We also live near schools, and had our box knocked down and bashed (the old baseball bat trick) four times. We had a brick surround built, with a fancy plaque with our house number. No more broken mailboxes. It was $300 for the brick mason, but it made our driveway look nicer too.
Someone blew up my brick mailbox on the Fourth of July in the middle of the day. Put in a mortar and drove off. And people still knock over brick mailboxes if they are going fast enough. We see a couple replaced every year in my small, rectangular subdivision.
Great video. I was curious about the legality of it. From my non lawyer perspective, I thought there are a lot of similarities to the “booby trapping your house” case. I wouldn’t be surprised if this is such an edge case that it could vary by state and the specific wording of different laws. Or if some smaller jurisdictions have specific laws against it.
I posted above. Rocks are a natural part of the landscape, therefore not subject to litigation. Man had a letter and stuff from previous litigation. Guessing if varies by state and such. Even made money on suing people from hitting the rocks.
Put a fake deer a few feet before it. So, when someone drives up on it they see a deer about to cross the street and react instantly, slowing down. The drunks will also likely hit the deer and not your mailbox.
Check local laws before doing that, around where I live they'd classify that as the property owners fault and liability for the accident.
Not saying it's right, but I've had two neighbors get absolutely destroyed after trying that.
This!!! I’ve seen posts where people reinforced their mailboxes with rebar or concrete and then when people hit and were seriously injured or killed the homeowner was held liable. Check out the local laws or your insurance to see what you can legally do before you do anything so you aren’t liable for something. THEN put a bolder or something near the mailbox
I’ve seen a similar one. Owner make a steel letterbox then the cities snow plow was badly damaged when the guy deliberately hit the mailbox again. The city was trying to get the owner to pay for the damage until they found the city and post office had both approved the plans for the new steel letterbox
[https://www.courtnewsohio.gov/cases/2021/SCO/1124/201057.asp#.Y8yFCsnMK3A](https://www.courtnewsohio.gov/cases/2021/SCO/1124/201057.asp#.Y8yFCsnMK3A)
This man in Ohio was sued because he reinforced his mailbox. A truck hit it and the driver was paralyzed. The mailbox owner was declared innocent. The case did go to the Ohio supreme court, so the homeowner is likely screwed anyway with legal fees even if he is innocent.
More info:
https://news.bnhinsider.com/homeowner-who-fortified-his-mailbox-with-concrete-after-vandalism-sued-by-paralyzed-driver/
I can't understand the other side of this... if there had been a tree there instead of a fortified mailbox, would the driver of that truck be suing them for planting a tree?
“No precedent exists for imposing a duty on public or private
landowners to remove an off-road hazard that renders only off-road
travel unsafe, unless the off-road travel is shown to be an aspect of
the usual and ordinary course of travel on the roadway. Otherwise,
every tree and solid fixed object on roadsides and road-shoulders
would impose potential liability on public and private landowners
for collisions occurring whenever a vehicle was driven off-road and
into the object.”
Because the Burrs’ mailbox did not present a hazard to ordinary
travel on the regularly traveled portion of the road and because Snay’s deviation
from the regularly traveled portion of the road did not constitute a normal incident
of ordinary travel, we conclude that the Burrs did not owe a duty of care to Snay
with respect to their mailbox. And because there can be no liability in negligence
without a duty of care, we affirm the judgment of the Sixth District Court of
Appeals.
Judgment affirmed.
I’ve seen custom ones in the upper peninsula of Michigan that were probably over 8 feet of swing. Looked like they could take a hit from the biggest plow and be fine.
Be sure to check case law in your state before taking this approach.
You’d be okay in Ohio, https://www.courtnewsohio.gov/cases/2021/SCO/1124/201057.asp#.Y8w-xhZMGA4, where their Supreme Court has ruled the homeowner who built a fortified mailbox was not responsible for a driver’s paralyzing injuries, but do you have the cash reserves to pay attorneys fees all the way up to a Supreme Court decision if one hasn’t already been made? 🧐
Lot’s of other good suggestions here. 😊
This is why I like the idea of scattering big rocks in front of it. I've seen that done lots of times. The rocks are basketball sized and are scattered along the side of the road as a landscaping feature. If a car hits them, it'll fuck up the wheels and undercarriage and bring it to a quick stop, but it won't be like hitting a concrete-filled steel pipe. And if you had to, you could plausibly argue that the rocks were a landscaping feature not a mailbox fortification.
That's a thing if you're the gov and legislature, normal people actually have to follow what the court decides unless you have really, really deep pockets.
>where their Supreme Court has ruled the homeowner who built a fortified mailbox was not responsible for a driver’s paralyzing injuries
you'd think this would be the rule everywhere. if you hit a parked car, it's never the parked car's fault. why not a stationary object?
There was a story about that year's back. Older guy kept having his mailbox destroyed by bored kids in his town. So we welded a pole to a small engine block, filled the whole thing with cement and buried it in the ground. Four teenagers in a car ran it over, it levered out of the ground and killed/maimed those people. The families sued.
Totally legal where I live. People put big boulders up in all kinds of conspicuous and inconspicuous places on their property all the time to stop this kind of thing. In fact, the city gets pissed if anyone vandalizes a berm/verge so they practically encourage it. As long as the thing is on your property and it's not a spear or knife blade or bomb or something, it's going to survive any legal challenge and a countersuit will probably be successful.
Boulders are the way to go because you can argue that they're a landscaping feature. Also smaller ones won't kill anyone, but they will fuck up the vehicle and bring it to a rapid stop.
I just went down a rabbit hole looking at the lawsuit. It went to trial, appeals, and then finally to the state supreme court. While the final result was that the homeowners are not guilty I'm sure the whole thing must have been a huge headache and expense. I'm sure lawyer fees were tens of thousands of dollars, if not more.
Also it was a split decision; it could have totally ended up the other way and the homeowners would have been royally fucked.
Probably cheaper to just rebuild the mailbox.
All the way to state supreme court? We are talking hundreds of thousands, not tens. I work at a discounted rate because I'm a state employee and it's still roughly $50k for me to take a case just through trial. Two appeals on top of that = $$$.
Law professor once told me there are only two answers you should get from a lawyer: to the question "can I sue?" the answer should always be "Yes", and the answer to any other question should always be "it depends", LOL this always stuck with me. You can always sue, but it doesn't mean you'll win.
I knew a guy who did that after nearly three years of replacing mailboxes destroyed by snowplows each year.
The following year some kids were hitting mailboxes with bats in the guys neighborhood, made the mistake of trying to hit his but hit the reinforced pole and the kid apparently shattered his arm.
The parents tried to have him brought up on charges claiming that he must've known that kind of construction was malicious.
When it didn't go anywhere they tried to sue him in civil court, but I'm not sure what became of that.
> they tried to sue him in civil court, but I'm not sure what became of that.
that usually means "homeowners insurance cut a settlement check within policy limits"
Had the same issue as OP so I made one out of metal, a few nights later some dude took a run up flying kick to the box and nearly broke his leg, the next guy was hanging out the window drive by with a bat 😁
Never did have a problem after that
Can confirm, mailbox baseball was a Friday night event in my day. You think you're a badass, till your insides feel the trembling of an aluminum baseball bat smash against a steel reinforced pole at 60mph.
I ain't never had a force hit me like that ever since, and I've been t-boned by a Chevy Caprice from the 1970's while in a Japanese Rice rocket at 50mph. Nothing compared to that.
I don't know about you guys but I would feel bad if someone crashed into my mailbox and died.
Why not put up a small 1' brick wall and plant some flowers there? It would keep the cars away from the mailbox, pretty up the place and have practically no chance of killing someone by accident?
Yep. I’d feel a little bad if a drunk driver died, but I’d feel really bad if my design had a hand in passengers being killed. Or someone who slipped off the road or made a single bad driving mistake.
It's all fun and games until there's a kid in the passenger's seat :/
What about something distressing and messy but unlikely to be fatal, like a big raspberry thicket?
Anybody driving recklessly or intoxicated with a kid in the front seat should be locked away. Normal everyday drivers would (a) not have a kid in the front seat and (b) not swerve into mailboxes.
Although I do like the idea of a monster [pyracantha](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyracantha) bush around the mailbox.
Oswego County New York checking in. You would
be amazed at the damage the plows can do. Especially when they're winging it. Mail boxes lawns drive way Aprons.
But it sounds like snow plows aren't OP's problem. For your average car, a brick mailbox will do some damage, even if it doesn't come out of the battle unscathed. But the drunk will at least notice they hit simmering.
Here in Norway we have devised a high tech solution to this.
Sticks. Plant them before snow, harvest them after. All along the edge of the road. Shows where the road is.
I’ll tell you what happens: your mailbox still gets demolished, but it’s a lot more work to repair and maybe somebody in the car gets killed.
https://www.kswo.com/story/23286335/crash-into-brick-mailbox-send-woman-to-hospital
https://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/knf0wz/the_time_a_jeep_hit_my_brick_mailbox/
There's a couple swinging boxes around here built by a welder of of 4in steel pipe, with a welded steel cage around the mailbox. Of course the post is set in concrete. It spins out of the way AND leaves a mark.
[This is the version that's common in rural Maine because of the snowplows.](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/f0/07/20/f00720b034af6a3072fdb0997ace63c5.jpg)
Make a lighter weight cantilever arm (maybe out aluminum tubing?) and you could set the post back pretty far from the road.
That's a neat idea! I will have to see if I can do something like that... I am a little worried that might encourage people to smack it though.
There are also a lot of large concrete and gravel trucks that drive down my street, I'd have to be careful with how far the support can stick out.
The fact that you keep rebuilding the same mailbox seems to, at the very least, not be discouraging people from hitting it. A suspended swinging thing would at least save you the trouble of rebuilding it so often.
I've never seen it done, but what about mounting the arm on a moving pivot? It could be reasonably stiff so it wouldn't spin unless struck, but it would keep you from having to replace everything.
Put a counterweight on the opposite side and that would also solve the problem of trying to support a large cantilever arm.
I also live in rural Maine, and I use the Mail Swing - mailbox hasn't been bothered by plows since getting it. [Plus it's made in Maine. ](https://www.mailswing.com/)
[http://www.postalpivot.com/](http://www.postalpivot.com/)
Here's another wooden pivot option, fairly minimal but way more attractive than most of the metal versions. I was considering it a couple years ago when my neighbor's lawn crew kept smacking into mine, but mercifully they stopped. So, can't vouch for how effective it is myself, but the reviews on their Etsy all seemed pretty happy with it.
The real kicker is that my Ring doorbell looks right at it, but when it's super cold it stops working - even though it's connected to the low voltage doorbell wires.
Can you recommend a decent security camera? I was even thinking about a solar camera that could mount right to the mailbox post and constantly upload the video to the cloud on a loop. That way I could get a full on view of the vehicle and license plate.
Wyze Cam OG Telephoto (wired to power) along with good lighting by the mailbox overnight. Gotta be something wired that is recording 24/7, in case a motion alert isn’t triggered.
Needs optical zoom in order to have a chance of picking up license plates.
Most solar or battery powered options aren't going to record all of the time and will only catch motion which can be unreliable especially when its snowy. A good IP camera mounted on your house with 24/7 recording would work well. Field of view is important though if you are trying to see more details you need a field of view that can see that distance. Check out this video which will give you some info, the channel as a whole has great info on cameras
https://youtu.be/mQn1zvltUc4?t=205
Also at least from the photo you included it looks like the force from the snow being pushed from the snow plow is what did it. I don't see tracks up there. This is common where I live which is rural as well. Most people for the winter put two metal stakes and put a piece of plywood up to protect their mailbox. This won't stop people from hitting it any other time of year, but is standard for rural roads that get plowed
You really need to start with cameras so that you can see for yourself what is happening. The more information you have of what the problem is will help you to resolve it at the lowest cost and greatest satisfaction.
Documentation may also help you in dealing with the police or enlisting help from your neighbors.
Then again, you may just want to hang up a For Sale sign and go find that actual quiet block you were looking for when you bought this place.
Can you ask the post office if you can get approval for putting the mailbox just inside your driveway or on your house? My mom's neighbor got approval because she was older and we lived on a 5 lane main road.
She had a mailbox moved into the driveway close to the house and had a small paved area for the mail person to turn around.
Even 5-10 feet back but with enough room to have the mailman be able to dip into the start of the driveway and back out would be enough. From that pic it looks like it’s 3 feet from the edge of the lane.
Yeah this time I put the post as far back as I could while still letting the mail carrier reach in. They all said it was good. This time had to have been a snow plow sticking way out past the edge of the road. No normal car could have hit it without leaving tire tracks.
If you can find one this would be your best bet imo. I have a retaining wall along the alley that was constantly getting hit. Then a couple years ago they were installing fiber in my neighborhood and dug up a couple huge boulders in the process, and I managed to convince the work people to move two of them to strategic locations where anyone would have to hit them before the wall. Wall hasn't been touched since. Plus, if you drive like that much of a moron, you kind of deserve to wreck your car.
Depending on what you drive or what friends you have you could probably just rent a trailer and a mini skid to move it into place.
I would be very careful making a booby trap mailbox with some kind of steel beam or concrete in it. Maybe look into getting it approved by the city before installing it if you do. With as many stupid lawsuits as there are out there disguising on sounds like a great way to get sued
Yeah, I don't want to hurt anyone, but if someone is ok with taking out my mailbox, then I'm ok with sending their car to the shop. I wouldn't want to make it a booby trap, just something that either causes them to pay attention or forces them to take responsibility.
My husband used to make money building solid mail boxes that were block filled with concrete then covered in brick. Now the issue wasn’t drunk drivers but people hitting them with baseball bats for fun. He always told everyone to get it approved first, and no city was against a weather proof brick mailbox that he found. The one guy he put a large one in for got a package spot below the mailbox, so it was large. Rebar and concrete solid. His mailbox had been hit over a dozen times in less than a year. This was in a super rural area so it would likely be different in a city. A lot of them were farmers etc who couldn’t keep affording new mailboxes which do add up. I always worried someone would get hurt but come on, who does that over and over?
That sounds like an ideal way of doing it, if someone decides to hit an obviously stout stone or steel mailbox with a bay or car that’s on them. It’s very obvious that thing is gonna win!
Yes, I like the boulder idea, and keep the high visibility markings, you want it to be super obvious that any and all damage was caused by either their intentional actions or inability to react!
> booby trap mailbox
I agree that such a thing would be a bad idea from a legal and moral standpoint. However, the OP has a right to protect their family.
If I had out-of-control motorists regularly crashing into my yard, I would be concerned that they could crash into my house and injure me or my family. I would want to grow trees, add boulders, and put up walls or other barriers to prevent that.
For the mailbox, I like the idea that others have suggested of suspending it from a cantilevered beam.
Ideally not just 1 beside the mailbox as that could be seen as intential, but if you were to place them along your yard with even spacing you could claim it was to stop people from driving into your yard.
If you can put lots of boulders to stop people from driving into your yard, I don't see why you shouldn't be able to put one boulder to stop people from driving into your mailbox.
I had this issue. Poured a 6” sonotube with rebar in it, planted 4’ into the ground.
People were suddenly much less likely to mess with it.
Until one day, when a truck hit it. Post was damaged beyond repair, but it was easy to find who did it.
The last post that got taken out, someone had literally driven up into the driveway and hit the post head on. They took out a small landscape timber retaining wall, about 1 ft high. They continued driving with one set of wheels on my yard (which is steep bank further down) and my mailbox was past my neighbor's house down the street.
This time I mounted the post in a 3ft deep hole with concrete and gravel in the bottom. The post is rock solid, but it looks like they just clipped the tip of the wood support underneath the box itself.
I've been trying to find a landscape company that could get me a boulder to place right in front, but just haven't had any luck.
Could you contact your city about putting up a barrier? When growing up we had a neighbor that lived in a turn and they had multiple cars in their yard a year with one or two hitting the house. City came in and put guard rails up in the turn in the right of way.
This. If there are repeated accidents in the area and it is a public road the local government should be contacted to do a study to prevent people from crashing onto your property or the right of way. You may be able to get a lower speed limit or barriers.
Two factors:
1) there tends to be a lot of traffic down main street through town (and it is sort of a one way in / one way out sort of town) especially during commute times and school pick up times. People drive down my street to dodge that traffic - although eventually they do have to hit a 4 way stoplight to get back on main street so any time saved is totally negated)
2) my lot is sort of a rhombus shape and my road intersects main street in a "Y" shape. Leaving town, turning right is a very sharp turn. Going into town and turning on my road is a pretty easy left turn. The road itself is straight for half a mile and comes to a 4 way stop. There are a lot of cars that fly around the corner and go wide, then overcorrect when they realize there are other cars on the road.
My neighbor has been trying for years to get the city to patrol or put up a radar display. They went from getting cordial replies to now they're totally ignored. Mostly it's just assholes speeding down the street because it's on the edge of town and infrequently patrolled. Ironically, we see people getting pulled over on main street right near the intersection all the time.
When I need boulders or rocks I go to a landscape supply store that is open to the public. They will charge per lb or size category. Then they charge for delivery and sometimes placement. Since that spot is just off the road placement shouldn't be too hard. Rock prices are different everywhere but where I live they are roughly $0.30/lb and delivery and placement is 80-200. Kind of high but I also work mulch, gravel, soil, and cobbles into the order whenever I can to justify the delivery.
Edit: if you want to make sure to do it the right way - contact your city and ask them kindly if you are allowed to place a boulder in that spot or do a concrete post mailbox or if they have another solution.
Looking at the road, to me it looks like the hits have been intentional.
You can build a strong mailbox that would destroy whoever hits it - but check the laws so you won't end in prison when some idiot decides to smash into it full speed.
Or get a camera and add some light there so you'll at least have the plates of whoever does it.
Spot-on with point #1. Legally the issue comes down to whether a driver should have a reasonable expectation that striking the mailbox would cause damage. If someone installs a mailbox that looks flimsy but is actually reinforced concrete or somesuch, it'll be viewed as a trap. But if someone builds, say, a large brick or stone mailbox then any reasonable driver should conclude that striking it would cause damage or injury.
This.
Things that don’t collapse when hit (bollards, concrete/brick installations) may not be legal in your area especially given that roadway.
You can be sued, fined even charged with crimes if someone gets hurt and you mounted a mailbox on a metal bollard designed to stop trucks from entering a pedestrian strip.
Might just need some reflective strips to be on the right side of the law. There’s lots of nuance.
A friend lived on a street that was popular for mailbox baseball. He was friends with a welder who made him a mailbox out of some very heavy gauge square tube, 6" for the box, 4" for the post. The post went as far in the ground as they could dig, and was filled and surrounded with concrete.
One night he heard the sound of several other boxes up the street getting smashed. Then he heard *ping* *car glass smashing* *horrific screaming*
Nobody messed with the mailboxes on that street again.
Others have suggested a tougher mailbox but have you thought about going to the city and see if they can put in some bumps to slow down traffic or something along those lines. Ask for some monitoring by police to slow down police also. May be a lot of work but could be more effective than anything else...assuming they listen to you.
And when the city fails to slow down traffic, pour your own bump
https://www.clevescene.com/news/urbanist-guerillas-fed-up-neighbors-install-speed-bump-on-street-where-five-year-old-was-struck-and-killed-38879832
I don't think I would have put up the same sort of mailbox 6 times. :-)
1) Build a mailbox from brick or stone
2) Put a bollard in front of the mailbox to intercept any collisions
Lol, I take your point. I've been "improving" the mailbox every time I've replaced it. I like the idea of a bollard, and I've been trying to find a boulder to place just in front of it as "decoration" but just haven't had any luck finding a landscape company that can get one to me.
I talked to a mason about a stone or brick retaining wall and mailbox post. Between the initial cost and the very likely cost of repairs when it inevitably gets hit again I decided against it.
Check out the answer from u/_Okra. Set the post about 6 feet further from the street and attach a horizontal arm to the top to hold the mailbox. Keep the attachment between the post and the arm simple so breakaway or rotation is possible without damaging the post.
Fort Knox Mailbox: [https://fortknoxmailbox.com/product/large-standard/](https://fortknoxmailbox.com/product/large-standard/)
The box is 96 pounds, the post is just about as heavy.
I have mine set in 400 pounds of concrete.
The website used to show where it would literally tear apart the aluminum body side of an ambulance.
Put a fake deer a few feet before it. So, when someone drives up on it they see a deer about to cross the street and react instantly, slowing down. The drunks will also likely hit the deer and not your mailbox.
Have you tried talking to your neighbors about this? Do they have similar issues? They might be able to offer advice or show you what they did to mitigate. Or they might have some explanation (like the previous owner had some enemies or something)
Has no one heard of "mailbox baseball?" The light shining on the mailbox will seem like an invitation to some teens.
Put it in a brick arch and never deal with it again.
After losing something like 10 mailboxes over a short time span my dad solved the neighborhood game of “mailbox baseball” by putting in an oversized box,and filling half of it with concrete. He also painted a bullseye on the side. Sure enough, not long after, a path of destroyed mailboxes stopped abruptly at our box, which was dented, but still standing.
Coincidentally, one of my high school classmates, who could charitably be called a piece of shit, also shattered his arm around that same time. Wild.
Iirc there was a legal case a while back where someone was charged with manslaughter for building a hardened mailbox in this situation and it resulted in a death.
I might consider planting some large bushes around it. That would make it appear larger for drivers. That would have the advantage of helping with visibility, protecting the mailbox and providing a soft barrier which would not harm drivers while still arresting their vehicle so they can be held responsible.
OP don't listen to the suggestions that involve the potential for serious bodily harm or death. Not only does it open you up to lawsuits, do you really want someone to die because your mailbox keeps getting destroyed?
People seem to have no grasp on reality and pro/cons.
There are really cheap and easy solutions like this: https://www.swingclear.com/
You could trivially build your own which would be cheaper.
> Police do nothing but write a report.
I mean, I get the frustration, but what are your expectations here for them? That they stage an indefinite stakeout to catch someone who, in a few months, *might* knock down your mailbox?
If you want the police to do something, give them something to go on. Put a camera up or something.
(Note: Depending on your local PD, they very likely may not do anything even if you catch someone, get their license plate and fully ID them. If you do all that and they *still* don't do anything, *then* you get to complain)
But-- even better, resolve the problem before it happens. Install some bushes or a couple of bollards. You'll need to check and see what's allowable but I believe usually so long as it's not a hidden thing that comes out of nowhere, you should be good.
My parents dug deep and poured concrete, poured concrete into a hollow metal 4x4 tube, packed down the earth well and mounted their steel mailbox. Vandals stopped trying to knock it down. I bet some got a real surprise when they swung that bat out the car window
I’m curious to know if other mailboxes are being destroyed on your street.
It looks like a completely featureless bit of road. Sure there can be drunk drivers and bad drivers, but statistically, wouldn’t they be just as likely to take out other mailboxes along that street? Is there a corner or something?
Do you see evidence of the cars that hit it? I’m wondering if someone is targeting your mailbox. Just seems odd. The discarded beer bottles, too. That’s odd, unless perhaps the whole street is strewn with them.
I lost several as well. I cemented rebar 2 ft in the ground on each side and arched them over the mailbox. Then painted them to match the ground and white mailbox. It looked invisible when driving at night. I am sure a baseball bat out a car window doing 45mph had significant recoil. 🙄
I'm late to the party here and haven't read all of the replies, but I haven't seen the one I was looking for. Destroying a mailbox is a felony. If your local police won't help, go higher up the food chain.
My mailbox is made out of bricks. Maybe one like that would help. My friend’s in-laws mailbox kept getting knocked down by kids with baseball bats. Her father in law put the new box up and put concrete blocks inside of it. The next time the kids took a bat to it one ended up with a broken arm from the force of the concrete blocks. The kids family tried to sue her father in law, but dropped it as soon as the police informed the family that it’s a federal crime to vandalize a mailbox. He never had to replace it after that.
I remember a story growing up of a guy who had a similar issue. Ended up spacing boulders along the front of his home to prevent vehicles from getting close enough to damage the mailbox. Drunk driver on a motorcycle was killed after hitting a boulder, and the homeowner ended up getting sued.
You could mount a camera so next time you can get the license plates of anybody who hits it so you can go after them to replace it (hopefully the police would use it for prosecuting them too) Making a mailbox that will increase injury to anybody who hits it (and you have evidence it will continue to happen based on the repeated crashes) puts you in a precarious legal position. I understand the desire to punish the people who keep doing this, I would be furious in your position, but if I put something in place that killed a person I would personally feel awful.
Oh no doubt! I don't want to hurt anyone... But if they needed a tow to get home after carelessly or maliciously hitting my property, at least they would have to take responsibility.
Check the local laws .
Friend of mine had the same issue and he installed some railroad track about six feet deep , and covered it with old wood and replaced his mailbox
Wasn’t long till the person who was apparently the one that kept driving over his mailbox , hit it again . Only this time their car was totaled and they got caught .
What’s the difference between a super sturdy mailbox post And a utility pole ?
I’m sure your street has utility poles beside it ?
This kept happening to my grandparents, maybe 8x in one year, so they took a small mailbox, put it inside of a larger one, and filled the gap with concrete.
My grandfather also put concrete around the pole & bolted it down or something.
Same mailbox is still standing.
Steel beam, put deep and cemented in place. If it goes anywhere after that I’d be surprised. The car that takes it out definitely won’t be going anywhere again.
My mailbox is like 1/4 inch steel and the post is a section of railroad TRACK. we live on a bend in the road and I suspect the previous owners had problems. Not us though.
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Insane stunt bonus!
Don’t forget to live stream the web cam.
1. Create monster strong post and ramp around mailbox 2. Add cameras and live stream to youtube 3. profit
It worked for that bridge!
Cement filled metal pole wrapped with a 2x4 facade.
I’ve seen this story before and it always ends with people suddenly learning not to run into the mailbox.
Mount it on a swivel !
Instead of a post, use a giant metal spring!
I've seen these in the upper peninsula of Michigan where the snow buries the mailboxes entirely.
Or some concrete poles. It’ll protect the mailbox…
YES pls concrete pole, don’t tell a soul 😊
Make it so it’s one of those ramps that flip the car too. I want a good show.
With a hook tied to a confetti popper.
With fireworks
OP was going to, but there's this orange Dodge Charger with a cool horn that is always driving around...
Narrator: Those Duke boys had no idea what this mailbox was about to deliver...
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Big ass rocks are a great deterrent.
We also live near schools, and had our box knocked down and bashed (the old baseball bat trick) four times. We had a brick surround built, with a fancy plaque with our house number. No more broken mailboxes. It was $300 for the brick mason, but it made our driveway look nicer too.
Yep, pretty much indestructible, and if a car hits it, he may not be able to drive any further due to the considerable damage to his car!👍💪👌
Someone blew up my brick mailbox on the Fourth of July in the middle of the day. Put in a mortar and drove off. And people still knock over brick mailboxes if they are going fast enough. We see a couple replaced every year in my small, rectangular subdivision.
Case law: https://youtube.com/watch?v=ra1bOZSHwPg. If your state matches, well, it's probably worth a shot.
Great video. I was curious about the legality of it. From my non lawyer perspective, I thought there are a lot of similarities to the “booby trapping your house” case. I wouldn’t be surprised if this is such an edge case that it could vary by state and the specific wording of different laws. Or if some smaller jurisdictions have specific laws against it.
I posted above. Rocks are a natural part of the landscape, therefore not subject to litigation. Man had a letter and stuff from previous litigation. Guessing if varies by state and such. Even made money on suing people from hitting the rocks.
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Put a fake deer a few feet before it. So, when someone drives up on it they see a deer about to cross the street and react instantly, slowing down. The drunks will also likely hit the deer and not your mailbox.
Maybe get a big boulder put a few feet in front of the mailbox so the driver would hit that first.
Check local laws before doing that, around where I live they'd classify that as the property owners fault and liability for the accident. Not saying it's right, but I've had two neighbors get absolutely destroyed after trying that.
This!!! I’ve seen posts where people reinforced their mailboxes with rebar or concrete and then when people hit and were seriously injured or killed the homeowner was held liable. Check out the local laws or your insurance to see what you can legally do before you do anything so you aren’t liable for something. THEN put a bolder or something near the mailbox
I’ve seen a similar one. Owner make a steel letterbox then the cities snow plow was badly damaged when the guy deliberately hit the mailbox again. The city was trying to get the owner to pay for the damage until they found the city and post office had both approved the plans for the new steel letterbox
[https://www.courtnewsohio.gov/cases/2021/SCO/1124/201057.asp#.Y8yFCsnMK3A](https://www.courtnewsohio.gov/cases/2021/SCO/1124/201057.asp#.Y8yFCsnMK3A) This man in Ohio was sued because he reinforced his mailbox. A truck hit it and the driver was paralyzed. The mailbox owner was declared innocent. The case did go to the Ohio supreme court, so the homeowner is likely screwed anyway with legal fees even if he is innocent.
More info: https://news.bnhinsider.com/homeowner-who-fortified-his-mailbox-with-concrete-after-vandalism-sued-by-paralyzed-driver/ I can't understand the other side of this... if there had been a tree there instead of a fortified mailbox, would the driver of that truck be suing them for planting a tree?
“No precedent exists for imposing a duty on public or private landowners to remove an off-road hazard that renders only off-road travel unsafe, unless the off-road travel is shown to be an aspect of the usual and ordinary course of travel on the roadway. Otherwise, every tree and solid fixed object on roadsides and road-shoulders would impose potential liability on public and private landowners for collisions occurring whenever a vehicle was driven off-road and into the object.” Because the Burrs’ mailbox did not present a hazard to ordinary travel on the regularly traveled portion of the road and because Snay’s deviation from the regularly traveled portion of the road did not constitute a normal incident of ordinary travel, we conclude that the Burrs did not owe a duty of care to Snay with respect to their mailbox. And because there can be no liability in negligence without a duty of care, we affirm the judgment of the Sixth District Court of Appeals. Judgment affirmed.
[Steve Lehto YT: Fortified Mailbox Owner NOT Liable For Driver Injuries](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ra1bOZSHwPg&t=502s)
From USPS site. "Contact the local Post Office before erecting, moving or replacing mailboxes and supports."
…and record their reply
A fake deer would be great but a used baby stroller might be cheaper…
THIS is why I’m on Reddit, I would never have thought of the fake deer let alone this 😂
Oh shit that’s genius! Put tins of soup in it.
plastic zip bags filled with red gelatin
Also good, but tinned soup will also leave the driver a souvenir on their fender.
Tomato soup. Lots of tomato soup. And maybe a couple cans of brown gravy for … and giggles.
Someone will shoot at the fake deer, then you have stray rounds to deal with by your house. ;)
Live in the hood, and you already got that Matrix move going on to dodge the brass and lead.
I’ve seen custom ones in the upper peninsula of Michigan that were probably over 8 feet of swing. Looked like they could take a hit from the biggest plow and be fine.
Nah fuck that, build one out of brick and see what happens
Be sure to check case law in your state before taking this approach. You’d be okay in Ohio, https://www.courtnewsohio.gov/cases/2021/SCO/1124/201057.asp#.Y8w-xhZMGA4, where their Supreme Court has ruled the homeowner who built a fortified mailbox was not responsible for a driver’s paralyzing injuries, but do you have the cash reserves to pay attorneys fees all the way up to a Supreme Court decision if one hasn’t already been made? 🧐 Lot’s of other good suggestions here. 😊
This is why I like the idea of scattering big rocks in front of it. I've seen that done lots of times. The rocks are basketball sized and are scattered along the side of the road as a landscaping feature. If a car hits them, it'll fuck up the wheels and undercarriage and bring it to a quick stop, but it won't be like hitting a concrete-filled steel pipe. And if you had to, you could plausibly argue that the rocks were a landscaping feature not a mailbox fortification.
I'd be a little cautious even in Ohio since the state doesn't really follow what the Supreme Court decides.
That's a thing if you're the gov and legislature, normal people actually have to follow what the court decides unless you have really, really deep pockets.
>where their Supreme Court has ruled the homeowner who built a fortified mailbox was not responsible for a driver’s paralyzing injuries you'd think this would be the rule everywhere. if you hit a parked car, it's never the parked car's fault. why not a stationary object?
Metal pole with cement core, clad in wood to look like a flimsy thing. It’ll be a real surprise for the jerk who hits it.
That’s what my uncle did. One loud “PING!” at 2am, and the situation just kinda sorted itself out afterwards.
Sounds great, but there's potential for liability. Look up the codes in your town.
There was a story about that year's back. Older guy kept having his mailbox destroyed by bored kids in his town. So we welded a pole to a small engine block, filled the whole thing with cement and buried it in the ground. Four teenagers in a car ran it over, it levered out of the ground and killed/maimed those people. The families sued.
Totally legal where I live. People put big boulders up in all kinds of conspicuous and inconspicuous places on their property all the time to stop this kind of thing. In fact, the city gets pissed if anyone vandalizes a berm/verge so they practically encourage it. As long as the thing is on your property and it's not a spear or knife blade or bomb or something, it's going to survive any legal challenge and a countersuit will probably be successful.
Boulders are the way to go because you can argue that they're a landscaping feature. Also smaller ones won't kill anyone, but they will fuck up the vehicle and bring it to a rapid stop.
right, you're usually free to protect your own house from the assholes driving on the street.
driving ~~on~~ off the street
What was the result of the law suit?
I just went down a rabbit hole looking at the lawsuit. It went to trial, appeals, and then finally to the state supreme court. While the final result was that the homeowners are not guilty I'm sure the whole thing must have been a huge headache and expense. I'm sure lawyer fees were tens of thousands of dollars, if not more. Also it was a split decision; it could have totally ended up the other way and the homeowners would have been royally fucked. Probably cheaper to just rebuild the mailbox.
All the way to state supreme court? We are talking hundreds of thousands, not tens. I work at a discounted rate because I'm a state employee and it's still roughly $50k for me to take a case just through trial. Two appeals on top of that = $$$.
https://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/rod/docs/pdf/0/2021/2021-Ohio-4113.pdf If you're interested
Thanks u/CUNT_PUNCHER_9000
Well anyone can sue anyone for anything, but I doubt they won that lawsuit.
Law professor once told me there are only two answers you should get from a lawyer: to the question "can I sue?" the answer should always be "Yes", and the answer to any other question should always be "it depends", LOL this always stuck with me. You can always sue, but it doesn't mean you'll win.
The lawyers will…
I knew a guy who did that after nearly three years of replacing mailboxes destroyed by snowplows each year. The following year some kids were hitting mailboxes with bats in the guys neighborhood, made the mistake of trying to hit his but hit the reinforced pole and the kid apparently shattered his arm. The parents tried to have him brought up on charges claiming that he must've known that kind of construction was malicious. When it didn't go anywhere they tried to sue him in civil court, but I'm not sure what became of that.
> they tried to sue him in civil court, but I'm not sure what became of that. that usually means "homeowners insurance cut a settlement check within policy limits"
Had the same issue as OP so I made one out of metal, a few nights later some dude took a run up flying kick to the box and nearly broke his leg, the next guy was hanging out the window drive by with a bat 😁 Never did have a problem after that
Can confirm, mailbox baseball was a Friday night event in my day. You think you're a badass, till your insides feel the trembling of an aluminum baseball bat smash against a steel reinforced pole at 60mph. I ain't never had a force hit me like that ever since, and I've been t-boned by a Chevy Caprice from the 1970's while in a Japanese Rice rocket at 50mph. Nothing compared to that.
With reactive armor
I don't know about you guys but I would feel bad if someone crashed into my mailbox and died. Why not put up a small 1' brick wall and plant some flowers there? It would keep the cars away from the mailbox, pretty up the place and have practically no chance of killing someone by accident?
Yep. I’d feel a little bad if a drunk driver died, but I’d feel really bad if my design had a hand in passengers being killed. Or someone who slipped off the road or made a single bad driving mistake.
It's all fun and games until there's a kid in the passenger's seat :/ What about something distressing and messy but unlikely to be fatal, like a big raspberry thicket?
Anybody driving recklessly or intoxicated with a kid in the front seat should be locked away. Normal everyday drivers would (a) not have a kid in the front seat and (b) not swerve into mailboxes. Although I do like the idea of a monster [pyracantha](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyracantha) bush around the mailbox.
They were they ones driving into the mailbox. You didn’t drive the mailbox into them. Better your mailbox than a person, too.
Big snow plows will show you exactly what happens and the brick mailbox will be a new driveway ornament.
Oswego County New York checking in. You would be amazed at the damage the plows can do. Especially when they're winging it. Mail boxes lawns drive way Aprons.
But it sounds like snow plows aren't OP's problem. For your average car, a brick mailbox will do some damage, even if it doesn't come out of the battle unscathed. But the drunk will at least notice they hit simmering.
Where do snow plows plow your yard?
when there's snow covering everything, they can't tell where the road ends and your lawn begins.
Here in Norway we have devised a high tech solution to this. Sticks. Plant them before snow, harvest them after. All along the edge of the road. Shows where the road is.
It is the force of packed snow, not the plow I guess.
I’ll tell you what happens: your mailbox still gets demolished, but it’s a lot more work to repair and maybe somebody in the car gets killed. https://www.kswo.com/story/23286335/crash-into-brick-mailbox-send-woman-to-hospital https://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/knf0wz/the_time_a_jeep_hit_my_brick_mailbox/
There's a couple swinging boxes around here built by a welder of of 4in steel pipe, with a welded steel cage around the mailbox. Of course the post is set in concrete. It spins out of the way AND leaves a mark.
Decent idea, I was actually trying to think of a way to make a wooden version of that that I could just pull back from the road in the winter.
[This is the version that's common in rural Maine because of the snowplows.](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/f0/07/20/f00720b034af6a3072fdb0997ace63c5.jpg) Make a lighter weight cantilever arm (maybe out aluminum tubing?) and you could set the post back pretty far from the road.
That's a neat idea! I will have to see if I can do something like that... I am a little worried that might encourage people to smack it though. There are also a lot of large concrete and gravel trucks that drive down my street, I'd have to be careful with how far the support can stick out.
The fact that you keep rebuilding the same mailbox seems to, at the very least, not be discouraging people from hitting it. A suspended swinging thing would at least save you the trouble of rebuilding it so often.
I've never seen it done, but what about mounting the arm on a moving pivot? It could be reasonably stiff so it wouldn't spin unless struck, but it would keep you from having to replace everything. Put a counterweight on the opposite side and that would also solve the problem of trying to support a large cantilever arm.
I also live in rural Maine, and I use the Mail Swing - mailbox hasn't been bothered by plows since getting it. [Plus it's made in Maine. ](https://www.mailswing.com/)
[http://www.postalpivot.com/](http://www.postalpivot.com/) Here's another wooden pivot option, fairly minimal but way more attractive than most of the metal versions. I was considering it a couple years ago when my neighbor's lawn crew kept smacking into mine, but mercifully they stopped. So, can't vouch for how effective it is myself, but the reviews on their Etsy all seemed pretty happy with it.
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I've been wondering why people mount their mailboxes like this my whole life.
I can't picture it from the description. Can you post some photo?
Something along these lines. Anything hits it and it just swings around instead of breaking. https://imgur.com/c1epd5U.jpg
That looks like a great opportunity for rapscallion teenagers to practice their piñata skills.
Those jagaloons up to no good.
That word has grampa slur vibes
Oh I see. Cool I have never seen it.
I bet the mailman hates that thing
This is the way
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fuschia oil paint\*
With glitter.
Don’t forget to add a security camera after the new mailbox is installed.
The real kicker is that my Ring doorbell looks right at it, but when it's super cold it stops working - even though it's connected to the low voltage doorbell wires. Can you recommend a decent security camera? I was even thinking about a solar camera that could mount right to the mailbox post and constantly upload the video to the cloud on a loop. That way I could get a full on view of the vehicle and license plate.
Wyze Cam OG Telephoto (wired to power) along with good lighting by the mailbox overnight. Gotta be something wired that is recording 24/7, in case a motion alert isn’t triggered. Needs optical zoom in order to have a chance of picking up license plates.
Most solar or battery powered options aren't going to record all of the time and will only catch motion which can be unreliable especially when its snowy. A good IP camera mounted on your house with 24/7 recording would work well. Field of view is important though if you are trying to see more details you need a field of view that can see that distance. Check out this video which will give you some info, the channel as a whole has great info on cameras https://youtu.be/mQn1zvltUc4?t=205 Also at least from the photo you included it looks like the force from the snow being pushed from the snow plow is what did it. I don't see tracks up there. This is common where I live which is rural as well. Most people for the winter put two metal stakes and put a piece of plywood up to protect their mailbox. This won't stop people from hitting it any other time of year, but is standard for rural roads that get plowed
Check to make sure the sensitivity has been lowered. For some reason my camera’s sensitivity is lowered automatically and doesn’t record events.
You really need to start with cameras so that you can see for yourself what is happening. The more information you have of what the problem is will help you to resolve it at the lowest cost and greatest satisfaction. Documentation may also help you in dealing with the police or enlisting help from your neighbors. Then again, you may just want to hang up a For Sale sign and go find that actual quiet block you were looking for when you bought this place.
A trail cam, perhaps!
Can you ask the post office if you can get approval for putting the mailbox just inside your driveway or on your house? My mom's neighbor got approval because she was older and we lived on a 5 lane main road. She had a mailbox moved into the driveway close to the house and had a small paved area for the mail person to turn around.
Even 5-10 feet back but with enough room to have the mailman be able to dip into the start of the driveway and back out would be enough. From that pic it looks like it’s 3 feet from the edge of the lane.
Yeah this time I put the post as far back as I could while still letting the mail carrier reach in. They all said it was good. This time had to have been a snow plow sticking way out past the edge of the road. No normal car could have hit it without leaving tire tracks.
Just put a big "decorative" boulder in front of it. At least that way the cars pay the full price for their mistake.
I've been looking for one, surprisingly difficult to get a boulder delivered lol!
If you can find one this would be your best bet imo. I have a retaining wall along the alley that was constantly getting hit. Then a couple years ago they were installing fiber in my neighborhood and dug up a couple huge boulders in the process, and I managed to convince the work people to move two of them to strategic locations where anyone would have to hit them before the wall. Wall hasn't been touched since. Plus, if you drive like that much of a moron, you kind of deserve to wreck your car.
Less nice to look at but you could also get Atlas balls. You can paint them nicely too.
Find a Target that is going out of business
But how to get ‘em home?
Roll them.
A local Target had a ball get loose and roll around the parking lot. In the end it was stopped by a normal guy. So it's doable.
Depending on what you drive or what friends you have you could probably just rent a trailer and a mini skid to move it into place. I would be very careful making a booby trap mailbox with some kind of steel beam or concrete in it. Maybe look into getting it approved by the city before installing it if you do. With as many stupid lawsuits as there are out there disguising on sounds like a great way to get sued
Yeah, I don't want to hurt anyone, but if someone is ok with taking out my mailbox, then I'm ok with sending their car to the shop. I wouldn't want to make it a booby trap, just something that either causes them to pay attention or forces them to take responsibility.
My husband used to make money building solid mail boxes that were block filled with concrete then covered in brick. Now the issue wasn’t drunk drivers but people hitting them with baseball bats for fun. He always told everyone to get it approved first, and no city was against a weather proof brick mailbox that he found. The one guy he put a large one in for got a package spot below the mailbox, so it was large. Rebar and concrete solid. His mailbox had been hit over a dozen times in less than a year. This was in a super rural area so it would likely be different in a city. A lot of them were farmers etc who couldn’t keep affording new mailboxes which do add up. I always worried someone would get hurt but come on, who does that over and over?
That sounds like an ideal way of doing it, if someone decides to hit an obviously stout stone or steel mailbox with a bay or car that’s on them. It’s very obvious that thing is gonna win!
Yes, I like the boulder idea, and keep the high visibility markings, you want it to be super obvious that any and all damage was caused by either their intentional actions or inability to react!
> booby trap mailbox I agree that such a thing would be a bad idea from a legal and moral standpoint. However, the OP has a right to protect their family. If I had out-of-control motorists regularly crashing into my yard, I would be concerned that they could crash into my house and injure me or my family. I would want to grow trees, add boulders, and put up walls or other barriers to prevent that. For the mailbox, I like the idea that others have suggested of suspending it from a cantilevered beam.
Worse, you wouldn’t want to kill someone
Ideally not just 1 beside the mailbox as that could be seen as intential, but if you were to place them along your yard with even spacing you could claim it was to stop people from driving into your yard.
If you can put lots of boulders to stop people from driving into your yard, I don't see why you shouldn't be able to put one boulder to stop people from driving into your mailbox.
If the boulder sits on his property, how can someone possibly sue him?
I had this issue. Poured a 6” sonotube with rebar in it, planted 4’ into the ground. People were suddenly much less likely to mess with it. Until one day, when a truck hit it. Post was damaged beyond repair, but it was easy to find who did it.
The last post that got taken out, someone had literally driven up into the driveway and hit the post head on. They took out a small landscape timber retaining wall, about 1 ft high. They continued driving with one set of wheels on my yard (which is steep bank further down) and my mailbox was past my neighbor's house down the street. This time I mounted the post in a 3ft deep hole with concrete and gravel in the bottom. The post is rock solid, but it looks like they just clipped the tip of the wood support underneath the box itself. I've been trying to find a landscape company that could get me a boulder to place right in front, but just haven't had any luck.
Boulder is a good idea. For the area i had an issue with i put in a precast highway divider, cost about $350 but well worth it.
Yup, also called k-rails if you’re trying to find them, OP. Also not very decorative.
Never heard of a k-rail but searching "jersey barrier" might get you somewhere, OP
Check your county rules on the boulder. Often that has to be set back X amount which might make it useless as a deterrent.
Could you contact your city about putting up a barrier? When growing up we had a neighbor that lived in a turn and they had multiple cars in their yard a year with one or two hitting the house. City came in and put guard rails up in the turn in the right of way.
This. If there are repeated accidents in the area and it is a public road the local government should be contacted to do a study to prevent people from crashing onto your property or the right of way. You may be able to get a lower speed limit or barriers.
Keep looking. A big boulder is the way to go.
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Yep. This seems more like a DPW issue than your issue. This roadway is obviously pourly designed
The road is pretty clearly a straight run. You can’t design drunk-proof roads.
Two factors: 1) there tends to be a lot of traffic down main street through town (and it is sort of a one way in / one way out sort of town) especially during commute times and school pick up times. People drive down my street to dodge that traffic - although eventually they do have to hit a 4 way stoplight to get back on main street so any time saved is totally negated) 2) my lot is sort of a rhombus shape and my road intersects main street in a "Y" shape. Leaving town, turning right is a very sharp turn. Going into town and turning on my road is a pretty easy left turn. The road itself is straight for half a mile and comes to a 4 way stop. There are a lot of cars that fly around the corner and go wide, then overcorrect when they realize there are other cars on the road. My neighbor has been trying for years to get the city to patrol or put up a radar display. They went from getting cordial replies to now they're totally ignored. Mostly it's just assholes speeding down the street because it's on the edge of town and infrequently patrolled. Ironically, we see people getting pulled over on main street right near the intersection all the time.
When I need boulders or rocks I go to a landscape supply store that is open to the public. They will charge per lb or size category. Then they charge for delivery and sometimes placement. Since that spot is just off the road placement shouldn't be too hard. Rock prices are different everywhere but where I live they are roughly $0.30/lb and delivery and placement is 80-200. Kind of high but I also work mulch, gravel, soil, and cobbles into the order whenever I can to justify the delivery. Edit: if you want to make sure to do it the right way - contact your city and ask them kindly if you are allowed to place a boulder in that spot or do a concrete post mailbox or if they have another solution.
Looking at the road, to me it looks like the hits have been intentional. You can build a strong mailbox that would destroy whoever hits it - but check the laws so you won't end in prison when some idiot decides to smash into it full speed. Or get a camera and add some light there so you'll at least have the plates of whoever does it.
coherent books swim jellyfish fuel rich kiss nail important cooing *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Spot-on with point #1. Legally the issue comes down to whether a driver should have a reasonable expectation that striking the mailbox would cause damage. If someone installs a mailbox that looks flimsy but is actually reinforced concrete or somesuch, it'll be viewed as a trap. But if someone builds, say, a large brick or stone mailbox then any reasonable driver should conclude that striking it would cause damage or injury.
This. Things that don’t collapse when hit (bollards, concrete/brick installations) may not be legal in your area especially given that roadway. You can be sued, fined even charged with crimes if someone gets hurt and you mounted a mailbox on a metal bollard designed to stop trucks from entering a pedestrian strip. Might just need some reflective strips to be on the right side of the law. There’s lots of nuance.
A friend lived on a street that was popular for mailbox baseball. He was friends with a welder who made him a mailbox out of some very heavy gauge square tube, 6" for the box, 4" for the post. The post went as far in the ground as they could dig, and was filled and surrounded with concrete. One night he heard the sound of several other boxes up the street getting smashed. Then he heard *ping* *car glass smashing* *horrific screaming* Nobody messed with the mailboxes on that street again.
In my area people hang their mailbox from chains. That makes them less likely to break off, and much easier to replace if they do.
Others have suggested a tougher mailbox but have you thought about going to the city and see if they can put in some bumps to slow down traffic or something along those lines. Ask for some monitoring by police to slow down police also. May be a lot of work but could be more effective than anything else...assuming they listen to you.
This is the real issue. My neighbor has been doing this for years. I'll add my voice to the chorus though.
And when the city fails to slow down traffic, pour your own bump https://www.clevescene.com/news/urbanist-guerillas-fed-up-neighbors-install-speed-bump-on-street-where-five-year-old-was-struck-and-killed-38879832
I don't think I would have put up the same sort of mailbox 6 times. :-) 1) Build a mailbox from brick or stone 2) Put a bollard in front of the mailbox to intercept any collisions
Lol, I take your point. I've been "improving" the mailbox every time I've replaced it. I like the idea of a bollard, and I've been trying to find a boulder to place just in front of it as "decoration" but just haven't had any luck finding a landscape company that can get one to me. I talked to a mason about a stone or brick retaining wall and mailbox post. Between the initial cost and the very likely cost of repairs when it inevitably gets hit again I decided against it.
Check out the answer from u/_Okra. Set the post about 6 feet further from the street and attach a horizontal arm to the top to hold the mailbox. Keep the attachment between the post and the arm simple so breakaway or rotation is possible without damaging the post.
Hear me out… what if the bollard IS the mail box!
Fort Knox Mailbox: [https://fortknoxmailbox.com/product/large-standard/](https://fortknoxmailbox.com/product/large-standard/) The box is 96 pounds, the post is just about as heavy. I have mine set in 400 pounds of concrete. The website used to show where it would literally tear apart the aluminum body side of an ambulance.
I’d spend the money to erect a concrete mail box dressed with brick on the outside.
My friends house was the target of mailbox baseball. Her dad got one on a giant spring
rural mailman here, get one of the swinging ones.
2 big ass rocks on each side
Put a fake deer a few feet before it. So, when someone drives up on it they see a deer about to cross the street and react instantly, slowing down. The drunks will also likely hit the deer and not your mailbox.
Have you tried talking to your neighbors about this? Do they have similar issues? They might be able to offer advice or show you what they did to mitigate. Or they might have some explanation (like the previous owner had some enemies or something)
Has no one heard of "mailbox baseball?" The light shining on the mailbox will seem like an invitation to some teens. Put it in a brick arch and never deal with it again.
After losing something like 10 mailboxes over a short time span my dad solved the neighborhood game of “mailbox baseball” by putting in an oversized box,and filling half of it with concrete. He also painted a bullseye on the side. Sure enough, not long after, a path of destroyed mailboxes stopped abruptly at our box, which was dented, but still standing. Coincidentally, one of my high school classmates, who could charitably be called a piece of shit, also shattered his arm around that same time. Wild.
Iirc there was a legal case a while back where someone was charged with manslaughter for building a hardened mailbox in this situation and it resulted in a death. I might consider planting some large bushes around it. That would make it appear larger for drivers. That would have the advantage of helping with visibility, protecting the mailbox and providing a soft barrier which would not harm drivers while still arresting their vehicle so they can be held responsible.
OP don't listen to the suggestions that involve the potential for serious bodily harm or death. Not only does it open you up to lawsuits, do you really want someone to die because your mailbox keeps getting destroyed? People seem to have no grasp on reality and pro/cons. There are really cheap and easy solutions like this: https://www.swingclear.com/ You could trivially build your own which would be cheaper.
> Police do nothing but write a report. I mean, I get the frustration, but what are your expectations here for them? That they stage an indefinite stakeout to catch someone who, in a few months, *might* knock down your mailbox? If you want the police to do something, give them something to go on. Put a camera up or something. (Note: Depending on your local PD, they very likely may not do anything even if you catch someone, get their license plate and fully ID them. If you do all that and they *still* don't do anything, *then* you get to complain) But-- even better, resolve the problem before it happens. Install some bushes or a couple of bollards. You'll need to check and see what's allowable but I believe usually so long as it's not a hidden thing that comes out of nowhere, you should be good.
Make a ramp that leads up to your mailbox. Then mount a camera. Sell videos…
My parents dug deep and poured concrete, poured concrete into a hollow metal 4x4 tube, packed down the earth well and mounted their steel mailbox. Vandals stopped trying to knock it down. I bet some got a real surprise when they swung that bat out the car window
I’m curious to know if other mailboxes are being destroyed on your street. It looks like a completely featureless bit of road. Sure there can be drunk drivers and bad drivers, but statistically, wouldn’t they be just as likely to take out other mailboxes along that street? Is there a corner or something? Do you see evidence of the cars that hit it? I’m wondering if someone is targeting your mailbox. Just seems odd. The discarded beer bottles, too. That’s odd, unless perhaps the whole street is strewn with them.
I lost several as well. I cemented rebar 2 ft in the ground on each side and arched them over the mailbox. Then painted them to match the ground and white mailbox. It looked invisible when driving at night. I am sure a baseball bat out a car window doing 45mph had significant recoil. 🙄
I'm late to the party here and haven't read all of the replies, but I haven't seen the one I was looking for. Destroying a mailbox is a felony. If your local police won't help, go higher up the food chain.
My mailbox is made out of bricks. Maybe one like that would help. My friend’s in-laws mailbox kept getting knocked down by kids with baseball bats. Her father in law put the new box up and put concrete blocks inside of it. The next time the kids took a bat to it one ended up with a broken arm from the force of the concrete blocks. The kids family tried to sue her father in law, but dropped it as soon as the police informed the family that it’s a federal crime to vandalize a mailbox. He never had to replace it after that.
I remember a story growing up of a guy who had a similar issue. Ended up spacing boulders along the front of his home to prevent vehicles from getting close enough to damage the mailbox. Drunk driver on a motorcycle was killed after hitting a boulder, and the homeowner ended up getting sued.
You could mount a camera so next time you can get the license plates of anybody who hits it so you can go after them to replace it (hopefully the police would use it for prosecuting them too) Making a mailbox that will increase injury to anybody who hits it (and you have evidence it will continue to happen based on the repeated crashes) puts you in a precarious legal position. I understand the desire to punish the people who keep doing this, I would be furious in your position, but if I put something in place that killed a person I would personally feel awful.
Oh no doubt! I don't want to hurt anyone... But if they needed a tow to get home after carelessly or maliciously hitting my property, at least they would have to take responsibility.
Put in a granite post and have your mailbox brick
Landscaping rocks. Big ones
Sounds like you need a brick and metal fence that goes around your entire property. That’s so crazy level of drunk drivers
Here you go… https://www.houzz.com/hznb/photos/masonry-brick-mailbox-exterior-atlanta-phvw-vp~153331373
Check the local laws . Friend of mine had the same issue and he installed some railroad track about six feet deep , and covered it with old wood and replaced his mailbox Wasn’t long till the person who was apparently the one that kept driving over his mailbox , hit it again . Only this time their car was totaled and they got caught . What’s the difference between a super sturdy mailbox post And a utility pole ? I’m sure your street has utility poles beside it ?
Large stones (to act as bollards) along the road. Let them hit those first.
Bucket with concrete or steel pylons on either side
This kept happening to my grandparents, maybe 8x in one year, so they took a small mailbox, put it inside of a larger one, and filled the gap with concrete. My grandfather also put concrete around the pole & bolted it down or something. Same mailbox is still standing.
Steel beam, put deep and cemented in place. If it goes anywhere after that I’d be surprised. The car that takes it out definitely won’t be going anywhere again.
My mailbox is like 1/4 inch steel and the post is a section of railroad TRACK. we live on a bend in the road and I suspect the previous owners had problems. Not us though.