Victim gets even

[mostly_gas]

And they call ME a jerk....:laughing: GOOD ONE, Dan !!!

Are you sure you are not jealous because he beat you to it?:laughing:

 

[thatguy]

When we moved to your current house, we bought a nice, cast aluminum mailbox ($60ish).. It lasted about 4 yrs and got hit at least 6 times times (by accident and on purpose) - BUT since it was so heavily made you could just bend it back into shape because it would not fold up..

Finally it got bent up so bad the wife unit wouldnt let me reinstall it.. So we bought one of the 20 lb., 'vandal resistant' boxes from Lowes.. It lasted less than a month.. The kids got it one night and i put it back up.. A few nights later they took another wack at it.. BUT this time they got it on the ground and beat the sides of it until i couldnt bend it back into a usable shape. There went my $80..

Now we have an $8 plastic box that I HATE - but it has lasted almost 2 yrs without being taken out.. BTW - I have it velcro'd onto the post

Brian

 

[Buckgnarly]

Here's mine after someone took out my wooden one a few years back. It's a Dana 35 with about 80lbs of concrete in the ground. Postal lady loves it, as it now has some snap dragons my wife and I planted in the sides (no summer pics though).

Funny thing is one of the postal carriers front plates is now on my garage...in the winter they slid into it, losing the plate. They were not pissed as it saved them the 10' dropoff past my driveway!

 

[JDgreen227]

BuckGnarly--very unique and of course I love the colors. 80 pounds of redi mix may sound like a lot but it's really only 2/3rds of a cubic foot. Did yours come off a Jeep or an Explorer?

 

[Buckgnarly]

BuckGnarly--very unique and of course I love the colors. 80 pounds of redi mix may sound like a lot but it's really only 2/3rds of a cubic foot. Did yours come off a Jeep or an Explorer?

Jeep rear, no Ex came with solid D35s, only 8.8 31 spline rears....were you thinking of the IFS fronts?
Yeah, i tossed a bag in, figure the whole tube in the ground was enough to stop anyone who runs into it next time!

 

[PhysAssist]

Re: Victim gets even, but I don't know how to this time... ?Suggestions

:stirthepot:

I know that I'm bumping an old thread, but I have to vent, and I know you'all will understand.



I came home at about 11PM on Frankenstorm :hurricane: Monday and noticed that despite some pretty stiffly blowing winds and heavy rains, our [very] rural mail box and post were still standing.:thumbsup:

Iin fact, I even checked it for mail because the door was ajar and unlatched [as our carrier often leaves it- lots of wet mail, but complaints only get ignored...]- only this time it was my domestic supervisor who left it that way.

When I continued to go up home, I found that there were 2 large cedars with a paired root ball laying across the bottom of the drive's hill, so I parked off the side at the bottom and walked on up.

The next day at around 2:30 PM, we got a call from an unrecognized cell- it's a driver with our propane delivery, but because of the trees, he can't get up to the tank. He further tells my boss that he went off the edge of the drive and got "a little" stuck, :shocked: but he got himslef out and was sorry for leaving the ruts. She said "NBD, don't worry at all about it." :cool2:

We went down and got the cedars all cut up, and then I walked down the drive to get our mail, eyeball the woods, and scope out any damage I might have missed from the previous night, but I also noticed that the gas truck had gone off road and rutted up at least 2 other spots, but not as bad as the one where he had obviously gotten stuck.

The drivers all think that they have to back up the lower drive, because even in the summer, they're nervous about going up our hill. So I figure, he must be a new driver and again, think NBD. I keep walking and get to the end of our drive, but there is no mail...:confused2:

In fact, there is no mail box...

No post...

No nothing!?!?!?!...:thumbdown:

All we could find was the circular imprint of the base, with dually truck tire prints across it.

Now we had once upon a time had some of the same problems that you'all did with the MB baseball dummies, but as a previous survivor said, changing to a sturdy plastic box seemed to have quelled that particular problem. :thumbsup:

Eventually I "found" an 8' DOT-type sign post with the bottom welded to a steel car rim and mounted the mail box and "pennysaver" boxes on that. :cool2:

But after having to pick that up EVERY time the wind so much as puffed or a plow truck even thought about driving by, I eventually filled the cup of that rim with reinforced concrete [An 80# bag with rebar and chicken wire]. :drink:

Now the thing was good and bottom-heavy- I mean I could lift it, but didn't like to, and now it only blew over from gale force winds and direct plow hits or with really heavy icy wet snow thrown from the plows.

Anyway, we called the post office and our carrier said that at 11AM when she came by, the post and box were there, but had been blown down- no surprise with FrankenSandy...:hurricane:

So, sometime between 11 AM and 4 PM when I got down to the end, something happened to our box and post.:banghead:

Naturally, we figured the new driver, who my boss said sounded like a young kid, and who obviously wasn't awful swift at backing the big truck up, probably inadvertently backed up over the box or post, and being a kid, probably thought that making it disappear was the best solution.

I mean I racked my brain to think of any alternate theories, who might have a grudge agin me, or any other silly idea, but we kept coming back to the kid driver.

We called the propane company, who were willing to make repairs for the ruts, but we had already fixed them, and while they said they would fix the box if it had been damaged, when they called the driver, he said that there had been no mailbox there, and denied ever seeing one.:shocked:

My boss, said "Really?, really?", but left it at that. :confused2::hissyfit:

We called the County Mounties, and the little blond girl [with the big side arm] who came and took a report, she said she figured maybe somebody took it for its scrap metal value...:duh:

I'm not buying it, but don't know what to do now, besides either fix a new post and box as to be immoveable, or so heavy as to bust the guts of anyone who tries.

I still think I'm going to call the driver, but who knows where that will lead? :stirthepot:unch:ullinghair::thumbdown:

Suggestions for either the best design or course of actions are now being solicited.:anyone:

Thanks for letting me rant [I know, I know, you had no choice], but also thanks in advance for any thoughts and ideas or any of the humorous takes I know are pretty much sure to follow.:laughing::laughing:

BTW, and to give the jokers some information [ammunition] I did work at the county jail for about a year, but it was the next county over, and both Pat and I worked on all the psych units in that county too. :silly:

Actually, we met in one too, but that's another whole tale.:cloud9:

Take care, and our thoughts and prayers are with and go out to all our distant friends and extended "family" trying to cope with the Frankenstorm aftermath. :sorry: :worried:

Thomas [and Pat]

 

[murphy1244]

That was very good, Thanks..

 

[PhysAssist]

That was very good, Thanks..

:shocked:WHAT?!?!?!? :confused2:

 

[murphy1244]

:shocked:WHAT?!?!?!? :confused2:

That made me think of my mailbox blue's. My box was smashed 3 times last winter and cost me 150.00 in mailbox repair stuff.

 

[daugen]

Growing up on a rural road, it seems cherry bombs were the prank of choice. They sure did the job on our old mailbox, which after a while looked pretty ratty, but we'd keep bending the door back to fit. It looked nasty enough that maybe the kids looked for greener pastures...

But then something really unpleasant happened. No baseball bat... someone took a big butcher knife or Kbar and stabbed the poor mailbox about five times. That made it leak, and we finally had to replace it. My dad was on the school board and I guess some kid didn't like his suspension. Must have been a pretty strong kid with some real personality issues.

 

[mikehaugen]

I know a guy who's teenage son hit a mailbox with a small car. The mailbox was mounted on some sort of large crankshaft and was undamaged, I guess the car was pretty badly damaged. Luckily I haven't had a mailbox problem in the 4 years I have been here, but I keep that in mind in case I ever do.

 

[3930dave]

Not a mailbox, but suits the title.

Buddy of mine owns a good sized independent garage. Car came in, crank, no start.

I dropped by the shop, late day, to hear my buddy on the phone, explaining the repair to the owner.

Gas tank was full of a huge amount of water. No comment from the car owner, but my buddy knows many of his customers really well, and is a good judge of people. The owner of the car works construction.

Best guess - "work" gas cans for small engines were getting emptied way too fast, for the amount of small engine operating hours. So..... trusted employees were let know which "gas" can had been mostly filled with water.

Boss sits back and watches who has no-start car trouble.

Told this one to a buddy of mine in BC, who keeps having gas stolen from cans on his property - he's going to have some fun. I suggested that he mix salt in with the water.



Best rural box setup I've seen was a big "Skyhook" type (high inverted "L", with the post set way back from the road). Standard box was suspended from long free hanging chains - it just swung freely if hit.

Rgds, D.

 

[Carl_NH]

Best rural box setup I've seen was a big "Skyhook" type (high inverted "L", with the post set way back from the road). Standard box was suspended from long free hanging chains - it just swung freely if hit.

Rgds, D.

Yes, this is effective especially in the snow belt where plows can hit it. Otherwise, build a pillar out of stone and concrete or brick and encase the mailbox and paper slot in it. Make sure make it 24-30" deep.

We use granite here - 7' long 8x10" about 800 lbs 36" below ground and a HD box lagged to the granite.

 

[3930dave]

Yep, I'm in snow plow country. Though we don't get the same snow amounts that we used to, back when - as a kid I remember rural highways with drifts that were way taller than the big highway plow trucks. But, we still have plenty of plow trucks running around, and many of those drivers are too busy texting, or ?????

I like to have things over-built, so I like how you think Carl !

What I find ironic about the descriptions listed here of counties, transport authorities..... ordering rural property owners to take down solid mounts is that many of these same jurisdictions probably have many, many miles of the old "cheese-cutter" road side barriers (cedar post and steel wire). IMO, at speed, the "cheese-cutters" are way more lethal to people in small cars than the occasional sturdy post. :thumbdown:

Rgds, D.

 

[JDgreen227]

Yep, I'm in snow plow country. Though we don't get the same snow amounts that we used to, back when - as a kid I remember rural highways with drifts that were way taller than the big highway plow trucks. But, we still have plenty of plow trucks running around, and many of those drivers are too busy texting, or ?????

I like to have things over-built, so I like how you think Carl !

What I find ironic about the descriptions listed here of counties, transport authorities..... ordering rural property owners to take down solid mounts is that many of these same jurisdictions probably have many, many miles of the old "cheese-cutter" road side barriers (cedar post and steel wire). IMO, at speed, the "cheese-cutters" are way more lethal to people in small cars than the occasional sturdy post. :thumbdown:

Rgds, D.

It can be argued that most roadside barriers are usually further away from the centerline than a mailbox post and therefore a vehicle is less likely to impact one. Hmm, have never seen the "cheese-cutter" term before, I cannot recall the last time I saw one but I recall what they look like.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

It can be argued that most roadside barriers are usually further away from the centerline than a mailbox post and therefore a vehicle is less likely to impact one. Hmm, have never seen the "cheese-cutter" term before, I cannot recall the last time I saw one but I recall what they look like.

My mailbox is made of plastic; it's only been hit once, and judging from the marks, may have been a T-post, or maybe part of one. The plastic is very resilent, no harm done.

 

[3930dave]

The big problem around here JD is icy roads, something I'm sure you're familiar with in Michigan. Most people will slow down (sometimes because they have no choice) for 12" of snow, but many won't for an icy road.

Add to that, constricting road maintenance budgets - unless they are trying to deliberately run down the budget at the end of the season, many areas won't roll trucks for less than a certain minimum amount of snow.

At the high velocities many people drive on rural roads, at least around here, these post and wire barriers get hit often. One winter, I was talking about this with the Fire Chief at the next town south of me. Pretty well every post and wire barrier was smashed up pretty well, between my town and his. The difference in setback here between a mailbox and these barriers probably ranges from 3' to probably 10' max. At speed, on ice, often people don't get stopped in the extra few feet - many of these vehicles end up hundreds of feet beyond the barrier, they are going that fast.

I bring this up, because it is a significant safety issue. I picked up the term "cheesecutter" from a civil engineer I was talking to - many people have seen how a wire cheesecutter works, these cedar post barriers work pretty much the same. This engineer related having to explain a picture to new crews who were being trained on dealing with accident scenes "No, those aren't sacks of potatoes in that wrecked car". They keep burlap bags in the road service trucks, to put over the torsos after the roof pillars get sliced off by the wire barriers. As I've posted before, most anybody over 3' tall gets decapitated.

These post and wire barriers were designed way back - cars then were tall (compared to todays cars), mounted on heavy frames. The wire barrier was mostly intended to align with and stop the frame on old cars. Today's cars, being low and aerodynamic, can often go under and through the wire if they are going fast enough.

The civil engineer I was talking to worked in Toronto. Years ago, they even had these post/wire barriers around the city. They have mostly all been replaced in Toronto with more modern barriers today.

The problem in most of Canada (big country, not many people), and parts of the USA, just comes down to $$$, as with most things. We have many many thousands of miles of roads with these old style barriers in place, to replace them all at once is not in the cards.

In a given county, what they usually try and do is upgrade the barriers that get crashed into the most, first. That road south of me has a long steep valley, that often ices up badly, esp. at 4:30am - some of those barriers finally got upgraded over the last 2 years.

I should apologize for somewhat drifting this thread, as you probably won't get too far trying to argue with your local county about the safety of these post/wire barriers. Typically, driven by their legal counsel, the standard line is "There is nothing wrong with these barriers". Until you talk with somebody inside the "road" industry, you usually won't get the real story.

People moving out to, or traveling through, the country often don't understand this legacy road hazard.

If you live in the flatlands, and drive on straight roads with no ice conditions, you are lucky in this respect.

Rgds, D.

 

[PhysAssist]

That made me think of my mailbox blue's. My box was smashed 3 times last winter and cost me 150.00 in mailbox repair stuff.

OUCH- condolences thatsa lotta green.... :-(

Thomas

 

[forgeblast]

PostalFlex - Flexible and Indestructible Mailbox Post Mounting Bracket
paired with
Liberty Hardware APANCHR-HSG-U Vortex Mailbox Ground Anchor, Green - Amazon.com
would make a pretty robust system.

 

[PhysAssist]

PostalFlex - Flexible and Indestructible Mailbox Post Mounting Bracket
paired with
Liberty Hardware APANCHR-HSG-U Vortex Mailbox Ground Anchor, Green - Amazon.com
would make a pretty robust system.

Thanks, for the ideas and links, those do both look pretty robust.

Thomas:thumbsup: