Mailbox batting practice.

Started by Hoofer, December 02, 2015, 01:14:48 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

Hoofer

Why do people damage mailboxes?  It happens to us, usually in the fall, around the beginning of deer hunting.

Our mailbox has been:

a.  smashed in - looks like a base ball bat - several times - hammered it back out.
b.  run over - we glued and screwed the post back together, hammered out the metal box.
c.  stolen.. box, post, nary a tooth pick left.  The police was shining a flashlight down the 4x4 hole, "I've never seen this before, they just yanked the whole post right outta da ground and took off with it!"

Post office gave us 30 days to replace it, or they'd start returning mail.
Police said put up a "game camera" and maybe get a picture of the culprit.   (yeah, they'd steal the camera).

Post office said... (wouldn't put it writing...), you might want to just "brick it in".  I see those around, and some other interesting solutions, welded chains, telephone poles, old plows - and those ugly plastic things (mostly in the city).

Last Friday, we put up a 3x6 by 1/4" thick tube for a post, welded a 3x3 by 1/4" thick horizontal and then welded a pipe to the box, and stuck it into the tube...  cement the post... it does not budge.  The new mailbox is called an "Ironsides", a little heavier gauge steel... and for good measure, we put up an IP camera, aimed at the mailbox.   doubt we'll ever catch the thief, but who knows.  All I want is my mail, what a pain to get it.
All animals are created equal; Some just take longer to cook.   Survival is keeping an eye on those around you...

Solar

Quote from: Hoofer on December 02, 2015, 01:14:48 AM
Why do people damage mailboxes?  It happens to us, usually in the fall, around the beginning of deer hunting.

Our mailbox has been:

a.  smashed in - looks like a base ball bat - several times - hammered it back out.
b.  run over - we glued and screwed the post back together, hammered out the metal box.
c.  stolen.. box, post, nary a tooth pick left.  The police was shining a flashlight down the 4x4 hole, "I've never seen this before, they just yanked the whole post right outta da ground and took off with it!"

Post office gave us 30 days to replace it, or they'd start returning mail.
Police said put up a "game camera" and maybe get a picture of the culprit.   (yeah, they'd steal the camera).

Post office said... (wouldn't put it writing...), you might want to just "brick it in".  I see those around, and some other interesting solutions, welded chains, telephone poles, old plows - and those ugly plastic things (mostly in the city).

Last Friday, we put up a 3x6 by 1/4" thick tube for a post, welded a 3x3 by 1/4" thick horizontal and then welded a pipe to the box, and stuck it into the tube...  cement the post... it does not budge.  The new mailbox is called an "Ironsides", a little heavier gauge steel... and for good measure, we put up an IP camera, aimed at the mailbox.   doubt we'll ever catch the thief, but who knows.  All I want is my mail, what a pain to get it.
Yeah, teenage initiation.
I had mine hit once in the last 30 years, but a neighbor down the road on the corner was a target, so he did what you did.
Except that he just bought a bigger mail box, inserted an 8" steel pipe the length of the box and filled the remaining area of the mail box with cement, leaving the pipe hollow and welded it all to an 8" steel pipe.

Evidence shows that they still hit it with varying objects, but money has it, they only do it once. :lol:
Official Trump Cult Member

#WWG1WGA

Q PATRIOT!!!

Dori

What a pain.  I've had mine forever.  The poor thing is rusted and ugly.

I need a new one, but never get around to it.   
The danger to America is not Barack Obama but the citizens capable of entrusting a man like him with the Presidency.

Hoofer

Quote from: Solar on December 02, 2015, 07:24:34 AM
Yeah, teenage initiation.
I had mine hit once in the last 30 years, but a neighbor down the road on the corner was a target, so he did what you did.
Except that he just bought a bigger mail box, inserted an 8" steel pipe the length of the box and filled the remaining area of the mail box with cement, leaving the pipe hollow and welded it all to an 8" steel pipe.

Evidence shows that they still hit it with varying objects, but money has it, they only do it once. :lol:

Back in the '70s, while working at a YMCA camp for the winter, we had a similar solution.  The culprits would drop the snow plows and completely demolish everything - of course the ground in Michigan is like 3' of frost.

The old fart I was working with, made a box-post, about 6x8", maybe 6-7' long.  The top of the post was another framed in box that held a large mailbox, inside was a little green plastic mailbox (the kind for a newspaper).  All the void was filled with rebar and concrete, which was left to set up hard in the shop before it got moved to the hole, softened up with charcoal.   Must have weighted 350-400lbs, and had a nice hand-crafted wood appearance, until you opened it and saw all that concrete.  Cemented it in place, 3-4' of it in the ground.

It didn't even have enough time for the cement to set, some knucklehead hit it that first night.  From the half-snowed in tire marks, it looked like they hit it twice, and then someone had to tow them away.... chain marks in the snowbanks, like a logging chain.  Most of the wood was still intact, the tire marks lead right off the road, a freshly plowed path ended... right about THERE, at the post.   We were informed it had to be removed when the ground thawed.  And we did.... plus a few metal parts that were buried in the snow all winter - looked like part of an engine mount, rubber boot from maybe a hub, and the gravel had a nice oily sheen whenever it rained.

We speculated, wondered... did the idiot hit that thing that hard to break the engine mount & rupture the oil pan?
The guy had to plow snow on the shoulder & go out-of-his way to hit it...  maybe that cheap pine look was just too tempting....?
Once they went back to regular mailboxes, the problem returned, one after another, smashed, run over, etc.

To me, the bottom line is, "I want my mail", but really don't want anyone to get hurt, no matter how stupid they are.

Our new metal post is set 4' or so further back off the roadway than before.  To hit it, they'd have to cross a small ditch and start up the other side.
All animals are created equal; Some just take longer to cook.   Survival is keeping an eye on those around you...

Solar

Quote from: Hoofer on December 02, 2015, 07:27:55 PM
Back in the '70s, while working at a YMCA camp for the winter, we had a similar solution.  The culprits would drop the snow plows and completely demolish everything - of course the ground in Michigan is like 3' of frost.

The old fart I was working with, made a box-post, about 6x8", maybe 6-7' long.  The top of the post was another framed in box that held a large mailbox, inside was a little green plastic mailbox (the kind for a newspaper).  All the void was filled with rebar and concrete, which was left to set up hard in the shop before it got moved to the hole, softened up with charcoal.   Must have weighted 350-400lbs, and had a nice hand-crafted wood appearance, until you opened it and saw all that concrete.  Cemented it in place, 3-4' of it in the ground.

It didn't even have enough time for the cement to set, some knucklehead hit it that first night.  From the half-snowed in tire marks, it looked like they hit it twice, and then someone had to tow them away.... chain marks in the snowbanks, like a logging chain.  Most of the wood was still intact, the tire marks lead right off the road, a freshly plowed path ended... right about THERE, at the post.   We were informed it had to be removed when the ground thawed.  And we did.... plus a few metal parts that were buried in the snow all winter - looked like part of an engine mount, rubber boot from maybe a hub, and the gravel had a nice oily sheen whenever it rained.

We speculated, wondered... did the idiot hit that thing that hard to break the engine mount & rupture the oil pan?
The guy had to plow snow on the shoulder & go out-of-his way to hit it...  maybe that cheap pine look was just too tempting....?
Once they went back to regular mailboxes, the problem returned, one after another, smashed, run over, etc.

To me, the bottom line is, "I want my mail", but really don't want anyone to get hurt, no matter how stupid they are.

Our new metal post is set 4' or so further back off the roadway than before.  To hit it, they'd have to cross a small ditch and start up the other side.
:lol: :lol: :lol:
Official Trump Cult Member

#WWG1WGA

Q PATRIOT!!!

kit saginaw

Mailboxes are Federal-property...  US Code 18, sub-section 1705:

Whoever willfully or maliciously injures, tears down or destroys any letter box or other receptacle intended or used for the receipt or delivery of mail on any mail route, or breaks open the same or willfully or maliciously injures, defaces or destroys any mail deposited therein, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.

You can be like me, and claim mail was stolen too... which brings-in sub-section 1708, and a five-year fine/prison-sentence.

The DA'll probably hit 'em both both violations anyway.  Don't mention the value being under a grand.  Claim it's over...  otherwise they throw sub-section 1707 into it instead.  That deals with stuff like ads and postcards.

Just visit your post-office, plus police are obligated to report these crimes to the postmaster. 






Hoofer

Quote from: kit saginaw on December 08, 2015, 08:59:54 AM
Mailboxes are Federal-property...  US Code 18, sub-section 1705:

Whoever willfully or maliciously injures, tears down or destroys any letter box or other receptacle intended or used for the receipt or delivery of mail on any mail route, or breaks open the same or willfully or maliciously injures, defaces or destroys any mail deposited therein, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.

You can be like me, and claim mail was stolen too... which brings-in sub-section 1708, and a five-year fine/prison-sentence.

The DA'll probably hit 'em both both violations anyway.  Don't mention the value being under a grand.  Claim it's over...  otherwise they throw sub-section 1707 into it instead.  That deals with stuff like ads and postcards.

Just visit your post-office, plus police are obligated to report these crimes to the postmaster.

THANKS!!!
That's the information I needed, now to pass the word around to the neighbors, jail time for the next SOB that messes with it - I just won't mention all the IP cameras, recording them, until they do it again.
All animals are created equal; Some just take longer to cook.   Survival is keeping an eye on those around you...

ZQuickSilverZ

Quote from: Hoofer on December 02, 2015, 01:14:48 AMPolice said put up a "game camera" and maybe get a picture of the culprit.   (yeah, they'd steal the camera).

Good!

Then you will have a nice close up to send them to jail with.

Later you can sue them for the cost of the camera and installation cost (not to mention the cost of repairing/replacing the mailbox).

Hoofer

My son called up the neighborhood gossip (a man), and offered to plow out his driveway with the tractor this morning.
He asked, "what kind of WOOD do you use for your mailbox?"   He replied, "not wood, steel".

I told my kid, 'do not tell anyone we have cameras on that mailbox'...  I think it might be "tested" soon.
All animals are created equal; Some just take longer to cook.   Survival is keeping an eye on those around you...

TXborn

Teenage thugs in my area always played mailbox baseball on Spring Break 'n at end of year but I broke them of that habit when instead of a brick, used large rural box containing inner smaller box, filling void w/reinforcing 'n 3000 psi concrete, then mounted it atop steel post sunk into ground to depth of 6-feet (USPS said illegal for me to concrete base into earth). To shorten story, after informing local yokel sheriff dept what did, thugs ended up in jail when one mailbox player broke his clavicle (collar bone) 'n went to hospital emergency room seeking help. He snitched off on his buds 'n eventually all culprits were apprehended 'n charged, then forced parents to pay damages etc ------ hasn't been another instance of mailbox baseball in county since..!!
Loyalty above all else except Honor

kit saginaw

Bravo, TX.  :thumbsup: 

I had to stop 2 little-girls from 'raiding' mailboxes in my immediate neighborhood not too long ago...  They said they were pretending to be mail-carriers, delivering the mail.  They were probably about 7-years-old.  I took my mail from the stack they collected and told them to take the stack back to their Mom-or-Dad to sort it out and re-deliver it...  or everybody, including me, might go to jail.  They returned it all.   

Hoofer

Finally!   I got a camera recording software running stable.  Using Ispy (it's free). After 4-5 misfires, it's been working good, motion detection, only recording in a timed window.  El-cheapo cameras are running good, still got a couple more to put up, one right at the mailbox, 2 on the roadway.

After that, I'll add cameras over the pastures & bird houses to watch for predators, always good to know what I'm up against, coons, possums, bobcats, coyotes...
All animals are created equal; Some just take longer to cook.   Survival is keeping an eye on those around you...