Rural Mailboxes

[W5FL]

The first year on our rural property, I replace 13 mailboxes that had been damaged. The post master was sympathetic but could not do anything about it.

I finally put up a composite mailbox that was supossed to resist vandalism. It last for less than a month. They tore it up twice.

Finally, I found a guy that would build one out of 3/8 in wall 12 in pipe and set it on a 4 1/2 inch heavy wall steel pipe filled with concrete. Put it in a 5 1/2 foot deep pole. 300# mailbox and 300# concrete. Painted Green, it looked pretty good.

That's when I found out how they were knocking them all down. They were sticking a piece of pipe out the window of a pickup camper and driving down the street and knocking the boxes off.

Only problem was when they hit this one, it took the pickup camper off the pick up. Broke it in a hundred pieces and left it laying in the ditch. Always wondered what the driver told his Dad happened to the pickup camper. /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

Found a couple of nicks where someone tried and failed to pull it up with a chain.

It is possible to destroy it, but it has withstood the past 5 1/2 years and still looks like new while my neighbors continue to lose their mailboxes regularly.

I see brick mailboxes (very expensive) completely destroyed by pulling them over with a rope. Has anyone else sucessfully solved this problem?

 

[Bird]

Wen, that was a common problem when I was a rookie cop in the northwest corner of Dallas 35 years ago, but I haven't heard of that happening in this area in the 5 years we've lived here.

Bird

 

[W5FL]

Guess this is actually the North West corner of Dallas. At least 40 miles North West. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif If you would have hung them all then, their kids wouldn't be doing it today! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[Bird]

Yeah, that would have been a good idea. The kids back then knocked a lot of mailboxes down, like you said, but they also liked to make homemade bombs and put them in the mailboxes to blow them up./w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

Bird

 

[BobT]

Only problem we have is with the snow plows. On the back roads, they cruise along at 45 MPH or so, and take out a lot of boxes. The trick is exactly how and where you position your box. You just have to see how far out the big rigger blades extend, and make sure your box is a foot or so further.

Also, the Post Office has "regulations" about how and where you can place your rural box, so the drivers can put mail in without exiting their vehicle. There is a "sweet spot" place which lets the PO do its job, and stay clear of the snow plows.

Vandals? Now that's another issue. I like the solution above, a lot.

BobT.

A Indiana Boy

 

[Muhammad]

Yeah the concrete is the best bet. An easy solution is to buy two mailboxes, one small and one large. Put the small one inside of the larger one, and fill the rest with concrete. The ultimate mailbox sleeper; they wouldn't expect it to be anything but a hollow target! But then you might have to do a double or triple pole set way into the ground like you have, Wen, to both hold up the box that would weight a tad, and to prevent the pull-overs you describe.

 

[Thomas]

We did have a few cases about 4 years ago when some kids were smashing mail boxes,but all of a suden it stop.
BobT right about the guys who plow snow with there wing.
1995 this highway department operator (which we nick name Earnhart) seem to have one speed and that was fast.
I lost 2 mail boxes and I wasn't the only one,/w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif but the city had to make good on everyones mail box,heck he even knock down the road signs and broke fire hydrant open durning the cold winter.
Now Earnhart works at the landfill. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Once someone did steal my little <font color=orange> orange tractor of the mail box, [sad] but after replacing it no more problems.

The kids around here are pretty good.....knock on wood. /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif

Wen. did you ever find out who the driver was?
I like to been a fly on the wall when that story was told to the insurance company. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif


Thomas..NH

 

[W5FL]

No. The camper just laid in the ditch for about a week, then it disappeared as mysteriously as it arrived. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[Bird]

Wen, I'm guessing you must live on a county road like I do, where you can do any darned thing you want to for a mailbox post or support, as long as the postman can put the mail in the box without getting out of his vehicle. But if you live on a Farm to Market road like my brother, the state puts up the post for you to put the mailbox on. That way they are all the same distance from the edge of the pavement, and they use a real flimsy post, with a little reflector on it, so that when some drunken fool runs over it, it won't slow him down or hurt him./w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

Bird

 

[Von]

Wen,
I have a friend who was having the same problem as you were. After 5 mail boxes he had me weld up some thick walled 4" square tubing to look like the wood post that you buy. Then did the small in the large box and filled the whole thing with concrete. Some kid that once rented an apt. from him was the quilty party. He did about $3500 worth of damage to his father's car one night about a week after he put it up. Drove the post right thru the fender into the pass. door! Needless to say, his dad was not happy. My friend says he just wishs he could have seen the look on his face when he fit it at 40 mph. It bent the post some but it is still there.

Von

 

[Muhammad]

I also would like to see the baseball bat attempts on such mailboxes... ouch!

 

[JimBinMI]

Wen,

About two years ago our metal mailbox was blown up by a bottle bomb. That was the first vandalism in 7 years, felt pretty lucky. I have a back up mailbox in the barn from the previous house and was planning on using it. Wife called the police, they warned about clean-up with the chemicals but said they couldn't do much. Then, about when I'm ready to use the replacement box, the neighbor lady down the street calls and said that her sons buddies did it. She reamed them up one side and down the other, said we were their friends and neighbors and what they did to us they did to them, and made them replace it, numbers and all. They even mounted it, did a good job too! I always thought she was a good neighbor/friend/mom/carpool partner but she won more stars for this action!

Not to get political, but sometimes I do agree with Hillary Clinton when she says it takes a village to raise a child. We all have a responsibility, but some parents do a better job than others.

JimBinMI

We boys and our toys!

 

[Roy]

I haven't found that sweet spot! Over 12 years, I have lost 2 to plows, non to vandals. Problem with the plows is they just can't tell were the road edge is, so they set their own course. So far I have been surviving (current box has lasted 8 years) by making sure that I clear the area before the plows come. This is not a problem, since I usually get the plows 24 to 48 hours after the snow fall stops.

Regarding the vandals. Was once told a story (so it's hearsay, so I can't validate it) about a guy who was sick of the destruction, used concrete in a decoy box. The kids hit it with a bat, the bat's recoil broke the car's glass, the car hit a tree. Well, per this story, the culprits successfully sued the mailbox builder for all damages to the car plus personal injuries. Don't know if it's true, but believe it could happen. After all, in the USA, we are not responsible for knowing that coffee is hot /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif.

 

[MarkV]

Wen-Thats a great story!/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif Kids will be kids, but, I wonder if that dad kicks butt as hard as mine did. If I had lost a camper off a truck I don't know if I would have ever gone home.

 

[gordon]

At my last house I was pretty far off the road and replaced two mailboxes to baseball bats.
Then I made one out of a piece of scrap 8" steel pipe welded a back on and a hinged front. I welded this onto a 4" steel pipe and set in quickcrete. Over the next few years a few dings in the paint HA HA but thats all.
Where I live now so far I've been lucky just a regular box lets hope it stays that way. But if it doesn't I've got a welder and torches and I'm not afraid to use them /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif
Gordon

 

[Anonymous Poster]

For a second job I do home inspections when people are purchacing a new (used) house. While doing an inspection the home owner suggested I look at the mailbox. From even a few feet away it looked like any other mailbox, but I noticed it was mounted on a 6"x6" I-beam for a post. A closer inspection revealed it was made of 5/16" thick steel plate, complete with working door. It's shape and size were identical to the standard mailbox.

The owner explained that over two years he had replaced about 30 mailboxes due to vandals. The police were no help at all. He even hid in the bushes at night in the hope of catching them, but never did. They were smashing the boxes with a 1" iron bar about 5 ft long.

He had finally had enough and went to a welding shop to have this mailbox made. It cost $300 but he decided it was less expensive than continuous replacement. The mailbox was welded to the I-beam post and the post was 7 ft long.

Next step was to mount the post. He said he purchaced about 25 bags of concrete mix. He planned a hole about 3 ft in diameter. He got down 2 ft deep and hit solid rock and he had 4 ft of post to plant. Next he rented a jackhammer and made a 2 ft deep hole in the rock. He filled everything up with concrete.

About a week after this at 3:00 AM he heard a really loud clang followed by a scream and then lots of cussing and the truck sped off. He went out to find a small nick in the paint on the mailbox and the iron bar on the ground beside it. It never was touched by vandals again.

When winter came, one day during a storm the plow got to close and hit the mail box post. It stopped the truck dead in it's tracks and even stalled the engine. This was a large dump truck with a 10 or 12 ft plow. The plow driver didn't understand what had happened. The post did not even move. The plow steared clear of his mailbox after that.

Andy

 

[W5FL]

Great story Andy,

You can't make them indestructable, but you can make them where it is easier to go somewhere else. That is probably the best we can hope for. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

I lost another mailbox when a Tornado hit our house. It tore out a 100 year old Oak tree that was about 24 inches in diameter. It went through the back fence and took my other mailbox out level with the ground.

Two more limbs from the tree came in through the windows and was in the Family Room! /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

 

[W5FL]

Roy,

The Rural Postmaster was concerned about someone hitting the heavy mailbox. I set it as far off the road as possible and he admitted that there was no other way to solve the problem.

Take out lots of liability insurance and your insurance company will defend you. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[JimBinMI]

Roy,

I've also been told that if your mailbox does damage to someone else that you could be held responsible.

My neighbor across the road and I have our boxes within 3' of each other. Mine is on a 4"x4" and his is on a length of old telephone pole. Somebody tried, accidentally or on purpose, to back over them, mine was pushed a little because his stopped them.

If you ever wondered what kind of kid does this, my high school class valedictorian used to do it with some other seemingly intelligent yet bored friends. I remember hearing about it back in school. Wonder if he's ever had his banged up and what he thought of it? What comes around goes around! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

JimBinMI

We boys and our toys!

 

[richh]

Andy I want one just like that. Do you know anyone that installs?
Rich/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif