Mail Box 3 Cars 0

[warren5421]

Will the mail box just totaled it's third car. Wife went out the drive today and a white KIA Soul was setting on our mail box. I called the police the car is stolen so I pay to fix the post back in the ground and buy a new box. Car is totaled oil all over the ground, plastic parts are laying around the area. Three other mail boxes were hit before mine. You ever dig a posthole in frozen ground, harder than the dead of summer. I us a cut off electric pole for the post, 10"-12" diameter at the top, in the ground 3'.

[John Wayne]

You're a better man than me. I gave up and got a po box.
JW

[country gent]

Here the recommended is a 4 x 4 posts are supposed to be break away. Last one I bought was actually a measured 3 1/2' X 3 1/2" A heavy snow and enthusiastic plow driver breaks them off. Also I think they arnt supposed to be over 2' in the ground so freeze thaws loosen them. With the new post regs and snap together plastic mailboxes they are a lot of maintenance.

I can remember when 4" and 6" well casings were popular. Sunk 4' down a 1/4" plate welded on top. to bolt the mail box to.

Last time I put it up I moved the post back 3' and graveled the pull off drive. Makes it easier for me in the chair and gets the mail man off farther on a narrow road. Actually moving the box back helped with the plows.

[CastingFool]

I once had a county snow plow take out our mailbox. The box was salvageable, but the county brought me a replacement post.

[cwtebay]

Well casing, down 2' and the hollow filled with concrete. 2 (drunk driver?) cars and 3 snow plow clips later and it's still just fine. The requirements are basically ridiculous, if you follow them your mailbox will be tilting away from the road in 3 months.
As far as the stolen car goes - depends on what the state says for the driver paying for damage. If it was involved in a police chase - police pay. Could even attach to the driver's insurance, homeowner insurance, parent's homeowner insurance.

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[elmacgyver0]

I think car thieves should be handled the same way they used to handle horse thieves.

[Sig]

My dad got sick of idiots taking out his mailbox with their cars. We used a lally column buried about 3' in a big ball of concrete. It's been there probably 40 years now.

[gwpercle]

Will the mail box just totaled it's third car. Wife went out the drive today and a white KIA Soul was setting on our mail box. I called the police the car is stolen so I pay to fix the post back in the ground and buy a new box. Car is totaled oil all over the ground, plastic parts are laying around the area. Three other mail boxes were hit before mine. You ever dig a posthole in frozen ground, harder than the dead of summer. I us a cut off electric pole for the post, 10"-12" diameter at the top, in the ground 3'.

:goodpost:
Like Like Like ! ! !

Gary

[MrWolf]

Will the mail box just totaled it's third car. Wife went out the drive today and a white KIA Soul was setting on our mail box. I called the police the car is stolen so I pay to fix the post back in the ground and buy a new box. Car is totaled oil all over the ground, plastic parts are laying around the area. Three other mail boxes were hit before mine. You ever dig a posthole in frozen ground, harder than the dead of summer. I us a cut off electric pole for the post, 10"-12" diameter at the top, in the ground 3'.

Had almost the same thing happen. Mine was the first one hit. I replaced it with two sections of the 3 1/2 x 3 1/2 "joined" with some angle iron in the middle. Didn't even think the added damage that would do if hit....

[challenger_i]

Nicely done, but 4 1/2" drill pipe works better! :) Too bad the State outlawed such... :(



Well casing, down 2' and the hollow filled with concrete. 2 (drunk driver?) cars and 3 snow plow clips later and it's still just fine. The requirements are basically ridiculous, if you follow them your mailbox will be tilting away from the road in 3 months.
As far as the stolen car goes - depends on what the state says for the driver paying for damage. If it was involved in a police chase - police pay. Could even attach to the driver's insurance, homeowner insurance, parent's homeowner insurance.

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[challenger_i]

And ANOTHER example of Why We Need a "LIKE" Button! :)


I think car thieves should be handled the same way they used to handle horse thieves.

[david s]

Because of snowplows where we use to live, I once built a mailbox stand that would pivot or swing when hit. The box itself generally was destroyed but the stand always survived if a bit worse for wear.

[technojock]

Way back in the 1960's there was a rash of run over mail boxes in our neighborhood. My father worked in structural steel and he made up a mailbox post from 10" diameter steel pipe and then filled it with concrete before setting it 2' into the ground. About a month later it was hit by a car that was later found at the bottom of the hill with the fan sticking through the radiator. Cars were made a lot tougher back then. I'm sure it would have put the engine of a Kia in the back seat. Pops had to reset the post in the ground but no one ever ran it over again...

Tony

[Handloader109]

Back in MS, my dad helped put one together for us back in 1989. Old drill stem, and an 8 inch diameter 16 inch or so long piece of pipe. Somewhere around quarter inch thick. Plate welded on the back. And a door with hinge in the front. A length of 3"x 12" x1/4" flat along the top for a place for our name.
Was actually two pieces of pipe, one about 2 ft long concrete in and lightly welded at ground level. It would snap into supposedly. Well first car lost control at about 50 and hit our drive then took out the mailbox. Tossed it 15 feet and the car looked like it. I put it back and it was a couple of years later a woman took it out going down the hill at about 60 and missed two power poles that would have killed her and her kids by inches.
As far as I know it's still there...
Oh, nothing broken either time, just needed new paint

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[MaryB]

My box is on a post set 3' back from the curb. I cut a 2' long piece of 4x4 in a V shape the long way on the table saw, attached the bottom of the V to the post with plywood gussets and screws and glue, top part of the V got a 2x6 5' long with a bolt in the center that has a spring under the washer to push the V pieces together. Mailbox mounted way out at the end. Plow hit it it pivots and survives... that box is 30 years old and just now needs replacing from rust! Kid hit it with a baseball bat one night, it swung around and the counterweight broke his arm... he had bad aim, hit the 2x6 under the box...

[challenger_i]

Poetic justice! The box fought back! :)

[contender1]

Well, I've seen all kinds of damaged mail boxes in my time. But my box has not been hit,, yet,,! Luckily,, where it's at,, it's not as likely to be hit. But if it does,, I'll be replacing it with something a bit more "sturdy" to avoid future issues.

[Bmi48219]

There is some liability in owning a mailbox that can teach criminals a lesson. Some drivers strike mailboxes for other reasons like glare ice, swerving to avoid an animal, a blowout or being run off the road. If that happens and injuries or death result from the crash, you can be held responsible. In our woke society I’d be surprised if you weren’t.
That’s why commercially available rural mailboxes are made the way they are, so as to not cause injury when hit.

[warren5421]

Post was in the ground for 30 years so they could not make me replace it. It is a fed crime to damage a mail box. Had several football players going around hitting mail boxes in the late 80"s, one fell out of the pickup killing himself. His mom and dad had to help pay for the 30-40 boxes the kid had damage that night.

[cwtebay]

Nicely done, but 4 1/2" drill pipe works better! :) Too bad the State outlawed such... :(You're not wrong, I actually considered doing an 8" haul truck axle buried 6'. I consulted the HP and they informed me that it would be considered a "deadly barrier " and did what I did. I don't want someone driving to school or work or whatever to slide off the road and end themselves because of my mailbox. But I don't appreciate it getting wrecked every time it gets touched.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20240201/1e878e45d3f7c88a567272c2352449fa.jpg

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[William Yanda]

Here the recommended is a 4 x 4 posts are supposed to be break away. Last one I bought was actually a measured 3 1/2' X 3 1/2" A heavy snow and enthusiastic plow driver breaks them off. Also I think they arnt supposed to be over 2' in the ground so freeze thaws loosen them. With the new post regs and snap together plastic mailboxes they are a lot of maintenance.

I can remember when 4" and 6" well casings were popular. Sunk 4' down a 1/4" plate welded on top. to bolt the mail box to.

Last time I put it up I moved the post back 3' and graveled the pull off drive. Makes it easier for me in the chair and gets the mail man off farther on a narrow road. Actually moving the box back helped with the plows.

Let me tell you about Snuffy. It seems that the snowplow repeatedly took out his mailbox. He felt that the drivers were deliberately targeting it. And, the Town refused to replace it. He obtained an 8 x 8 oak sleeper for his mailbox post and planted it deep. The next time the plow hit it, it caused the plow to roll. The Town sued him, but lost because it was located per Post Office specs. Funny though, he hasn't had to replace his mailbox since that incident.

[JSnover]

You're not wrong, I actually considered doing an 8" haul truck axle buried 6'. I consulted the HP and they informed me that it would be considered a "deadly barrier " and did what I did. I don't want someone driving to school or work or whatever to slide off the road and end themselves because of my mailbox. But I don't appreciate it getting wrecked every time it gets touched.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20240201/1e878e45d3f7c88a567272c2352449fa.jpg

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My mailbox is mounted on a telephone pole. But I also live on a pretty quiet street, so it'll probably never be an issue.

[Rapier]

Mail box 8, truck 1, car 1, motorcycles 0. The dead end road 4 miles long running along the bayou, was twisty and there was one straight with a 45 degree turn to the left at the end. Our mail box sat at the apex of the turn, on the right side of the turn going out. First I put up a regulation box mit post, did not last a week. So I put in a 3' square hollow brick colum 5' tall w/box and concrete top. So a high rise 4x4 PU blew it 300' down the road in fragments, deputy picked up Mrs night rider, the next day, with bricks in the grill, msurauding husband, with other woman, got reamed every which way but loose, happy ending for me, all paid by perp. Then I replaced the brick work with his money, with 3/4" rebar and solid concrete inside the brick. Then 4 boys all drunk, playing chicken, according to them, did not make the stop in time, adios one new Subaru. Then a 17 year old princess on drugs w/ her drug dealer boy friend in the brand new, daddy bought, BMW hit it and broke the colum off at the ground in one piece. Adios BMW. So, I got a section of treated bridge piling, about 18" in diameter, cut it in half. Buried the two sections four ft deep on both sides, two ft out of the ground, had the column picked by a wrecker and reset with concrete and four steel pipe sections at the joint. Rice rocket hit the mail box at about 100. Sold the place, new owners painted the two columns white, dumb adz yankees painting brick.

House was 400' off the road so, first notice I got of any trouble was a circus of blue and red lights out front on the road. The post office folks would come by now and again with their woke adz BS of feeling sorry for the perps. My property, my box, the box was 6" off my side of the road right of way on my property.
In FL the registered owner of a vehicle is 100% responsible for property damage to stationary property on your real property. Driver is the secondary layer of responsibility.

[Rickf1985]

My mailbox is a 6" .250 wall pipe welded to a car rim and buried 2 feet down. Box is mounted on top of that. I live on a back road on the inside of a 90 degree turn so hitting the box is going to be pretty hard to do. But I did have a newspaper delivery lady (remember newspapers? and even DELIVERED!) clip the box on top and turned the pipe fitting 90 degrees. My paper box was next to the mail box. That put a nice crease down the side of her Jeep, ALL the way down the side! Why didn't you stop when you first touched it? But in my area vandalism to boxes is a big thing, throwing heavy objects at them. Mine has never been damaged. Mine was put in before I moved there, the only reason I know what it is is because I dug up the one on the other side of my driveway that belonged to the house across the street. House was abandoned and falling down and I had bought the properties behind me and wanted to expand my driveway. I contacted the post office and had to fill out some forms before I could legally remove the box. Considering the condition of the house and it was condemned they had no problem with that but getting that thing out of the ground............. WOW! I found out later from a long time neighbor that all of them on that road are the same.

[John Guedry]

I've lost mailboxes to all sorts of vandels, but never a snowplow.

[kerplode]

Quite a few years ago it was common for people to intentionally destroy mailboxes by hitting them. So many people built the kind of "fortified" structures being described here. One day, a kid lost control of his ATV, hit one of these crazy contraptions, and was killed. His family sued stating that the crash would have been a simple, survivable, accident if not for the super reinforced mailbox structure. The homeowner lost everything.

[challenger_i]

You're good! There is a 4x4 post in there, somewhere! :)


My mailbox is mounted on a telephone pole. But I also live on a pretty quiet street, so it'll probably never be an issue.

[challenger_i]

John, when your mailbox gets took out by a snowplow, we are ALL in a heap of hurt! :)
However, I will say, in 1999 we had BIG icicles hanging of the derrick, 10 miles south of Cameron...


I've lost mailboxes to all sorts of vandels, but never a snowplow.

[compass will]

I dont know for sure, but i have heard of stories of people hitting these invincible mailboxes, getting hurt, and suing the homeowners . I always did a 4x4 with a board screwed to top and a plastic mailbox screwed to the cross board

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[Rockindaddy]

Sorry to hear the sad mailbox story. At my farm the kids swat mail boxes with ball bats and shoot em full of holes. In Florida the drunks run mail boxes over. I mounted my mail box on a chunk of concrete and added some propellers so it could power its way out of the water!!!!!322933





Sorry my mail box does stand upright. All my uploaded photos on this site load 90* out of kilter!

[Thin Man]

Several years ago a young couple (him & her, dating) were out riding on his motorcycle after sundown. They were going a bit too fast and caught the attention of a police officer who tried to stop them. The officer turned on his blue lights ad siren but the boy decided to out-run the officer. He turned off on a side road and the officer lost contact with the motorcycle. About half hour later another officer found where that bike had stopped.

A mailbox owner had lost multiple boxes and stands to other drivers over the years and got really tired of having to replace them. He bought a 55-gallon steel barrel, placed his mailbox and post in the center of it, then had it filled with concrete. It stood up against all future impacts, including this motorcycle. When the bike hit the barrel at high speed, it stopped solid. The 2 occupants slid forward into the handle bars and box and were dead before they hit the ground. Both bodies were torn open from knee cap to knee cap with their internal organs covering the ground where they landed. The mail box owner called his attorney and got bad news about his liability so he called a wrecker company and got the barrel and mail box removed before the sun came up the next morning. Never heard if the parents of either of the deceased brought a lawsuit against the mailbox owner.

[Rickf1985]

I would venture a guess he ended up in a lot more trouble with the law since he removed evidence from a fatal accident scene.

[country gent]

I have thought occasionally going the other way spring loaded joint box folds down and or swings out of way then pops back up... Would be easier to just go out and re align it than rebuild after being hit.

[Rickf1985]

Being a plow operator most of my life I have seen all sorts of box designs. And yes, I have taken out mailboxes with wet snow. It happens. It is not that you are going too fast, it is that you are moving tons of wet snow. If I had to slow down to the point where there was no chance of damaging any mailbox then I would be all day on just one road. Plowing speeds on residential roads seldom ever go above 20 MPH even though it looks a lot faster than that. Even on the major highways running V=plows I was only doing 35-40 mph usually. Faster than that and the snow came over the plow and back on the road. Plows are designed to go certain speeds and none are fast. The best mailbox designs I have seen were mounted on a very sturdy pole that was substantially off the road with a horizontal bar coming out to the roadside with the box on it. The junction between the to poles was designed to slip if the box git hit by car or snow. All you have to do is come out and push it back into position and done. Some people on my routes had them and even pulled them back before I got there.

[Froogal]

Being a plow operator most of my life I have seen all sorts of box designs. And yes, I have taken out mailboxes with wet snow. It happens. It is not that you are going too fast, it is that you are moving tons of wet snow. If I had to slow down to the point where there was no chance of damaging any mailbox then I would be all day on just one road. Plowing speeds on residential roads seldom ever go above 20 MPH even though it looks a lot faster than that. Even on the major highways running V=plows I was only doing 35-40 mph usually. Faster than that and the snow came over the plow and back on the road. Plows are designed to go certain speeds and none are fast. The best mailbox designs I have seen were mounted on a very sturdy pole that was substantially off the road with a horizontal bar coming out to the roadside with the box on it. The junction between the to poles was designed to slip if the box git hit by car or snow. All you have to do is come out and push it back into position and done. Some people on my routes had them and even pulled them back before I got there.

We have a new guy on our maintainer. He previously was on a different route, so he does have considerable experience. Never the less, considerable damage was done to my mailbox just from the snow hitting it. 3 different times. I am on a gravel road. The damage was done when the grader driver made a final pass at about 40 MPH. That final pass was not even necessary. The snow was already off onto the shoulders. Neither of the TWO previous operators ever made a final pass at such dangerous speeds.

Notice that I called the TWO previous guys "OPERATORS" The guy we have now is NOT an operator. He is just a driver.

[Rickf1985]

A grader should not be doing any kind of plowing or grading at that speed! That is about max on most but the newest multimillion dollar graders. Pushing snow further back is common practice where there is a good chance there will be more heavy snow. The main reason is twofold, the first plowing sets like concrete so you are not moving it after a day or so and if you try you ARE going to break something. The second reason is tied to the first, when the next storm comes where are you going to put the snow? You can't push it back over the first pile and you can't push the first pile without damage. Then the next, and next and next storms. See what I am saying? You always need to plan for more snow and leave room for it wherever possible. That said, doing the last pass you HAVE to be aware of peoples property along the road since you are on the right of way which in most cases is also their front yard. Mailboxes and paper boxes included.

[Scorpion8]

I mounted my mailbox on a section of 2x6 mounted atop a 55-gal clean drum. Plow knocks it over, I stand it back up. Put some weight in the bottom and wind won't knock it over. Each drum lasts 7-10 years. I drill holes in the top and bottom to drain water, so it rusts less.

[Froogal]

A grader should not be doing any kind of plowing or grading at that speed! That is about max on most but the newest multimillion dollar graders. Pushing snow further back is common practice where there is a good chance there will be more heavy snow. The main reason is twofold, the first plowing sets like concrete so you are not moving it after a day or so and if you try you ARE going to break something. The second reason is tied to the first, when the next storm comes where are you going to put the snow? You can't push it back over the first pile and you can't push the first pile without damage. Then the next, and next and next storms. See what I am saying? You always need to plan for more snow and leave room for it wherever possible. That said, doing the last pass you HAVE to be aware of peoples property along the road since you are on the right of way which in most cases is also their front yard. Mailboxes and paper boxes included.

Considering the fact that the grader ditch is totally grown up with trees, the snow cannot be thrown any further than the edge of the road, which is where it already was.

[Minerat]

Growing up our neighbor down the road had one if those big metal boxed. It was always caved in on the right side for being used as a target for flying beer bottles or other objects (watermellons, sugar beets, pumpkins) being thrown from passing cars. He welded a 5/8" rebar cage around the box and mounted it on a steel post so he only had to knock the dents out of the box not reset it every weekend.

[Pereira]

I think car thieves should be handled the same way they used to handle horse thieves.

:goodpost: Amen!

RP

[Pereira]

Had a high school teacher that got tired of (probably students) taking his out.
He got a 35 gal. metal drum and filled it with large rocks.
A couple tried it and didn't fair well and it got around. The problem was solved.:violin:

RP

[WILCO]

I think car thieves should be handled the same way they used to handle horse thieves.

Agreed!!!!!!!!!!!

[DougGuy]

The HOAs in and around Wake Forest NC use the DOT statutes since 10' off the edge of the right-of-way belongs to the state, they use a relatively thin steel pipe in the ground with a decorative cast iron scroll that sits under the mailbox and it uses 4 little mickey mouse screws to hold it to the iron work. DOT regulations here say it has to be able to bend, break, swing, fall over if a vehicle hits it. They make it weak by mig welding cast to carbon steel with small tack welds.

We ran a mobile welding business for a few years and we'd constantly get calls to these high end subdivisions to weld the mailbox back on. $135.00 a trip. The HOA agreement mandates a certain mailbox, replacement cost = $900.00 pre-pandemic pre supply chain shortages price, I shudder to think how much that same mailbox costs homeowners now days. They have to buy one that matches everybody else.

[Hannibal]

There is some liability in owning a mailbox that can teach criminals a lesson. Some drivers strike mailboxes for other reasons like glare ice, swerving to avoid an animal, a blowout or being run off the road. If that happens and injuries or death result from the crash, you can be held responsible. In our woke society I’d be surprised if you weren’t.
That’s why commercially available rural mailboxes are made the way they are, so as to not cause injury when hit.

Exactly. If someone dies hitting your mailbox it won't go well for you.

[Kenstone]

Swing away/break away Mail Box posts:

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Swing+away+mailbox+post&crid=23I32OBAWU8OF&sprefix=swing+away+mailbox+%2Caps%2C4258&ref=nb_sb_noss_2

Urban swing away:

https://www.amazon.com/Original-Simple-Mailbox-Solution-SwingClear/dp/B005KIZRN2/ref=sr_1_6?crid=23I32OBAWU8OF&keywords=Swing+away+mailbox+post&qid=1707004131&sprefix=swing+away+mailbox+%2Caps%2C4258&sr=8-6&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.f5122f16-c3e8-4386-bf32-63e904010ad0

.

[firefly1957]

When OI bought this place (2004) A treated 4X4 was deep in the ground three weeks straight some fool wrecked the mail box then on the 4th week they hit the post as well parts from a 80's chevy pickup and oil was on the ground Post was broken off about a foot high. I replaced it with a 15" diameter cherry tree trunk that lasted only a few years but no more hits. When that rotted I put another Treated 4X4 in the ground deeply . I suppose it will only be time before some new stupid generation comes along trying to smash mail boxes . My road gets very little traffic I have never looked at what the actual regulations are on mail box posts here .

[warren5421]

Will 7 hours and post and mail box is done. With the ground frozen it was hard putting a hole in the ground. Hope it last as at 78 it gets hard using a post hole digger!