OT: Mailbox Vandalism?

[marmot]

I know that a lot of people on this forum live in rural/semi-rural areas. I grew up in an area that became suburbia. I now live in a semi-rural area, and one problem that I am repeatedly experiencing is mailbox vandalism (which seems to be a favorite past time with semi-rural/rural teenagers with wheels and beer). I am losing at least one mailbox per year, and it is starting to really irk me. In fact, I cannot sleep tonight because the punks took out my mailbox at 2:00 a.m. I have heard that sound so many times now that I know what happened before I open my front door.

With that said, while I know that there is no such thing as a vandal-proof mailbox, I want the attempted destruction of my mailbox to cause damage to the person doing the deed. I want them to walk/drive away in severe pain. I am looking for ideas of how to build an innocent looking mailbox that when swung at with a baseball bat or 2x4 (what they used tonight) results in severe hand and forearm shock. While some will see this as a challenge, my goal is to make it not worth it to the lesser vandals.

[Farmer]

I have had the same trouble as have some of my neighbors. In the end I built several a steel models. Mine was built with 3/16 steel plate . I looks like a nice peaked roof barn. The other was made from a piece of 8" square tube. Since I have made these units no one has come to play ( 3 plus years )

Liability is the big issue anymore . If a car hits the mailbox and they get injured ,----- who knows what could happen .

[gerald]

I feel your pain. The game is called mailbox baseball. I was losing mailboxes the same way until I made my own and it is "Gameproof"
First I got a piece of 11 inch diameter pipe 18 inches long with 3/8" wall thickness and welded a piece of 3/8" plate on the end. Next I cut and fit a piece of 8" steel pipe to the bottom of the 18 inch piece and welded them together. I dug a hole 4 feet deep into the ground and stood a cedar post into it then forced the 8 " pipe part of the mailbox over the top. To avoid the possibility of the "Gamers" becoming pissed and cutting my post off, I drove 12 inch spikes into the post all the way around at different heights I fastened a piece of 1/4" flat plate with a nut and bolt to make a swinging door on the front, painted the whole thing mailbox grey and added a little red flag to make it look store bought.
I was in the house one evening shortly after I installed it (the house is about 100 feet from the road), and I heard them hit it. There was a loud "Boink" which leads me to believe they were using an aluminium bat. Next day I look at the box in daylight and see that they hit my little red flag but no damage to the mailbox. I would imagine the "little angel" sprained his wrist or may have broken it depending how fast the vehicle was going. It has been hit a few times since but has suffered no damage in 18 years.
PS the reason I didn't use a steel post and cement it into the ground was because the Roads Superintendent asked me not to. He said if the snow plow ever hit it , it would severely damage the plow harness.
Good luck

[kitty kat]

You are right Farmer the heavy steel mailboxes really work. I have also built quite a few out of 10 gauge steel ,I kept the size of a larger mailbox. suspended from a 2 1/2" square tubing by 4 links of 3/8" chain. I found that this worked very good for vandals and snow plows. There is enough swing in the chain links that if it gets hit ,it swings out of the way lessening the force. The heavy boxes seem like overkill but once they are in place they will last for years. Good luck.

[Golden Eagle]

The same thing happens to me every year. I live in a rural area but there are 3 trailer parks on my road and therefore lots of young drivers with mischevious deeds to do. My neighbor made a mailbox out of 8 inch well casing on a 6 inch pole. Welded a plate on the back and a flip down door on the front. Indestructable by their normal tool which is a baseball bat.

[BigBird-VA]

Yep makes you want one made out of cast iron. I would be pissed too. Things like that bother a lot of us.

[hatchet jack]

seems like this happens everwhere ,,,,a few years ago a farmer here in kansas was having the same problem some one in a old truck was running over mail boxes,,, he used a piece of 6 in pipe cemented it in the ground , they came back about 4 month later hit it tore up the truck hurt a couple kids,,,,guess what the kids parents sued him & collested,,,,,,,,,that is a federal offense to mess with mail boxes here,anyway the kids just got a small fine, i dont think he had any more problems.,,,,,,,,put up a couple trail cameras.

h.j.

[raydaughety]

Dang Gerald, maybe you could build one a little larger for the local bomb squad. Would give em a place to detonate their ordinance. . Sorry guys I had to

[chris4570]

Make a dummy mailbox. Make it out of whatever you want, or use an old one. Fill it with cement. Paint a target on it.

[John Wade]

Understand the sentiments. Probably should take a deep breath or two and try and get your head away from the intent on doing them harm though. They're an annoyance for sure but compared to the crap you could get into for taking care of your things, they're a a small annoyance. Better to have your mail delayed then have it delivered it to you in the county jail.

[frisky]

My boss had the same problem. He took a large,large mail box and put inside of it a smaller one. Then he filled the void with cement. He said it worked for him!!

[marmot]

Understand the sentiments. Probably should take a deep breath or two and try and get your head away from the intent on doing them harm though. They're an annoyance for sure but compared to the crap you could get into for taking care of your things, they're a a small annoyance. Better to have your mail delayed then have it delivered it to you in the county jail.

I am not going to do anything illegal. I am just looking for an alternative to doing what my brother-in-law did twenty years ago. He cemented a paper box inside of a large rural box. The box itself was a vandal-proof hand shock producer, but the door and flag did not survive the abuse.

[Horizontal Hunter]

I also had the same problem. I had a welding department where I worked and they made me a mail box out of 3/8" plate steel which I put on a pipe that went into a 18" sonatube that went down 4'. That was 8-10 years ago. I no longer live there but the mailbox is still standing. To my knowledge the mail box was hit one more time. No damage to the box, to the batter who knows but I am sure he felt it.

You could probably get the kids at the local Votech school to make one up for you for the cost of the materials and the kids would be happy for the project.

Bob

[marmot]

I decided to replace the mailbox and make a quasi-rampart using a six-foot long pressure treated 4x4. The 4x4 is sunk eighteen inches into the ground about a foot before and about even with the front of the mailbox. The top of the 4x4 is about 6" higher than the top of the mailbox.

I cannot take credit for this setup. I drove around my area, and saw what worked and what did not. The people who used this simple protection technique had unmolested mailboxes. The 4x4 prevents them from being able to swing at the mailbox from inside of a moving car. I guess that the vandals are only interested in doing “drive bys.”

One last thing: the 4x4 is having a desirable side effect of slowing down the speeders on my road. I live at the top of a hill, and many people drive down the road so fast that they become airborne. I have lost two mailboxes to speeders. I guess that that 4x4 looks a lot more intimidating than a mailbox.

[BUSHDOG]

i had the same problem built a new one 3/8 plate heard a crack about 1:00am a couple of weeks later went out and there were 4 guys in a pick up holding onto buddies arm i laughed my ass off well a week later they where back i was leaning on my front fence with my AR15 and my shepard beside me havnt seen them since that was a year ago