ANTI-MAILBOX DESTRUCTION Thread
Senior User
Joined: Nov 2007
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From: Near the racetrack, WA
Originally Posted by godblessmud
Theres one around here where they got a 55 gallon drum and filled it with cement then stuck the mailbox in the center of the open top and filled the cement around it (they had the box filled with wood at the time so the pressure wouldnt crush it in) after it was dry and the wood support removed them used a wrecker lift to mount it on a 2 foot x 2 foot brick post... I doubt it was nescesary, im sure they could have used an EMPTY drum like eevryone else, but theres always gotta be one person who HAS to be better
As for my box, i havnt done anything, because we are on a rural route the boxes are at the end of the road and there are my 3 closest neighbors boxes also there, no one can hit them cause they are where the county road ends and you have to either turn around or come up to my place, so no one is gunna mess with them
As for my box, i havnt done anything, because we are on a rural route the boxes are at the end of the road and there are my 3 closest neighbors boxes also there, no one can hit them cause they are where the county road ends and you have to either turn around or come up to my place, so no one is gunna mess with them
Back home, everybody has mailboxes like this:
"Mifflin Clay"
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 3,177
Likes: 4
From: Mifflin, PA
Originally Posted by gustav129
My grandma in WI told me a similar story of someone with a concrete filled barrel, but got into some troble when someone hit it on an icy morning.
I have seen some god-awful barriers in northern PA where someone has a house at the bottom of a hill on a T intersection or on a sharp curve, etc.
More than once they scraped a wayward vehicle off one of these, and no trouble for the homeowner......
Postmaster
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 3,166
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From: wi
years ago a teaher asked me to fix a mail box that would with stand the ball bat.took a big mail box and put a 6inch peice of pvc pipe inside and filled around the pipe with concrete. looked like a genuine mail box till it got hit then it hurt!!
Postmaster
Joined: Feb 2003
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I've seen a 5 mile stretch here where every mailbox was destroyed by the snow plow after a snow storm. The snow being launched off the plow going 40 mph just obliterated every box on the road.
Mine is one on a pivot. I set a vertical post that had 6 feet above the ground in the middle of a hedge, hinged the cross arm and used a dog chain to support the mailbox from the top of the post. If it's hit, it just swings away and then swings back on it's own since center is the lowets point of the arc. The only improvement I could make would be to use an eye bolt and a screw-hook instead of a hinge.
Mine is one on a pivot. I set a vertical post that had 6 feet above the ground in the middle of a hedge, hinged the cross arm and used a dog chain to support the mailbox from the top of the post. If it's hit, it just swings away and then swings back on it's own since center is the lowets point of the arc. The only improvement I could make would be to use an eye bolt and a screw-hook instead of a hinge.
Postmaster
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 4,004
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From: North of Boston MA
My buddy mounted his mailbox to a piece of railroad rail (38 #/foot) after it had gotten hit a few times. He put about three feet in the ground and three feet or so exposed. Painted it green and it looks nice. Hasn't been hit since. I wouldn't want to hit it with a car or a bat.
Posting Guru
Joined: Jul 2007
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Originally Posted by Greywolf
CHARGE!!!!
More ideas, please.....
(The funnier and more outlandish the better)
More ideas, please.....
(The funnier and more outlandish the better)
"That'l learn him to bust my tomater" ~Lisa Simpson
Elder User
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 963
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From: wichita kansas
When I was a kid we lived a half block from a bar on a dirt street. Every once in a while some drunk would hit our mailbox. Finally dad got a 8" pipe and set it in concrete and filled it with concrete. Then set the box on angle iron on top. Sure enough some drunk came across the road hit the box and knocked it over a little. He was able to drive off but he did leave some Ford parts behind.
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Posting Guru
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when i was younger me and my grandpa help reinforce his nieghbors mailbox with quick dry concrete. he had a really nice cedar one before but he got sick of rebuilding it. we drove a chunk of telephone pole about 5 foot into the ground then built a form to go around it and a metal box. then he resided the whole thing with cedar just like it had been before. needless to say it only got hit one more time.
Junior User
Joined: Jan 2007
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My brother made a beautiful one out of a piece of 6 inch pipe and a piece of 6x8 inch tubing, all about 1/4 inch thick. Set in concrete, stainless steel door hinges, sandblasted and painted up.
A couple of weeks later, a farmers trailer came unhooked and bent it over about 30 degrees. It stayed that way.
But on the serious side, the Post Office sent me a card telling me that I could not use more than a 4x4 to support the mailbox, for safety. Since I used to ride a motorcycle, I can see their point. Although, it would still hurt a bit!
A couple of weeks later, a farmers trailer came unhooked and bent it over about 30 degrees. It stayed that way.
But on the serious side, the Post Office sent me a card telling me that I could not use more than a 4x4 to support the mailbox, for safety. Since I used to ride a motorcycle, I can see their point. Although, it would still hurt a bit!
Senior User
Joined: Nov 2007
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From: Near the racetrack, WA
Originally Posted by alchymist
How in the HEdouble toothpicks can you get into trouble when someone skids off the road onto private property and hits something? Had it been a parked car instead of a barrel full of concrete would it have been any different?
I have seen some god-awful barriers in northern PA where someone has a house at the bottom of a hill on a T intersection or on a sharp curve, etc.
More than once they scraped a wayward vehicle off one of these, and no trouble for the homeowner......
I have seen some god-awful barriers in northern PA where someone has a house at the bottom of a hill on a T intersection or on a sharp curve, etc.
More than once they scraped a wayward vehicle off one of these, and no trouble for the homeowner......
I lost control and fishtailed into one of those brick mailboxes back in Atlanta when I was 16. I did $5,000 worth of damage to the Subaru.
Last edited by gustav129; Dec 9, 2007 at 11:52 PM.
Senior User
Joined: Nov 2007
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From: Near the racetrack, WA
The Federal Highway Administration has determined mailbox supports no larger than four inches by four inches, or a two-inch diameter standard steel or aluminum pipe, buried no more than 24 inches, should safely break away if struck by a vehicle. If the resident’s mailbox supports do not meet these standards, the city may want to advise the resident to check with his or her insurance carrier to discuss the liability coverage this would require.
Post Fiend
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 19,402
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From: Bonita Springs FL
My dad worked for the gas company and after our mailbox got smashed for about the 10th time he made a mailbox out of 12" PVC gas main. The walls were about 1" thick. It wasn't anchored into the ground like some of the others in this thread, but it made it pretty impossible to smash. One night somebody tried to smash it and only managed to knock it off the post. We found it in the ditch up the road and nobody messed with it after that.
Logistics Pro
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 4,562
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From: Southern MD
Originally Posted by gustav129
Back home, everybody has mailboxes like this:
No pics to share, yet, but this is very similar to my maibox.
It is Louisville Slugger proof.
I saw the quote on the federal law, but, when the feds (Postal Police) come out and start prosecuting the hoodlums that destroy the mailboxes in my neighborhood, I'll put my little box on the post back up.