#neverliberal #nevermarxist
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.
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.
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.
Police said put up a "game camera" and maybe get a picture of the culprit. (yeah, they'd steal the camera).
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Topic: Mailbox batting practice. (Read 8905 times)
