Mail box damaged(again)
Logistics Pro
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 4,562
Likes: 2
From: Southern MD
Originally Posted by T18skyguy
Another idea is to build a brick enclosure around it from the ground up.
This is what we did!!!!!
Our mailbox was getting trashed every other week.
We contacted a neighbor's brother-n-law and he made us a new box enclosure out of brick to match the house.
The weekend after the guy put it in place, we found splinters of a baseball bat next to the box!!!!!!!!
(Turn on Gomer Pyle voice. . . . .) Surprise. . . surprise. . . surprise!!!! (Turn off voice.)
Granted, it cost us a couple hundred $$$, but, no more mailbox purchases on Sunday morning!
Elder User
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 589
Likes: 3
From: Villa Rica, GA
My mailbox gets smashed every now and then, the last one got smashed the FIRST DAY I had it up. I dealt with wet mail for a couple weeks then got a new one last week, I put a new post in further back from the road so it is harder to reach with a bat. It seems to be working so far (knock on wood).
I thought about getting a big box with a smaller one inside and fill it with concrete but I have seen people get arrested for setting up a "booby trap" .. even though some loser is trying to smash it, if that loser gets hurt they can sue you.
I thought about getting a big box with a smaller one inside and fill it with concrete but I have seen people get arrested for setting up a "booby trap" .. even though some loser is trying to smash it, if that loser gets hurt they can sue you.
Postmaster
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 4,043
Likes: 4
My box got knocked over twice. So I set the post back from the road in the middle of a hedge. Then I hinged the cross arm that the box is mounted on. A chain goes out from the top of the post (8 foot post, 5 feet out of ground) out to the cross arm behind the box. Now if anyone drives into it, (snowplow man included) the box just swings out of the way and then returns.
I'n your case where someone is hitting it with a bat, you could put a steel box around the mailbox to sheild the mailbox. Or the double mailbox idea.
And idea simpler than the hinge would be to use an eye bolt on the post and a hook on the cross arm. I had to double hinge the cross arm because as it swings, the end also rises.
I'n your case where someone is hitting it with a bat, you could put a steel box around the mailbox to sheild the mailbox. Or the double mailbox idea.
And idea simpler than the hinge would be to use an eye bolt on the post and a hook on the cross arm. I had to double hinge the cross arm because as it swings, the end also rises.
Posting Guru
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 2,231
Likes: 0
From: Valley of the Sun AZ
I used to live in a rural area and our box was hit, so I went into Magiver mode. I took 1/2 inch rebar and welded a cage around the box. Mail could come it, but if you tried to hit it, it would win. Last step was to paint it black. Very cost effective and effective.
Senior User
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 471
Likes: 0
From: Goldsboro, NC
We had that problem when I was living with my folks. After several mail boxes were smashed within a year, I welded up a mailbox out of 1/4" steel plate, welded on a steel ring that fit nicely over a 8" dia. post firmly set in the ground. Many people tried smashing that one. Lot of glass on the ground around the mail box, fire crackers set off in it, but it stood undamaged for the next 25 years.
Posting Guru
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 1,651
Likes: 0
From: Maine
It won't help with the juvenile delinquents, but my father's mailbox is positioned in such a way that when the snowplows come by, the flying snow would regularly knock it off its post. A number of different methods were tried over the years, and one year he just got fed up with fixing it and bungee-corded the box to the 4x4 post.
The little bit of give in the bungee allowed is enough to prevent the box from getting beat up by the snow, and it stays in place. The constant exposure is hard on the bungees, but replacing them once or twice a year is a lot easier (and cheaper) than replacing the mailbox every winter.
The little bit of give in the bungee allowed is enough to prevent the box from getting beat up by the snow, and it stays in place. The constant exposure is hard on the bungees, but replacing them once or twice a year is a lot easier (and cheaper) than replacing the mailbox every winter.
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Posting Guru
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 1,958
Likes: 0
From: Southeastern Indiana
Mine used to get smashed at least once a month. I would always replace it right away. The last time It got smashed I again replaced it right away but this time I replaced it with the cheapest on Lowe's had and it was a $6.00 black plastic one. It's been a year now and so far no one has smashed it. I'm guessing they are just smashing the higher priced mailboxes because mine is still up and my neighbors are still getting smashed.
Posting Guru
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 2,246
Likes: 2
From: Hawkeye Country
our mailbox is a highly custom job. it made using a trunk from a tree we cut down in the yard, maybe 12 inchs around and about 7 feet tall in all, its buried about 3 feet in the ground and filled with quickcreet. on top of the stump is a old tool box thats shaped like a birdhouse, the tool box wheighs about 25 pounds on it own. the box is held to the log using a total of 8 screws, six inch lag screws.
my sister backed into it with my moms old plymoth voyger, it busted the plastic bumper cover and put a dent in the right rear fender. but the mailbox still stands proud. our neighborhood hasnt had many problems with mailbox vandels, i'm sure they're in for one hell of a time if they decide to hit mine.
my sister backed into it with my moms old plymoth voyger, it busted the plastic bumper cover and put a dent in the right rear fender. but the mailbox still stands proud. our neighborhood hasnt had many problems with mailbox vandels, i'm sure they're in for one hell of a time if they decide to hit mine.
Posting Guru
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 1,701
Likes: 0
From: KY
It is a catch 22. Mail boxes are supposed to "breakaway". There was a accident here a couple of years ago and a kid hit a bricked in box in a car. The people got sued and it costed them a fortune. Medical bills ect. I know it was BS but there is a rule about that.
It is a federal offence and I saw a kid, years ago, spend some time in jail. The bad thing is that the post office doesn't care after it is delivered.
I will check on exactly what a person can do or contact about it. My wife is a rural carrier and her mom is retired postmaster.
My question was "What is used to determine "breakaway". A hit from a Honda or a D9".
It is a federal offence and I saw a kid, years ago, spend some time in jail. The bad thing is that the post office doesn't care after it is delivered.
I will check on exactly what a person can do or contact about it. My wife is a rural carrier and her mom is retired postmaster.
My question was "What is used to determine "breakaway". A hit from a Honda or a D9".
Postmaster
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 2,848
Likes: 1
From: Kentucky
Right on Cat, a couple in my area got sued because a driver slid off of the road accidently and hit their super reinforced steel mailbox and was badly hurt from the protuding steel. ..
It looks like in our age of super /rubber and plastics, someone would design a all rubber/plastic composite mailbox that would take hits from bud light bottles and bats and just bounce back in to form.
It looks like in our age of super /rubber and plastics, someone would design a all rubber/plastic composite mailbox that would take hits from bud light bottles and bats and just bounce back in to form.
Fleet Mechanic
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 1,689
Likes: 29
Take your old mailbox, straiten it out, make a GOOD effort to straiten out, but make it look like its still damaged. What you want to do is to make it look like you tried to straiten it out so the guys will (hopefully) come back by and smash it up again. When you get it all straitened out, take it off, and fill it with concrete. My best freind had a very similar problem as yours. He did this, and the last thing he saw was a broken bat and some glass near the mail box. I also read about a kid who went mail box bashing and ended up with a broken window, broken bat, an arm broken in 3 places and a broken collar bone from this. Its highly effective. I read the story and couldnt help bu chuckle.