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