lawns and grafitti sprouting everywhere. The neighbors got together and talked to the parents about their kids behavior, only to be told they can't control their kids.
So, time for some psychological warfare. Neighbor across the street from the kids trained a camera on their house 24/7. Everytime they messed up a mailbox, we fixed it or cleaned it. I was mowing my lawn one day when the punks came walking by and made some threats. I told them, " I don't call the cops, I use curbside justice".
Their old man drove a nice shiny black Corvette and ALWAYS parked it in the garage--never leaving it outside even for a moment. A neighbor casually commented it would be a shame for a car like that to get vandalized like all the others in the neighborhood.
Finally, the punks were caught in the act spray painting a wall at the park and were "educated" by someone unknown to any of us who lived nearby. The family moved away--end of problem!

 

[mapmaker]

A few years ago a friend of ours backed over our mail box, her husband built us a new stand. He took an old tire rim and welded a post to it, then built a bracket to hold the mail box. If anyone hits it it just falls over and I pick it up in the morning. I use a plastic mail box that survives most hits. Over the summer someone decided to run it over, when It went under the car the tire rim came up and put a hole in the oil pan. When I got up in the morning I found the mailbox and post on the ground next to a big pool of oil. Expensive night out for some kid.

 

[2manyrocks]

Earlier someone has posted about chasing somebody in a car. Finally remembered something that happened here. A guy caught three no-goods breaking in his house. They got in their car and took off. He pursued them in his car for some distance. He tapped their bumper with his bumper and they crashed into a tree. All 3 died. He was found guilty of manslaughter or vehicular homicide by a 12 person jury and sent to prison. You can complain about lawyers and courts and prosecutors, but keep in mind that it was 12 local people who decided his guilt or innocence.