Mailbox Vandalism UPDATE.greenspun.com : LUSENET : Countryside : One Thread |
First of all thanks to all.from the amount of replies that came in this evidentally a problem everwhere.I loved some of the graet Ideas.I talked with the postmaster for a good 20 minutes at the post office yesterday.I was looking for maybe some info from the USPS on what I could do and could not do.he told me this is usually a big thing with the county dept (plow damage)he was telling me how the kids know where he lives and hit his box all the time.basically he had nothing on paper but he did tell me many stories of plows hitting boxes so reinforced that the plow would hit the box and and the plow would spin around causing damage in which the owner had to pay the township for,stories of people putting up guy wires,in which is a big no no with snowmobilers.My mailbox sits right on a public snowmobile trail.The big thing he said towards liability is to make sure the post can break away easily for cars and snowmobiles.I have come up with what I believe will keep me away from a lawsuit and and still be able to have a mail box.I am going to use the typical 4x4 buried in the ground but only sticking out of the ground about 4 inches or so.I will mount my new box on seperate piece of 4x4 about4'high.set the 4x4 on top of the buried 4x4 and nail wood braces on all 4 sides.I figure if they dont knock it down with the bat and try backing in to it the braces will snap and it will fall down to the ground,in which I just go back out and nail some braces back in place.Know the typical mail box is still not going to tolerate a whacking and after pricing new ones and figuring in replacing them every year or two.I went looking on the net and found a couple of items I liked the web address is(www.steelmailbox.com)one is the Vandal guard and the other is just a thick steel mailbox which will take a good blow.they are a little pricey but then the cost to keep replacing the typical tin model is not cheap either depending how many times I possible would have to replace.I hope this takes care of it.Thanks again for the great replies.Dave.???
-- Dave.??? (duckthis1@maqs.net), November 08, 2001
snow plows sometimes take out mailboxes around here,, some people, just plant their posts, into a 5 gal bucket with sand or gravel,, if it gets knocked over,, just stand it back up,, or a metal pipe welded to an old tire rim
-- stan (sopal@net-port.com), November 08, 2001.
This is a long shot, and may not work, but since your box is on a snowmobile trail, is there any way to petition the city/county for a free PO box because this damage is an all the time thing?Your garden variety vandals are one thing, and maybe you'd have to mount a security camera to catch them (and when you do, be sure to try to recoup the cost of camera and film in your damage claim), but the only other option I see is putting up those fluorescent flags to sort of warn people, at least the regular snowplows.
-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), November 08, 2001.
Hello I actually have a po box in which I want to get rid of since it is about 5 miles away and so much nicer to go out and just get it .I have had no problems with the snowmobilers,these are kids or drunks late at night in cars.(mailbox baseball is what Iam told)I thought of the camera thing to but then a motion light would have to be installed in which would go off and on all the time,not to mention running atleast 150' of wire out to the road,and the liability that the light would blind someone driving and cause an acident.I dont mind having to set it back up once its hit along as I dont have to keep buying new mail boxes and re-setting posts.thanks for the idea.Dave.???
-- Dave.??? (duckthis1@maqs.net), November 08, 2001.
I asked about the swing away mailbox in the previous post. I guess there are a lot of different things you could do. When my box runs out in another town, maybe I'll try my own box.I often travel on a road that has a great mailbox for plows. It's an ugly Rube Goldberg contraption, and I wouldn't want to use it where I am but I thought I would share..It is a regular mailbox on the end of a two by four [or something]. There is a long piece of rope that hangs from the bottom. On the other end of the two by four is a piece of wood, like a platter [looks like plywood, a foot square maybe]. This long thing is attached to a post, kind of like a seesaw. When it snows, the snow gathers on the platter and the mailbox end lifts up, preventing plows from damaging it. The mail carrier can then just grab the rope and bring it down to put mail in the box.
Nifty.
-- pc (jasper2@iname.com), November 08, 2001.
Get one of the big mailbowes and put your little box inside it and fill all the gap between the two with cement and mount it on a strong post so when the hit it with the bat or whatever it will just shatter their bat and probably smart a bit too
-- Cindy (hollo@bitwisesystems.com), November 08, 2001.
I think rubbermaid or one of the other plasticware companies had a plastic mailbox that was advertised with a guy beating on it with a baseball bat?Put the post on a heavy spring so if someone hits it, it'll hit back.
-- helen (nowhere@in.particular), November 08, 2001.
I think Cindy's answer to vandalism (mostly by teen age kids) is the perfect answer. One fellow on our street did it after getting his mailbox damaged 3 times. Several others changed to large boxes. The kids leave them all alone now as they don't know which are encased in cement.
-- Duffy (hazelm@tenforward.com), November 08, 2001.
the folks around here put hay bales around the mail boxes with a couple of the idustrial orange flags on them. The bales form a "C" shape around the box with the front open. a car can't get close without stopping first but the mailman can swing in with his little vehicle and snow plows can see the flags. Hope you solve this, what a pain! LQ
-- Little Quacker (carouselxing@juno.com), November 08, 2001.
The concrete idea sounds real bad,if someone hit the box at a good rate of speed that concrete is going to head right for the windshield or the snowmobilers head.I dont want to kill any body!special someone who may have just lost control in slippery conditions and hit it.What if there were kids in the car which usually ride on that side.No concrete. Dave.???
-- Dave.??? (duckthis1@maqs.net), November 08, 2001.
You could always mount it "jack-in-the-box" style on a large, sturdy spring. The only downside is that if you struck it rather firmly, as with a bat, it could bounce back just as firmly at the car involved. Shame, that.
-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), November 11, 2001.