Mailbox studded T post ideas needed

[tude]

This should clear things up. Hopefully.

Standard Forward Mail | USPS

Follow Postal Service regulations to buy, make, and set up a mailbox so you don't have any interruption in mail service.

www.usps.com

My dad built his mail box post out of threaded pipe. He dug a hole away from the road and placed a larger diameter pipe in the ground. The diameter was just large enough for the threaded galvanized pipe to slide in. He made a L shaped section that hung over the ditch. It swing over if the snowplow hit it .

 

[UncleW]

Drive a T-post. Slip over it an inverted L-shaped tubing. Hang the mailbox from the tubing. The mailbox can swing or rotate when hit.

Bruce

Good idea. I also made one by lag screwing a crossmember to the top of a 4x4 post. Post was out of the way and Lag screw was loose enough to let the mailbox swing out of the way. In my neck of the woods, mailboxes get installed on the county right of way instead of on your property. If somebody hits it and gets injured, you can be liable. A friend gave me a scrap 4” diameter, 8’ long solid steel extruder screw to use for a post. I decided I didn’t want to buy the county a new snowplow

 

[stumblinhorse]

Never knew there was “recommendations“ from usps. I had a real problem at a place in the mountains with drivers hitting it and driving off. After the 6th time in 4 years. I made it out of 12” corrugated pipe filled with concrete 48” into the ground. The mailbox hung from a 4x4 bolted into the concrete and hung down with small chain. 2 vehicles hit it over the next year before I moved and it was unscathed…. Needed to reshape the box so it would close.

 

[AnotherBueller]

As I recall the only Postal rule about mounting a mail box is the height above road surface. There is something about how far the front of the box can be from the edge of the road or turn out too, but I can't remember how it was worded. Your Postmaster is your BEST reference, next best is your rural letter carrier.

An extension to my post. In the city and county of St Louis Mo (don't know about any were else) The type (class) of road will determine how close to the road and how the box can be mounted without being liable for damages to cars driving by. My knowledge on this is at least 20+ years old. Again, CHECK WITH YOUR POSTMASTER. This kind of thing is part of their job, they will probably have to check with the local district Hq.
The regulations quoted are for the mail box that you can ONLY. They also say that if you want to make your own, you need to get the finished box approved by your postmaster.

 

[muskieken13]

I took 4 cinder blocks placed 8 feet from the side of the road , a pallet, placed on top. built a flower box on top of it , attached a 4x4 x10 feet on the side of the flower box to the street, the 4x4 x10 stretches over the drainage ditch . the plow driver has not hit my mailbox is the six years it been their.

 

[stumblinhorse]

Ohio Supreme Court ruled that fortified mailboxes builders/owners are not liable to drivers for damages. It would make you liable for your trees etc In the right of way. Good for Ohio to have a logical outcome.

 

[ruffdog]

A few years ago a brother/sister were driving home from school and the roads were slick. The car spun and went through my mailbox posts right at the passenger side window area. I had a regular 4x4 wood post topped with an usps approved diamond plate box. Thankfully the 2 plastic paper boxes protected the sister from getting the metal box into her head. If I had a super fortified post she may have been severely injured. I'm very glad that I don't have to live with something like that on my continence.

 

[stumblinhorse]

I would say it is a balance. My mailbox was destroyed so many times I lost count. Only 1 driver told me they did it and they would fix it, they never came back…. Not once was the ground not frozen solid and not once did it take me less than 8 hours of my time and all new materials. I just got sick of it. Then I built something that would survive a vehicle attack.

 

[AnotherBueller]

While the core advice above to listen to local postmaster/ carrier is top notch...the mere idea that there would only be a few regulations from what is a quasi-govermental agency is funny. Here is a pdf from the USPS on just the mailbox for all curbside pickup (includes all rural, but also curbside city as well).

https://about.usps.com/publications/engineering-standards-specifications/spusps-std-7c.pdf

All of those regulations are for people who manufacture mail boxes for SALE. The ones you make for YOU just need your postmaster's approval, and their main concern is for the safety of the carrier and the mail (will it keep the mail safe and keep it dry?) As to some of the other questions made regarding the public driving by, you need to check with your local government. Some of them have been known to be, shall we say, they know whats best?
Oh and this is what I like, so do it my way.
I guess I'm too cynical in my old age.

 

[CliffordK]

If I'm not mistaken, US Postal service regulations require that the posts be able to break away. I think I remember reading that nothing stronger than a typical 4x4 is allowed. It's been a couple years since I reviewed this, so I can't guarantee I'm remembering it correctly.

Around here there are a variety of custom mailboxes and mailbox posts.

There was a Steve Lehto clip about the legality of "fortified maiboxes" in Ohio.

In my case, my grandparents had a brick mailbox post. At some point a person ran into the post and busted it up, totaling their car, and sending themselves to the hospital. Since then I've chosen 4x4 posts for mailboxes. A pain if busted, but not insurmountable.

We don't get a lot of snowplows here. But, one year with a lot of snow, my post was induced to lean. I ignored it for a couple of years until one day I found my mailbox flat on its back. No damage. I think it may have just fallen over when the mail lady had filled it. That may have been a mail order shipment of heavy stuff.

Anyway, the post had been rotted into nothing holding it up. So, I dug it out and put in a new 4x4. It was time.

Mom had her mailbox pulled off the post and stolen a couple of years ago, then dumped and recovered by a neighbor.

So, for her, I took some 4" "well casing" (1/4" wall), and welded it to a steel plate that we mounted the mailbox onto. Not indestructible, but it will take more work.

 

[paulsharvey]

The break away part; any object over 5 inches tall with in the 'clear zone' of the roadway should be 'crash worthy'; ie breakaway. That doesn't mean somebody is going to hunt you down if it's not; but some of these mail boxes/posts get ridiculous, and could absolutely kill someone in a otherwise minor injury wreck. Over by the beach, giant concrete manatee mail boxes, like 2 feet from the edge of pavement, in a 55 mph speed limit,... I've seen mail boxes on a rail road rail, poured in concrete; mail box on 8" Ductile Iron Pipe, ect. Never actually heard of a specific fatality tied directly to a mail box, but im sure it happens.

 

[masseyrider]

My parents place was the last house on a dead end road.
There was a large turn circle that was also a part of the driveway for traffic to turn around.
The edge of the circle was over the ditch culvert right upto the edge of their property.
The mailbox was on their property but still easy for the delivery person to get to it.
The circle was large enough the plow didn't have to come that close to it.
The driver hit and broke it a number of times.
My old man got a piece of high pressure steam pipe from a friend.
Drilled a hole as deep as the auger would go, set it in cement and also filled the pipe with cement and T posts. Painted it bright orange and yellow and put reflective tape on it.
Next time the plow driver hit it he F***** up the truck pretty good. They had to tow it away.
Town guys came and looked things over and nothing more was said.
Dinged the mailbox itself but only scratched the post.

 

[stumblinhorse]

I think it depends on your situation. You get salty replacing a mailbox 3-5 times a year especially when the ground is totally frozen. Especially out of your pocket. So you improve it until it is indestructible. If it is a once a year than no big deal. Since I moved I haven’t had to do it once, but my last place was 3-5 times a year. Never a snow plow. Always vehicles driving too fast or vandalism.

 

[JethroB]

One solution I once saw to vandalized mailboxes was to place a standard sized mailbox inside a larger oversized one. Fill the void between the two with concrete. “Ok buddy take a swing at it”.