Mail box vandalismgreenspun.com : LUSENET : Countryside : One Thread |
My fancy little 1 piece (vandil resistant-yeah right)mail box was trashed by vandils last night.Was wondering if anyone has had this problem and what type of box may have worked better.Here in Wisconsin there are laws about how deep you cement the post and what type you put up in case someone would crash into it and then the owner would be liable.otherwise I would build a concrete one, that would fix the suns a $#%@*&^$#.Thanks
-- Dave ??? (duckthis1@maqs.net), November 04, 2001
I forgot to add that the box is about 150ft from my house and what they do is come by in a car and the passenger hangs out the window and smacks the box with a baseball bat and smacks em,happens all the time around here. Thanks
-- Dave. ??? (duckthis1@maqs.net), November 04, 2001.
Sorry about the typos,I am a chicken pecking typist!
-- Dave.??? (duckthis1@maqs.net), November 04, 2001.
My fourth mailbox in ten years here has lasted the longest. Although it happens to be quite a large metal mailbox, I think the key is that it is attached to the wooden post with bungee cords. When hit by baseball bats or the highway department's snowplow, it "gives" due to the stretchiness (is this a word?!) of the bungees.
-- bluetick (coonhound@mindspring.com), November 04, 2001.
I had this problem once and solved it by reinforcing the box with a steel liner and mounting it on a coil spring.
-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), November 04, 2001.
You could do what a neighbor of mine did. He built a brick column all around his mailbox. Essentially his mailbox is in a brick building now. The footer for that could still be within your state limit for depth. I doubt there are rules about 'girth' of mailbox structures.Another thought might be to have your mail held at the PO so the mailman doesn't have to deliver then dig a big hole in front of the box. The vandal hanging out the window will get a well-deserved jolt while the driver will lose a wheel cover or damage a wheel and/or tire plus guarantee a trip in to the shop for an alignment at minimum. If you want to avoid the digging process and have the same mailman every day, you might clue him in and leave a concrete block a few feet past your box. The mailman could see and avoid it in daylight (especially having been forewarned). At night a speeding, swerving car might not. I hope this helps.
-- Gary in Indiana (gk6854@aol.com), November 04, 2001.
Dave,I had this problem too. It was solved when neighbors moved in just up from me in terms of mailbox position. Their mailbox, right next to mine, takes the hits now. What you might try is setting one or two posts a foot up the road from your mailbox as a shield. They could of course stop the car, get out and finish off your mailbox, but when there's something in the way it's evidently easier to drive onto the next one.
Or, you could rig up a paintball gun to fire when the mailbox leaves the post. :)
-- Mark Sykes (mark@marksykes.net), November 05, 2001.
I had the same problem in Manassas, Va., not being able to afford a sniper, I cured the problem with an 8 inch steel "T" hand made box which I added a red LED light into the pole making the abuser think that it was some kind of alarm or camera.
-- mitch hearn (moopups@citlink.net), November 05, 2001.
Personally I would be afraid of liability for any bobby trapped mail box. Say the car hit the brick mentioned, crashed and there were injuries or deaths. I do like the idea of a post on the traffic direction side though. By the way, it's called 'mail box baseball.'If your community has Crime Stoppers, approach them about offering a reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those involved with vandalizing mailboxes. We had a problem with kids either stealing or vandalizing road signs. It stopped after the local Crime Stoppers posted a reward offer like this.
We have an active Crime Stoppers organization locally. It has helped at least a bit. A meth lab was recently taken out as the result of a tip. Local police chief said tips are often a dealer reporting his competion, but that was OK, it got at least one of them off the street, and offered the possibility of reduced sentencing if the one arrested ratted on his source or other dealers.
-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), November 05, 2001.
Take a standard metal mailbox - take off the door. Put it inside, on their "backs" in of one of those huge metal mailboxes - leave the door on. Pour concrete in between the two - this will now weigh approx 80#. Attach to two posts (3' deep into concrete) made from black locust or other sturdy wood. Watch for shattered baseball bats. Shake your head. Enjoy. -problem solved after four mailboxes gone in 6 months. It does, however, take out an entire front end of a brand new pickup - no damage to the mailbox. HIS insurance apologized to me and paid me to reset my mailbox. Reset your posts and thank God you weren't getting the mail at that time.
-- Gailann Schrader (gtschrader@aol.com), November 05, 2001.
We had the same problem-but DH is a welder by trade, and he built us one out of 1/4 in metal. Said he sure wish he could hide in the woods and watch them hit it now!! Haven't had any trouble in a few years, only when someone in the line of boxes leaves mail-we sometimes find it scattered down the road. Would really love to catch them, though!! susie
-- susie yeager (susiemby@samlink.com), November 05, 2001.
I have noticed some folks who just took a good stout piece of wood and attached it out from and to the side of their mailbox. Must not be as satisfying to hit. Low tech and low cost to put a piece of scrap treated lumber in an 'L' shape out from under the mailbox itself.I saw a really neat mailbox that was in the hollow of an old tree stump. Very cool.
-- Anne (HealthyTouch101@wildmail.com), November 05, 2001.
Don't have advise but just wanted to say that our mailbox is on the circle of a culdesac so they are unable to get a good swipe at it. Everyone up the street got it but us. My husband was mad because he thought they did but it turned out I accidentally backed into it with the truck. Oops.
-- Dee (gdgtur@goes.com), November 05, 2001.
I heard of someone that filled their mail box with cement and the next time someone tried taking a whack at it the guy broke his arm. (Personally I think it serves him right) He went on to sue the home owner and won.We haven't had trouble with people with baseball bats but do find bullet holes in our mail box. We rent a P.O. Box and just pick our mail up from there.
-- Anita in NC (aholton@mindspring.com), November 05, 2001.
We went through 3 mailboxes last year. Two from vandals and 1 from the snow plow. We finally left the box down for the winter and this spring picked up a break away post from our local DOT (or whatever its called). It is designed to swing out of the way if it is hit and so far our latest mailbox has lasted for the entire summer. We weren't allowed to put up brick box holders and the liability from other ideas was too risky. Most of our neighbors have gone to this form also and we haven't seen any smashed boxes so far.
-- Trisha-MN (tank@Linkup.net), November 05, 2001.
Around here they don't use ball bats. They go by real fast and heave a rock about the size of your head at the mail box.
-- Mel Kelly (melkelly@webtv.net), November 05, 2001.
What would happen,say, if someone was to mount a paint filled balloon on the side of the box that gets hit everynight until the vandals come again and then just cruise looking for the paint spattered vehicle the next day. Wouldn't that be interesting?
-- Alison in N.S. (aproteau@istar.ca), November 05, 2001.
I'd like to know more about the swing away mailbox. I live on a heavily travelled road. They will deliver mail, but only one neighbor has a box and they lose it every year to plows. So, until I can come up with a good solution, it's the post office for me too.
-- pc (jasper2@iname.com), November 05, 2001.
Our local highway department gets their posts from Swanson's Repair (here in MN) http://www.detroitlakes.com/swanson/ It looks a lot like the illustration 2 on this page: http://www.vernontownship.com/highway/mail.htmlIt may be best to check with your local highway deparment to make sure that everything is up to their cods/standards.
Good luck.
-- Trisha-MN (tank@Linkup.net), November 05, 2001.
Thanks everybody.I am not sure what I am going to do yet,I am going to do a search on vandil proof boxes and types to build,I also wnat to talk to my insurance(home) man to see what he may have to say.I also want to see if I can find out how far into the ditch off the road I can place it so basically anyone coming by would have to swerve in to the ditch a bit hit and not have time to get back out and end up in the ditch.Thanks again to all would love to try some of the ideas but there is the liability factor again,just cant win when the criminals have more rights than the law abiding people.Love the Sniper Idea. Dave
-- Dave.??? (duckthis1@maqs.net), November 05, 2001.
Gailann has the answer I recommend. Works here, and any baseball bat that survives has transmitted the shock to the arms of the the little miscreant buggers. Secondly, establish a rifle or pistol range in the back yard. Your law abiding neighbors will tolerate, or possibly ask to use it. The criminal element will tend to stay away. As Sheryl can attest, my neighbors get along with me quite well. Those from a bit further away hear the gunfire and many think I am a half of bubble off of plumb! It works quite well, although I must confess that I am only about 3/16 ths off of plumb! GL!
-- Brad (homefixer@SacoRiver.net), November 05, 2001.
Dave, my brother (also Dave) finally buried his post -- probably deeper than you would be allowed, but he also used a 1" solid (not hollow) piece of steel rod. It looks flimsy, but buried about 6' deep, and being solid, he just laughed and laughed the next time, when the mailbox was loose, but the post didn't even bend. I sort of felt just a little (very little!) bit sorry for whomever had been doing the swinging that night!P.S. In my sister's suburban neighborhood, the kids got bored a few years back and rather than just hitting or stealing the mailboxes, they removed them, took them a few blocks away and remounted them on someone else's posts! Talk about a mess to sort out! They called that one the mailbox--Easter egg hunt!
-- Christine in OK (cljford@aol.com), November 05, 2001.
A lot of rural folks have been buying the box-in-a-box heavy duty pvc plastic mail boxes from Wal-mart. They seem to take a beating and still stand. We swapped out the flimsly pole for a 2" thick grounding rod. Buried it about 3'. So far our box still stands.
-- Kenneth in N.C. (wizardsplace13@hotmail.com), November 05, 2001.
I have one of the heavy plastic mailboxes and I must say - they do not buckle under like the metal ones. The last time I was hit, they were only able to tear the door partway off and finally drove into the 4x4 post to try and knock it over. That plastic mailbox had lasted me about 6 years while others on the road were flattened! And they only sell for about $10.
-- Dianne (willow@config.com), November 05, 2001.
I'm curious... many of the responses tell Dave to beware of his liability. Not being an attorney or paralegal, I'm wondering, what would be the difference between the damage caused by someone hitting a stone wall (for example) or a brick mailbox?I'm not trying to be facetious, just honestly wondering if there is a difference...
Mary
-- Mary (zoots25@hotmail.com), November 05, 2001.
The problem is with the lawyers and judges who do not have the guts to say "it served you right for being stupid, you're SOL. Your case has no merit." At least on Judge Joe Brown and Judge Judy THEY practice common sense law.
-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), November 05, 2001.
I would say to take the paint ball solution one midievil step backwards - to the joisting arena. In those days, to practice your swing and avoiding your opponents backswing, the promising yourng jouster would ride at a T-post that had a target on one arm and a sandbag on the other. The idea was to whack the target and then ride and duck out of the way before the sandbag, whipped around by the strike, could clock you upside the back of your head.So why not mount your mailbox on a pivoting post, and load the back end with a sturdy paint balloon. Any whack to the box would cause the balloon to swing around and whack the villein right in the tailights with (say) flourescent pink paint.
-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), November 05, 2001.
My father came up with a good one a few years back: Take one Large regular mail box. Take one smaller mail box and fit it inside the larger one. Fill the area in between with concrete. Collect bent and broken bats in morning.
-- Kevin (Vantravlrs@aol.com), November 07, 2001.
Oooh great idea Soni. I think we'd make a great mailbox vigilante team! LOL
-- Alison in N.S. (aproteau@istar.ca), November 08, 2001.