Neighbors just had their mail ripped off including some tax statements, had box blown up too, going to make locking vandal/theft resistant box.
Experiences, advice, etc. — have already looked at the commercial steel stuff on the web and reviewed the notes on the usps site.
Thoughts tending toward fully seam welded 1/4 steel plate. or 1/4″ web 8″ channel (of which I have lots) but one out of wood or composite would be a lot less work.
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Replies
You just got to catch them in the act once and then make sure they know that they'll never do it again.
Half of good living is staying out of bad situations.
The other...proper application of risk.
Edited 1/25/2003 11:31:13 PM ET by rez
Like some sort of a low rez digital camera rigged to shoot a picture every time the mailbox door opens?.
Excellence is its own reward!
Piffin: Probably a very good suggestion for the case of the blown up mailbox, but probably wouldn't make any difference for theft.
-- the police were actually at the house within an hour after reporting the blown up mailbox, seems anything with explosives now gets big attention. The operator was hesitant to take a report of a 'blown up mailbox' due to the policy need for a police response. What was told her was " smells like nitrate, tastes like nitrate, 2" dia. bulge in section of former mailbox consistent with cherry bomb 2" from back left side of box" , etc. Cops were at the house shortly thereafter, even though only cherry bomb reported.
Edited to change 2' to 2"
Edited 1/25/2003 11:55:19 PM ET by JUNKHOUND
>> ... but probably wouldn't make any difference for theft.
Last I heard, and this has been some years ago, stealing from a mailbox is a federal offense, and the postal inspectors are a hard*ss police force. If that's still true, I would expect that a recognizable picture would get some action.
Ya, I should have sprung for more megapixals now in hind sight. It doesn't do what I need. Live and learn.
Went looking for I house I saw last week to take a pic to post here. Was so funny seeing it. I'm driving down the road and glance at this big old house. I notice that it has a downspout coming out the side of the house at about the second floor height and connecting to the gutter system. I'm thinking what the... then realize somebody made a homemade sink or shower drain. Roar!Half of good living is staying out of bad situations.
The other...proper application of risk.
Unfortunately Rez, out here on the Left coast (Seattle area, but lots of rural mailboxes, too many hills for the carriers to walk?) if you "catch them in the act once and then make sure they know that they'll never do it again" you'd be the one in the slammer , or at least the subject of a lawsuit.
Loved the web site I found looking for mailbox experiences that had a Midwest story where a frustrated homeowner built a reinforced concrete mailbox painted to look like a larger tin one. One of the local 'Lancellots' (term for bracing a 2X4 against the car's open window and spearing mailboxes) totaled his dad's new car and broke his arm, 'ol dad sued, but thrown out of court. Out here, the 'Lancellot' would likely get 'pain and suffering' for having been frustrated in his 'fun'.
JH,
My FIL had the same problem. He asked at the Post Office and they gave him a copy of a brochure for a company that makes HEAVY gauge steel mailboxes. There is a picture in the brochure of a truck parked on top of one!
If you bolt one of them to a steel post set in concrete, when some loser hits it with a sledge hammer, he will rattle out the three teeth he has left!
Mr T
Do not try this at home!
I am a trained professional!
True story here in the ozarks. Kids were repeatedly bashing mailboxs. Well the old man who was a victim of the bashings caught them in the act. Well one kid lost his life due to the old man shooting. I think they others fled.
Well the jury in Macdonald county (Extreme SW county of the state) decided that no crime was commited from the old man and he walked.
I think the mailbox bashing in Macdonald county dropped to nill in the 1990s after that took place.
I set my mailbox up on a woodpost with a single lag bolt so it will turn if hit. It currently has a dent but have not replaced it, yet.bobl Volo Non Voleo Joe's cheat sheet
What some people in rural areas do is set a regular mailbox inside a piece of 10" or 12" (or larger) scrap blowpipe (the 1/4" or 3/8" wall stuff used to transport chips, hogfuel, etc., and available in most scrap steel yards.). Pipe can be painted and gussied up to look just fine.
Blowpipe is welded to a steel post that's set in concrete.
It doesn't prevent the cherrybomb thing, (though it probably discourages it because it makes the results less spectacular), but it works against baseball bats and boulders.
Jules Quaver for President 2004
I made mine out of 12' dia. 3/8" pipeline pipe cut it in half, welded 3/8" flat plate for sides and bottom ,1/4" for back and door. I used a 6"dia.3/8" pipe for the inner post it is set in a yard of concrete then an 8"dia. 3/8" outer pipe is setup to spin,well turn, It has a 5x5 square tube for the box arm. It has been' tested ' saw it moved a little one day , The little creeps broke the clipboard on the inside of the door that I use for outgoing mail . I fixed that with a rectangle of stainless steel. The only other damage was a small smuging of the Imron paint.
A YARD of Concrete? Wow! You musta really been fed up! LoL!
Looks great, though and that's a nice variation of what I was talking about...It'll probably deflect a bullet, too!Jules Quaver for President 2004
I don't want to be around when they try bullets. Had to hunt down my dads mail box . found it three miles away flattened in the ditch. My brother fixed it and has another one ready to replace it if it ever comes up MIA again.
Unfortunately, it's a big problem around here too.
Dad has a neighbor who had his mailbox repeatedly trashed. He decided to make one of his own, and it just happened that he works at a steel place.
The one he made is out of 1/2 or 5/8" steel plate. It's welded to a post that's set in concrete. I really don't think that's legal, as it wouldn't break and/or bend if a car hit it. But he has had zero problems with his mailbox since that time.
He had tried sitting out ther several nights with a camera and shotgun. But he never caught anybody.
What if the hokey pokey really is what it's all about?
Can you imagine the story that the kid who tried to play mailbox baseball with your fathers neighbors mail box would have to come up when he went to the hospital with a dislocated shoulder and broken arm lol
I've dealt with both the theft and vandal issues . . .
The postal inspectors are virtually worthless. Contact your local police about the theft of you want to report it. I decked out in dark cloths and hid in the shrubbery with a camera to get shots of the woman I thought was the thief. I set up for a few hours, and called it a day. When I was walking inside, sure enough, she roared down the street in her car, and reached into a neighbors box. I ran at her, trying to get the shot, she gunned her car towards me, and I had to dive out of the way (literally) to avoid being hit. No pictures, but recognized the face, and got the license plate numbers of the car as I came out of a roll on the shoulder. You'd be surprised how good one's memory is of a face coming at you in a vehicle!
I've seen success with a double mailbox - take one of those huge metal mailboxes, place one of the small ones inside, fill the cavity - a few inches all around- with concrete, fiber reinforced and some mesh. The neighbors got hit once, but only had a ding. It looks like a gigantic primo flimsy metal target, but they only think of it as such once. . .
Mount it on a breakway post or with similar bolts- the weight holds it in place
Just get one of these:
http://www.flexiblecomposites.com/
Before you sink your mailbox post in a yard of concrete, consider if the post is snapped off from someone driving over it. Installing a new post becomes a bit of a problem. My parents are in the country and this was an issue. I found that just calling the post sacrificial and just sinking it in the dirt worked about the best.
carpenter in transition
As I recall about 6 years ago a county in tx, a home owner and US post office got sued because a passenger in a car got killed. The car hit the Super Duper Anti destructtoe mail box. The county post office and HO lost the, suit big money. One about a year later here some kid hit one of the heavy duty mail boxes and got hurt.
The victim was talking law suit before long there were ordnance passed and the cops were out measuring the mail boxes and the stands and handing warring tell the home owners they had 30 days to make changes to the boxes and stands. If not they would get citation and have to go to court.
By the way I still like the idea of two fake box filled with cement one on each side of the real one.
Is that just a law for that county or is more widely spread?
In the neighborhood where I grew up a lot of people had mailboxes encased in a brick structure about 2 feet wide 3 feet deep and how ever tall mailboxes are. I would imagine they could cause some serious damage to a car if it, but it was in an all residential area so cars "shouldn't" be going more then 25 anyway
It was just in this one county that I know of. I suspect there are more that have done it. No county wants to defend it selves from 1m lawsuit which they know other county have lost in court.
hey guys I understand the frustration of vandalism, but what if somebody was just driving along and hits a patch of ice?
would you really want them to wrap their car around an indestructible mailbox? possibly hurt?
don't want to cause trouble , but structures that are close to the roads ought to give a little if someone has an accident.
I thought of all of that . My post is set on the fence line the box is out to the middle of the ditch and the mail carriers car is off the road when they access my mail box , the mail box it self will turn a full 360*so it will give if hit from eather direction.
here's two stone mailboxes...the first one "toddbox" is the original..
the other one is a knock-offMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
Thanks for the tips.
Started building a mialbox out of 8" by 1/4" web channel and 3/8 plate Sunday (used stuff in my junkpile, better use of time than watching stupor bowel<G>). Side commenent - price of Oxygen tank refills has gone up 30% in last 4 months!! - opinions on that?
Will post some pix when I've got the main box welded up into a shape that is recognizable. Will keep the creosoted fir stand I have now.
Post I have now has survived full impact of 3/4 T pu at gettaway speeds. About 15 years ago, the neighborhood had a rash of burgularies. Neighbor down the street hit all his outside lights whe he thought he saw somebody in back. Guy ran and jumped into waiting PU, screeched out - must have been under the influence - hit my box and 2 ft dia rock in front of it at about 35 the neighbor guessed. Post is 8" dia creosoted fir.
Looked like about 2 gal of antifreeze and a gal of motor oil on the rock, street, and post, which was bent over 40 degrees but only scuffed. Police never did find the truck.