Wounded warriors

geo in mi · #1 01/31/14, 01:50 PM

Just got back from a late breakfast/Menards shopping trip. About 40 miles round trip, in, by way of a major county road, back home by state highway.

Some are staggering backwards, some have taken silly slaps to the left jaw, some are missing body parts, some have body parts lying on the snowbanks, some have been bunjie-corded back together, some--completely thrashed and trashed.

How's your mailbox holding up?

Surprisingly enough, those plastic, pedestal types you get in the big box stores looked like they are taking the hits and keeping upright and all together...

geo

KnowOneSpecial · #2 01/31/14, 01:54 PM

Mine's doing great.....especially since the new neighbor didn't want to socialize when he first moved in and put his right before mine AND his is sticking out 6 inches more than mine is! Too bad he had to get one of those really expensive plastic boxes. They sure do look nice all swathed in duct tape!

So far the score is: Ball bats 1, Snow plow 6.

My box is the same battered one that we've had up for 5 years. Thanks to his box it's going to make it through another winter!

ET1 SS · #3 02/01/14, 07:40 AM

About half the mailboxes in this area hang from sets of chains. There will be a 40-foot sapling cut down, and setup at a diagonal angle in the ditch, the mailbox can be suspended from it.

My mailbox is mounted on a 4X4 set 10 foot from the edge of the pavement. I am responsible for clearing a path to it for the mail-carrier. But no big deal, after I plow my 100-yard driveway. I also widen the shoulder to make ready access to the mailbox.

It has been hit a few times by ball bats.

Cornhusker · #4 02/01/14, 01:00 PM

Put up a dummy mailbox on either side and fill em with concrete.
They'll know their bat hit something then

Raymond James · #5 02/01/14, 03:31 PM

No problems with bats yet. I set it back from the plows and clear a shoulder so the mailman can pull up to it. It had 1/4 inch ice on it this morning that I cleared off. No mail today as the roads all have that same 14 inch of ice.

Mine is a 4x4 post set in an old milk can. It has been pushed over/ knocked back a couple times when I first moved here but I finally figured it out. I move it away from the end of the drive way. as folks were pulling in to turn around then backing up and hitting it.

So I moved it so it is not at the end of the drive now no problems. I also put in a small circle drive that you can pull in and turn around without having to back out onto the road. It is a lot safer that way .

I notice a lot of boxes lined up with the end of the drive but on the other side of the road. All end up in the way especially if you have a trailer. If yours is set up this way move the post 5 to 6 feet left or right of the drive to get it out of the way.

CurtisWilliams · #6 02/01/14, 09:19 PM

If someone bats my mail box, the only damage would be to the bat. Picture a 2' x 2' brick chimney four feet high and with a six inch thick slab of stone on top. The metal mailbox is cemented into the front of it, and the door sits flush with the brick. It would take a moving vehicle or explosives to damage it.

The previous owner of my house won it in a radio contest.

Awnry Abe · #7 02/01/14, 09:57 PM

Mind is kind if resting on its post, hanging on by a thread. You have to open it verrry carefully, or it will plop over. It kind if reminds me of a loose tooth I had when I was about 10.

7thswan · #8 02/02/14, 06:00 AM

I don't know, our is covered in snow, we haven't gotten mail , well ,I'm not sure how long. We have drifts so high, the plows don't really keep up.

geo in mi · #9 02/02/14, 06:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Awnry Abe

Mind is kind if resting on its post,hanging on by a thread. You have to open it verrry carefully, or it will plop over. It kind if reminds me of a loose tooth I had when I was about 10.

This been almost a record year for snowfall here, so on my road trip the other day, they were either peeking out of the snow bank made by the plows, or whacked by the plow itself or the force of the flying snow. I'm wondering how many people have to go to the post office to pick up their mail. There isn't any room left to put it, and more is on the way later in the week.

geo

dizzy · #10 02/02/14, 06:21 AM

That's one good thing about living on a dead end street, don't have the kids coming thru w/the bats. The only damage our has suffered in the +25 years that we've lived here is when they paved the road. They widen it a bit, and managed to break the 4x4 it was on. They replaced the post, and put the same mailbox back up.

Rustaholic · #11 02/02/14, 06:34 AM

Mine is setting back from the road and the front of the box is almost flush with the post. You must hit the post to hit the box. The post? That is part of a utility pole buried six feet in the ground.
Several years ago all of the boxes were hit with something that exploded inside them. Mine was the only one on the road that was not bulged way out with a door gone or hanging by one hinge.
Mine is from the late 40s and it is real steel.
I even have an extra one of those beastly ones.
I opened my box and there were just remnants of paper and some black dust on one wall.

Truckinguy · #12 02/02/14, 09:56 AM

Mine is on a 4x4 in a five gallon pail full of sand and doing fine. First snow fall it got knocked over by the wall of snow from the plow but I set it back up in the snow bank and it is now fully encased in the berm that the plow has left after a few snow falls. I cut the snow back to the box with my snow blower so the mail guy can access the box but it's not going anywhere until the snow bank melts in the spring.

One thing that helps the plow guy is to dress it all up nice with reflective tape. It got hit by the plow a couple of times in the past years but not since I made it more visible.