Mailbox Baseball

Golfgar4 · Apr 1, 2004

( How about a nail strip buried along the shrub row and fence, so you don't get into it. A 2x4 with 20d nails possibly would work.
)

Not disagreeing with you, but if he did that, you know darn well that they would sue him for property damage (or worse) just for protecting his property. And the problem with that is that they'd probably win!! /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

jwstewar · Apr 1, 2004

I would be careful about making the mailbox too armored. When we moved in I received a paper from someone (wasn't the USPS) about mailbox installation guides. In Ohio you aren't supposed to use anything other than a PT 4x4 to support your mailbox - anything larger or stronger and someone gets hurt you are liable. Not to say that I haven't seen brickones, crankshafts, and 6" steel pipes used though. I would just be leary. We went with one of the Rubbermaid ones that if they hit it with a bat it'll just bounce off. I'm not usually one to care much about about what happens to someone when they do something wrong - i.e. I don't care that the homeowner shot & killed the burglar, but in this instance I went by the paper. I'll see if I can find the installation guide that we recieved and scan it to post.

Taylortractornut · Apr 1, 2004

A few years ago a friend of mine had some troubles on his farm about the big parcel and parts boxes he recived parts in. Kids loved to ball bat them he moved it on the other side of the ditch and they would just lean out some more. One day he ordered one cinder block from the co op and it got there friday morning saturday morning thaer was a window to an suv and an aluminum ball bat crumpled up. He never had anymore problems. I know he could have gotten in trouble for it but hes the type that could care less. Now here the post office pays some good money to folks that can identify vandals. I think its about 500 bucks theres been a nuber of friends turned in lol.

Lazy · Apr 1, 2004

Hi
My neighbor and I enclosed our mail boxes(3) in a 1/4 inch thick steel box mounted on a 6 inch steel pipe 3 feet in the ground with concrete. I will take some pics tomorrow. We haven't had it smashed in 5 years now. I thought about mounting a camera to watch the boxes before we built the box.

Charlie.

Slamfire · Apr 1, 2004

Lets see now with an incremental cost of $15/mWH, a decent off peak price, and a 300 watt low pressure sodium vapor lamp burning 8 hours per night. In 30 days will use 72/kWh of electricity. Since a mWH is a thousand kWh well divide the amount used by 1000 then multiply by the cost and come up with $1.08 wholesale.
The ripoff, if you want to look at it that way is the generators can't get down as low as the load at night. Unless you've got a pumped storage hydro plant to store the power, it just goes to make the clocks run faster than they should. If itis a significant amount the utilities will swap it as they are only allowed so much time error accumulation. So you are saving them money on the juice, plus paying them for the use of it.
Bird, you've really been ripped off. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

As to the mail box, there is a postal service approved box made out of 1/8 diamond plate. Hit that once with an aluminum bat, and your arms will stop vibrating in a week. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

BillyP · Apr 1, 2004

The way I see it is a 300 watt bulb burning 8 hours a day will use 2.4 KWH per day. Multiply 2.4 times cost per KWH (about .08 here) equals 19.2 cents a day times 30 days equals $5.76. Not a bad price considering they supply the pole, fixture and bulb?

wroughtn_harv · Apr 2, 2004

The reason for the rules against vandal resistant mailboxes is they are a hazard for vehicles on the highway.

The six inch pipe with the half inch plate mailbox guard can be a fatal uh oh for the child in the passenger side of the vehicle when mom either accidently runs off the beaten path or is ran off the road.

What I see is the source for this vandalism is the fathers sitting around reminiscing. Kids want to be like dad. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

I've built one inch pipe hoops for mailbox guards. I've also built ornamental iron mailbox posts. For those I have a break plate at grade.

I'd feel terrible if someone was hurt on something I'd built. Even if what I'd built was a response to vandalism.

Bird · Apr 2, 2004

I lived on a county road and could do anything I wanted to as far as the mailbox was concerned. Mine was on a heavy steel plate welded to the top of a 4" steel post set in concrete. It was there when I bought the place and was never bothered. But on the farm-to-market roads, those folks had no choice. The state highway department set the posts themselves (and if you had your mailbox out there the day the guy did it, he'd even mount it on the post for you) and they were all flimsy break away posts with a reflector on them. If it got damaged, the homeowner had to buy the mailbox, but the state guy would repair or replace the post.

Golfgar4 · Apr 2, 2004

( The reason for the rules against vandal resistant mailboxes is they are a hazard for vehicles on the highway.
)

Harv,

I understand why the rules are there.

Believe me, I understand! /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

I'm the guy that gets to tell a homeowner after his/her mailbox gets clipped off by a plow (which is a whole different story!), or whacked in an accident, why they can't put up a fancy brick, or steel post, or concrete mailbox.

I'm just tired of homeowners trying to protect their property, and as a result, they get sued by the perpetrator, and the perp wins the suit. /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

One of my neighbors a few years ago had his legal mailbox "driven" over. The kids doing the vandalism didn't realize that the license plate had fallen off. So when the police officer arrives, my neighbor gives him the plate. They track the owner down and go and pay him a visit. They finally figure out that the owner's kid (big surprise, huh?) was out joyriding with his buddies and decided to have some fun with a bunch of mailboxes. So the owners that had damaged boxes all filed complaints against the kid.

A short time later, the onwer of the vehicle (the kid's father) sues my neighbor for the damage to his car! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

Luckily, the judge that heard that case lived in the real world and threw it out. But it still cost my neighbor some time off work, although I don't believe he had any legal fees because he handled it himself.

It just torques my jaws when the victims suffer more than the criminals do!! /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

slowzuki · Apr 2, 2004

Living in the country we have troubles with mailbox beatings and fires both.

In Canada, DOT actually gives you permission to leave your property (mailbox) on theirs. You have no rights related to it being damaged by a plow or whatnot.

Please don't put up those city slicker lights in your yard, they piss me off to no end. Can't see the friggen stars anymore as every person who moves out from the city installs one.

The people with the hanging chain swing and light weight boxes do the best out here. They just swing out of the way.

We aren't allowed to do the heavy armored post thing because someone used a 6" well casing. When the plow hit it with the wing it pushed the truck and it rolled into the ditch nearing killing the driver. Our plow trucks when loaded with sand weigh 80,000 lb (40 tons)
Ken