Revenge of the mailbox

[Professor Marvel]

Buy or paint a black mailbox. Put a layer of gooey, sticky, black grease on the side starting about an inch back from the door. It will end up all over the bat, the boy, and the inside of the car.

Is there a silver grease for silver boxes? All I can think of is silver anti-seize.

Bruce

hvac thermal paste would be great for that. I don't know how much it costs but if you get a little on you it seems to go a mile when you are trying to get it off.

 

[coobie]

The problem I see with I-beams HD posts is some lawsuit happy sumbitch with a lawyer in tow would have a lawsuit against you if they (hit or got injured) the HD mailbox/post with a bat or car even if they were in the wrong

 

[Professor Marvel]

The problem I see with I-beams HD posts is some lawsuit happy sumbitch with a lawyer in tow would have a lawsuit against you if they (hit or got injured) the HD mailbox/post with a bat or car even if they were in the wrong

sadly you are correct
our post master was telling me when it happened several years ago that someone in the Manassas Virginia route had created one of those concrete filled mailboxes. the drive by punk hit it with a bat that snapped and drove into his arm. of course a lawsuit ensued at the expense of the mailbox owner. lets remember that even if you do not lose a lawsuit like this (they did in fact lose) your attorney fees are still significant. Tack on the losers costs and the limit is pretty pathetically high. it doesn't seem right to me but look around. a whole lot today doesn't seem right to me.

 

[flyerdan]

As much as I like the retaliatory ideas, like coating it with tannerite to let the little s&$^apples know they've messed with the wrong person, chances are the DHS spies that deliver the mail would have you labeled subversive. My dad made a swing away pipe inside a notched pipe so it would lift a pin out of its groove and ride upward and to the side when the snowplow hit it with a blast. Then gravity would settle it back into its resting groove. You could do a similar setup with a garage door spring, and a couple of flat bar hoops over the box to protect it from vehicle born bats. Just make them large enough that the flag will go up. Speaking of which, is that really necessary any more? I suspect the flag was useful decades ago before we were inundated with junk mail, and the carrier might not stop at a box for days otherwise.

 

[bcp]

Without a flag, the carrier wouldn't know if it was yesterday's incoming mail still there or today's outgoing mail, without taking it out and reading the address.

Bruce

 

[Howling]

Or just hang a sturdy mailbox on a pair of chains. Let it swing away from whatever hits it.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

sadly you are correct
our post master was telling me when it happened several years ago that someone in the Manassas Virginia route had created one of those concrete filled mailboxes. the drive by punk hit it with a bat that snapped and drove into his arm. of course a lawsuit ensued at the expense of the mailbox owner. lets remember that even if you do not lose a lawsuit like this (they did in fact lose) your attorney fees are still significant. Tack on the losers costs and the limit is pretty pathetically high. it doesn't seem right to me but look around. a whole lot today doesn't seem right to me.

Of course it would depend a lot on the laws of your particular state, but it has always been a part of Common Law that you couldn't set "traps" for a trespasser. It's one thing, however, to set a spring gun to shoot a burglar's leg off when he breaks in your barn, but it's another for your bank to put your money in a Stainless Steel vault to prevent robbers from casually carrying it away. I find it hard to believe that the homeowner who encased his mailbox in concrete to protect the box and his personal property would be liable for a vandal whose own wrongdoing caused him grief...sorta like breaking his leg trying to kick in your front door. I suspect these suits have more nuisance value, especially if the perp is faced with a federal crime at the same time.

 

[bcp]

USPS guidlines:
Mailbox Guidelines | USPS





From the Domestic Mail Manual:
Domestic Mail Manual D041 Customer Mail Receptacles


2.2Custom-Built Mailbox

The local postmaster may approve a curbside mailbox constructed by a customer who, for aesthetic or other reasons, does not want to use an approved manufactured box. The custom-built box must generally meet the same standards as approved manufactured boxes for flag, size, strength, and quality of construction.

...

2.6Mailbox Post

The post or other support for a curbside mailbox must be neat and of adequate strength and size. The post may not represent effigies or caricatures that tend to disparage or ridicule any person. The box may be attached to a fixed or movable arm.



Bruce

 

[newbury]

Without a flag, the carrier wouldn't know if it was yesterday's incoming mail still there or today's outgoing mail, without taking it out and reading the address.

Bruce

Never seems to bother our postpeople, frequently we leave mail in for a day or two.

Or just hang a sturdy mailbox on a pair of chains. Let it swing away from whatever hits it.
View attachment 470103

That and growing bushes around it seem like the safest approach.

 

[arkydog]

ya'll jist has to remember that we were all youngens at one time. might not have been beating mailboxes with a baseball bat, but i'm guessing that sometime, somewhere, some how, you did something destructive in your past that cost somebody time, money, or time and money, even if you screwed someone not on purpose and didm't realize it till later but did nothing about it.

just get angry, blow off some steam, and then laugh about it while thinking about when you were kid having fun!!!!