Rural Mailboxes

[Jag]

Where I use to live it was old ball bats at night. After I lost the second mail box, the first one that I put up, I set a two inch pipe into the ground 30 inches, and mounted the mail box on a pipe down in it with a small collar so the mail box would spin. The box itself was on a 3/8 steel plate with the support pipe at the back. The I painted the whole works black. My neighbor's box was about thirty feet away up the road. He lost about five siver mailboxes before I moved. As far as I can tell mine was hit twice and only spun. One other nice thing about this set up I never had to stand on the road side to get my mail, just walk up behind it spin it around and get the mail.

 

[TomG]

If you wait long enough, the Post Office may solve the problem like Canada Post did. There is no home delivery here in most rural or new sub-urban areas, so there are no boxes. We pick our mail up at the store.
Sometimes the store sends parcels along with the school bus. What ever works. Actually, we have two addresses, one is for our camp. A group box (maintained by the Post Office) serves the area around the camp. If we took out a slot in the group box, the store would send the mail to either address to where ever we're staying at the time. Country life works that way around here.

I see somebody commented about the idea of creating something akin to road side hazards. I was thinking about that and wondered about suspending something high and lowering it when needed. Oh well, I suppose then it would make a great penota (Sp).

 

[W5FL]

Tom,

My wife will hardly get the mail out of the box when it is only a 1/4 mile away. If she had to pick up the mail at the Post Office which is 17 miles away, it would probably be an annual event. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[W5FL]

Muhammad,

Your concrete dual box is a great idea. I would have tried it if I had thought about it. I still have another box on the other side of the property to try that on. Thanks. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[W5FL]

Von,

Some kids don't grow up as fast as others. Sooner or later reality shows it's head. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I gave up and got a PO Box. Kids were just too enterprising. And I echo the comments about liability. Unless you have made a big pullout and put your mailbox on YOUR property, I believe you are liable if someone (even someone just driving) hits your massive mailbox pole and gets hurt. If your mailbox is on public right-of-way 30 45 or 60 feet wide usually. It cannot be an immovable object. If there's room you can always make a deeper pull off to solve the liability problem. Easy for the PO to get to, and no reason someone could say they just hit it on the edge of the public road. I have a corner post for my fence near the right of way. I moved it inward after it was hit about 3 times (people in the dark or just not looking). I had put a concrete culvert sticking about 3 feet and buried a couple of feet, it was recently bent backwards almost hitting the my fence post (and yes it was painted white).

Now am going to stick a 6 foot length of bridge I-beam in the ground 3 feet, add cement around it, paint it fluorescent orange. It is on MY property, not on the right of way. Probably still get sued as no one is responsible for their own error and/or stupidity anymore.

You know the old story about burglars suing defenders of their property. Honest to god I actually had a deputy sheriff who came out once tell me if they get outside after being shot you better drag them back in and that you are better off if there is only one person around to tell the story. Usually those guys are pretty reserved with comments and I was shocked to hear him say it. I guess there's a little bit of justice left.

 

[RobertN]

About 15 years ago a guy who works with my Dad did similar.

Kids chained a 4x4 fence post on top of the truck bed, with a few feet of post sticking out. They cruise along whacking mail boxes.

Randy set a 4" steel pin in concrete, and filled the pipe with concrete.

A few weeks later, he heard a crash and squeeling. Went out, and found the kids and truck spun out in the ditch. Just about took the cab off the truck.

It never happened again...

RobertN in Shingle Springs Calif

 

[W5FL]

Great story. Hope there are many more like it. /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I had a similar problem as several of you fellows have described, with kids either smashing my mailbox flat with bats, or wrapping a chain around the post and pulling everything up. I also had a problem with our own version of "Earnhart" the plow driver knocking over a post or two each winter. My solution was to dig a hole down 4 feet, put in a 7 foot section of 18 inch sauna tub, and filled the whole thing with concrete. I then installed a mailbox made out of 1/4 inch plate steel on top. That was about 4 years ago. To date, I've found a half dozen broken bats on the ground next to it (man, that must hurt!), and "Earnhart", after catching his wing plow on it the first winter and nearly doing a 360 around the post (I wish I could have seen that!), now gives it a wide berth. I wish I hadn't had to resort to something like this, but if you've ever had to dig a hole down thru hard frozen ground in the middle of the winter to put in a new mailbox post, more than once, you get the feeling that enough is enough....

 

[ddl]

It is a federal crime to damage mail boxes since the post office owns them even if you pay for them. The post office have inspectors whos job it is to find such people who damage a box. If they refuse to do something, a call to your congressman should correct the problem. One must remember that they work for us. If you put up a Post office approved box, type nd location, you are not liable if someone hits it, they are liable.

If only the local cops would do something about people marking up road signs, but I guess they are to busy picking up speeders instead of solving real problems

Dan L

 

[JimBinMI]

ddl,

Sounds like you've received one too many speeding tickets. I would consider speeders more life threatening to me than kids that go around hitting mailboxes! /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

JimBinMI

We boys and our toys!

 

[W5FL]

It may be a federal crime, but it is not considered worthy of worrying about by the USPS. They don't own the mailbox, it just must meet their specifications. Liability is not a logical issue. That is why you should have liability insurance, and if you have enough, the insurance company will help defend your rights since they have to pay if you lose.

 

[W5FL]

I thought Bird wrote this reply and I was going to retort "spoken like a true retired policeman.". /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[Bird]

Gosh, that's an old, tired cliche. The cops are always too busy doing something or other instead of "solving the real problem." And what is the "real problem?" Why, the one that bothers you personally, of course./w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif If it's your mailbox you're having to replace, that's the "real problem." Or if it's your house that got burglarized, that's the "real problem." Or if it's your kid that got killed by a speeder, then that's the "real problem." Aaah, where would we end? But we all need someone else to blame for our troubles; right?/w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

And yes, it's a federal crime to damage mail boxes, but do you really think the Postal Inspectors are going to be able to do much about that? I wouldn't count on it. And yes, I worked for the U.S Post Office for 5 years before joining the police department./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif



Bird

 

[Anonymous Poster]

As I left my place to go to town I saw someone removing mail from the mailboxes ( I have a PO Box in town and none at home). There had been a rash of such activity. I asked the people at the post office (a pretty big one) after explaining the situation, to call the Postal Inspector. They looked at me blankly and said, "we don't know the number for that you'd have to call 911"

What does the Postal Inspector actually do anymore if not deal with this type of activity. I didn't have my cell phone and the PO said they don't have customer phones. DUH

In my childhood (60s) the police came out for garbage dumping, all kinds of minor things. Now it has to be serious. Is it because they are lazy, I think not. Just spend some time reading the police reports on what they do DO! I want them available for when I'm running out of ammo defending the place against all the guys with unhappy childhoods that have to be let out of prison early so we can give money to Eastern Slorgovia, or because we have to build sports stadiums that voters vote down so billionaire owners and millionaire here today gone tomorrow players have a place to come to while all the alcohol ****** have a place to put their ads.

(above sentence can be shortened for $12.50)

I wish I did live someplace where Sheriff Mayberry could come out and talk now and then but it's getting harder. I truly realized there was a problem when I went up to a police officer not too long ago just to say thanks and shake his hand. I've been told by some I look "scary" I don't feel scary, but he put his hand on his gun until I said my peace, then he relaxed. And this uproar over Rodney King, I'm sorry, if someone has to chase me down I'll feel lucky if they don't blow me away to stop me. Can you imagine what the adrenalin rush is, even for those almost-always calm trained guys?

Of course if I was black I might feel different I don't know. From what I pickup the police in some cities seem to be a bit taxed.

I just hope the politicians realize that underfunded police departments can eventually cause citizens to take matters into their own hands.

And back to the subject, yes I have considered having a mailbox at home again. First I want to find a used 12 foot dozer blade I can stand on end and bury in the ground 8 feet with a mailbox constructed out of deck armor from one of the Navy ship dismantlers!

 

[Bird]

del, you know police departments and their employees are just like other organizations. They have to recruit officers from the human race, and no matter what kind of selection process you use, you'll get some good and some bad. And there will be disagreements as to priorities within the police department, as well as with, or within, the governmental body that hires them. My experience included a lot of contact with other officers from all over this nation, as well as foreign nations around the world, and while there are some major differences, there are even more similarities.

And of course there are exceptions to every rule, but the one thing I know surprises most people outside law enforcement is the fact that the vast majority of police officers hate writing traffic tickets; they'd rather do almost anything else.

Bird

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Bird, I'm sure they're quite like everyone else in that they don't want life to be a constant confrontational situation. The officers that I have met, especially those that I met after pestering the local school district to begin the "Dare" program, seem to genuinely enjoy having contact with people as people not as suspects. The "Dare" program has it's detractors, stating cost versus results. I suppose that is a debatable subject, what is not debatable is the response the kids have in being able to have some contact with a police officer. I really think it is a benefit that should not be ignored.

I'm also thinking of the time recently a State Patrol Trooper drug something out of his memory on a traffic stop and broke a major case open.

Even with them doing their job there are a lot of crazies on the road, the other night we were going down a fairly busy freeway only to have the typical clod weaving in and out trying to get somewhere 10 seconds before the rest of us. I think I muttered something and about half a minute later coming up behind me FAST was a lit up Christmas tree on top of a police cruiser, ran up and nailed the guy. I wanted to at least honk as I went by but didn't, wondering if the officer would see it as "thanks"

 

[W5FL]

Del,

If you call the postal inspector office, they send you a form to fill out that documents the crime. I am sure that they may use it if there is a rash of problems in an area - or a Congress Womans mail gets stolen, but it does not appear to be a high priority to them.

Before Christmas last year, all our outgoing mail was stolen out of our mail box. A neighbor about a mile down the road called us and said she had found it in the ditch. They had opened all of the Christmas Cards and just threw the bills with checks in them in the ditch. The local Sheriff had a description of the vehicle, but never heard if they caught them. Most people in the rural areas report things like that to the County Sheriff and he knows more about it than the Post Office - Lets see.. that is called an AO (Associate Office) whose only job is to take the mail that comes in and send it out and deliver the local mail. We build mail processing equipment for the Post Office, so I have the good fortune of getting to go through the business end of the Post Offices. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[Kevin_mc]

I've seen two solutions to this age old problem of mail box damage which seem to work pretty well.

1. Postal Patron used a short axle and mounted auto wheels on both ends placed one wheel flat on a concrete pad where the mail box post used to be. The axle is vertical and the other wheel is just at the right height to mount the mail box on. He filled the bottom wheel with concrete. Now when someone hits the post or mail box the thing wobbles around then falls down.

2. take the mail box off the post every night when you pick up the mail and put it out every morning when you leave for work.

Both methods were very effective for the people that came up with them.

Kevin

 

[Cowboy]

Good Topic Wen.
Yes Kids Will Be Kids...and It always seems to come at a price. from Mailboxes to Headstones.
and
Thats a Shame.

Cowboy