Town Plow took out my Mailbox - Again!

[oilpsi2high]

Mine was destroyed this winter as well.

To be fair I did notice a few others on my road taken out, and the banks are now as tall as the box itself.

 

[KD0AXS]

What you need is this type of mailbox post. They swing away if they get hit.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Originally Posted by ragtoplvr
We have lots of mailbox bashers here. Take a base ball bat to the mail box. You need a swing away post and armor around the box.

Rod


Or a small mailbox set inside an oversized mailbox filled with concrete, mounted on a metal pipe also filled with and set in concrete.

 

[hatt]

Around here we'd get some 4 inch schedule 80 pipe and 10-12 bags of concrete and solve that problem.

 

[Skippy722]

Originally Posted by Jarlaxle
Originally Posted by ragtoplvr
We have lots of mailbox bashers here. Take a base ball bat to the mail box. You need a swing away post and armor around the box.

Rod


Or a small mailbox set inside an oversized mailbox filled with concrete, mounted on a metal pipe also filled with and set in concrete.


I've never smashed a mail box, but my hands and wrists hurt just imagining hitting a solid object like that!

 

[Nick1994]

I'd use some reallllly thick wall steel 4"-6" square tubing and stick it 3'-4' down in a ton of concrete.

Worth the investment to see the snow plow blade on the ground next winter.

 

[ridgerunner]

My large mailbox is welded 1/8" steel and sets on a 6x6 treated post, swing away fellas! Friend of mine had his mailbox and post destroyed several times. He complained to the twp but nothing was done and it got hit again. He took a 6" steel well casing, filled it with concrete for his post. Plow hit it the next day and destroyed the plow mount on the twp dump truck. Mailbox was fine. Twp fired the driver.

 

[JTK]

The highway dept will replace the post/mailbox around me if they broke it. I live on a county highway, so plow hits are super rare.

I did have a guy hit a dear in front of my house about a year ago. The deer flew against my mailbox, destroying it and shearing off the post. I used one of those spiked 4"x4" receivers like mentioned above to replace.

 

[grampi]

We had a neighbor out in the country when I was a kid. The snow plow took out his mailbox several years in a row and he got sick of it, so he cemented a thick, steel walled pipe into the ground to mount his mailbox on. The next time the plow came by, the driver hit the pole and destroyed the blade on the plow. They never hit his mailbox again...

 

[Mr Nice]

Originally Posted by JTK
The highway dept will replace the post/mailbox around me if they broke it. I live on a county highway, so plow hits are super rare.

I did have a guy hit a dear in front of my house about a year ago. The deer flew against my mailbox, destroying it and shearing off the post. I used one of those spiked 4"x4" receivers like mentioned above to replace.


How much delicious deer meat were you able to salvage ?

 

[JTK]

Originally Posted by Mr Nice
Originally Posted by JTK
The highway dept will replace the post/mailbox around me if they broke it. I live on a county highway, so plow hits are super rare.

I did have a guy hit a dear in front of my house about a year ago. The deer flew against my mailbox, destroying it and shearing off the post. I used one of those spiked 4"x4" receivers like mentioned above to replace.


How much delicious deer meat were you able to salvage ?


LOL.. Ugh! She was badly mangled. The county highway crew scooped her up for me the next day.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Originally Posted by Skippy722
Originally Posted by Jarlaxle
Originally Posted by ragtoplvr
We have lots of mailbox bashers here. Take a base ball bat to the mail box. You need a swing away post and armor around the box.

Rod


Or a small mailbox set inside an oversized mailbox filled with concrete, mounted on a metal pipe also filled with and set in concrete.


I've never smashed a mail box, but my hands and wrists hurt just imagining hitting a solid object like that!


If it happens at night, there is an accessory: attach a large plastic bottle (like a 3L soda bottle) to the outside of the box. Paine it black or the color of the area's typical newspaper sleeve. Cut off the top, attach it at about a 45 degree angle. Fill it with your nastiness of choice-I like paint (bright orange or school bus yellow), used gear oil, or sour milk.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Originally Posted by Nick1994
I'd use some reallllly thick wall steel 4"-6" square tubing and stick it 3'-4' down in a ton of concrete.

Worth the investment to see the snow plow blade on the ground next winter.


A big plow truck would rip the box off. I have seen poles knocked over and granite curbs broken by plows...they just keep going. You're talking a truck that is sometimes 30 TONS, with a hunk of steel that is probably over a ton hitting the box.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Originally Posted by ridgerunner
My large mailbox is welded 1/8" steel and sets on a 6x6 treated post, swing away fellas! Friend of mine had his mailbox and post destroyed several times. He complained to the twp but nothing was done and it got hit again. He took a 6" steel well casing, filled it with concrete for his post. Plow hit it the next day and destroyed the plow mount on the twp dump truck. Mailbox was fine. Twp fired the driver.


He's lucky he didn't have to pay to repair the truck, and the driver's bills from Doctor Summeroff for his "injured neck". A mailbox is usually in the right-of-way, and MUST break if hit!

 

[ridgerunner]

The driver was fired for being a **** to a twp. resident. He plowed the mailbox (& others) on purpose. Hopefully leason learned. Rural country justice served.

 

[Blaze]

My mailbox is bolted down to the top of a railroad tie that is buried 3 ft deep. On the plow side of the mailbox where the snow hits I placed a piece of 3/4" fiberglass reinforced plywood. It covers the entire side of the mailbox and about 4 inches out from it.

So far so good 10 yrs later. We live at 3,000ft and get 3-4ft of snow a yr. Around here you need a study set-up.

The plows fly by 50 mph and the faster they go the further they can get the snow off the road.

 

[grampi]

Originally Posted by Jarlaxle
Originally Posted by Nick1994
I'd use some reallllly thick wall steel 4"-6" square tubing and stick it 3'-4' down in a ton of concrete.

Worth the investment to see the snow plow blade on the ground next winter.


A big plow truck would rip the box off. I have seen poles knocked over and granite curbs broken by plows...they just keep going. You're talking a truck that is sometimes 30 TONS, with a hunk of steel that is probably over a ton hitting the box.


In this situation, the heavier the truck, the more damage it does to the blade...thick steel pipes cemented into the ground don't break when hit by a plow, they destroy the plow...

 

[opus1]

Originally Posted by Jarlaxle
Originally Posted by Skippy722
Originally Posted by Jarlaxle
Originally Posted by ragtoplvr
We have lots of mailbox bashers here. Take a base ball bat to the mail box. You need a swing away post and armor around the box.

Rod


Or a small mailbox set inside an oversized mailbox filled with concrete, mounted on a metal pipe also filled with and set in concrete.


I've never smashed a mail box, but my hands and wrists hurt just imagining hitting a solid object like that!


If it happens at night, there is an accessory: attach a large plastic bottle (like a 3L soda bottle) to the outside of the box. Paine it black or the color of the area's typical newspaper sleeve. Cut off the top, attach it at about a 45 degree angle. Fill it with your nastiness of choice-I like paint (bright orange or school bus yellow), used gear oil, or sour milk.


I like your style.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Sadly, my first two choices for dealing with mailbox-bashers is not legal.