Another mailbox GONE

[debster812]

In the grand scheme of things, it's not the end of the world, but for the 2nd time this winter, and the 3rd year in a row, a snow plow has absolutely SHATTERED our mailbox. We are technically a 'rural route', so we have a mailbox, on a post, at the end of our driveway, right on the road.

Now, there is no way that we can sink a new post, what with the 6-7' snowbank, so I'll be off the Post Office on Thursday to stop our mail delivery, and we'll have to pick it up until the Spring Thaw.

I think it's time we petition the postmaster to see if we can move the mailbox. When we 1st bought the house, it was about 100 feet from the top of the drive, on a small island. The postmaster asked us to move it to it's current location, but in addition to the 3 snow plows, it's been hit by a bus, a handicap van shuttle driver, and 2 morning commuters.

 

[manning]

Yep, definitely the problem. Having the mailbox on the road. Put the next one along side the road.

 

[AKL_Megs]

Can you cement one into a Homer bucket from Home Depot until the ground thaws?

 

[golfgal]

I think someone here posted about a "spring loaded" mail box where the post will move with whatever is forcing it over but not break. There was another one where the pole of the box telescoped to get out of the way of snowpiles too.

Driving along rural roads here you often see a steal barrier placed about a foot before a mailbox to help prevent this from happening. It is basically a road sign (blank) before the mail box.

Something like this:

 

[debster812]

Can you cement one into a Homer bucket from Home Depot until the ground thaws?

It's not a matter of the ground thawing. It's a matter of FINDING the ground. Where the mailbox has to be is literally under a 6'-7' snowbank.

 

[a1tinkfans]

there is actually a zoning law by us. A mailbox post cannot be at the street, it is placed further in, on the property, but can still be reached by the postal delivery truck.
We still see shattered mailboxes here. The snow plows are driving so fast (to avoid all the complaints of uncleared streets ) and they are throwing the heavy snow and the ice and all, so much farther than usual. And they also hit the mailboxes with the plows, if they are too close to the street.
I actually still have my little white twinkling Xmas lights on mine (its a swag that is battery operated with a timer, I LOVE it, Qvc sells them) anyhoo, it goes on each dusk and is on for 8 hours then goes off. I think the plow guys see the lights ...the snow is Crazy this year...I am so ready for spring

Well, so far my luck is holding, my neighbors, not so much.....
Sorry to hear about your repeated difficulties!

 

[*JoGo*]

we have replaced so. many. mailboxes, it's ridiculous!
we live inside city limits, posted speed limit is 25mph...

but the problem is my NEIGHBORS!!!

i have a picture somewhere of my neighbor's cars sitting in the driveway across the street. BOTH cars are missing the passenger-side rear fender. Why? B/c they kept running OVER my box!! Not a tap, I'm talking in pieces on the ground. not only was that infuriating, but in order to hit my box, they were pulling out of their drive and going down our road towards the DEAD END. WHY were they in such a hurry to get to the DEAD END??

and most recently, someone leaving my neighbor's house right next to us took out our box. we thought it was the plow, until i went to try and straighten it up and right there in the snow were the tire tracks leading out of their drive and into my box, ending just under my box. the only people that visit them is their daughter. my box isn't THAT close to their drive. the irony is that our boxes used to share a post, but they moved their box after replacing 3 in 3 years... now THEY have hit ours twice. (there was 1 time the lady hit it and told me about it, she damaged her car mirror but not my box).

none of these neighbors have apologized! or replaced our box!

dh bought a new box. i refuse to put it up until the spring. and i'm moving it back more from the road, against the sidewalk step. so if they hit my box, they will damage their car on the cement step.

sorry to hijack!!

 

[robinb]

Look on the bright side. At least your road is being plowed which is more than I can say for my street right now .

Can you put one of those orange posts with a reflector on top in front of your mail box so the plow driver can see it before s/he hits your mailbox?

 

[debster812]

Look on the bright side. At least your road is being plowed which is more than I can say for my street right now .

Can you put one of those orange posts with a reflector on top in front of your mail box so the plow driver can see it before s/he hits your mailbox?

Yes, we are plowed out. Silver lining and all.....

DH has put reflective tape on the box before, and thinks it just gave people something to aim for. As it was right now, because of how our street is, and how it was plowed, you could literally not see the post, or the mailbox, just the door. Like the mailbox was encased in a wall, just that this wall was snow. I actually give the DPW a pass on this one, because there was no way for them to see it, I'm sure they thought they were just moving the snowbank a little further back.

 

[jedijohn]

Take the city to small claims court for replacement costs and for any gas you would not have normally used to pickup your mail from the post office. It is their plow that busted your mailbox, they should be held liable.

P.S. Make the new post an I-Beam cemented into the ground as far as you can...next winter the plow will actually know it hit something.

 

[Disney Doll]

Ours has gone down a couple of times this year, which has never happened before.

Right now it is being held up by the snowbank.

 

[j's m]

We've had this problem, too, on our rural route. After several cheap mailboxes we went with a heavy duty one with a 4 x 4 post. We also moved it from the end of the driveway to about 15 feet away, right next to a really large telephone pole. If they hit the mailbox, they hit the pole. So far we've been lucky.

 

[onyx8]

I drove past a house who lost their mailbox to a plow, they had shoveled out a little ledge in the snowbank and placed a bucket on top. They wrote "MAIL" on the bucket in black marker.

 

[golfgal]

Our city has a provision that if a plow damages your mailbox, they will replace it. That doesn't help you if your neighbors keep hitting your box but it might help you with this latest one. There are a few mail boxes stuck in buckets on top of snow banks around our town right now too.

 

[loveadobie]

We finally got fed up with losing mailboxes from either a snowplow, or vandalism. We got a P.O. Box.

 

[MnMomtoboys]

Yes, we are plowed out. Silver lining and all.....

DH has put reflective tape on the box before, and thinks it just gave people something to aim for. As it was right now, because of how our street is, and how it was plowed, you could literally not see the post, or the mailbox, just the door. Like the mailbox was encased in a wall, just that this wall was snow. I actually give the DPW a pass on this one, because there was no way for them to see it, I'm sure they thought they were just moving the snowbank a little further back.

You should be a good neighbor and paint a bullseye on the next one.

 

[java]

Ours is gone for the second time again. It'll show up in Spring.

Got a new cheap one so that if it goes missing I won't care. Added reflector stickers. Let's see how long that lasts. Right now it's all frozen to the earth anyway. I don't think anything is going anyplace.

 

[LisaNJ25]

You should be a good neighbor and paint a bullseye on the next one.

I am so glad my mail box is attached to my house

 

[corie161]

Most cities have some provision that says if the plow hits the box then they will replace, but most of the time it's the weighed of the snow that causes damage and that is not covered.

 

[2girlsmom]

ours was hit twice (once by a plow and once by the neighbor's 20's kid) in the first year. Then we sank a 6' steel pole in the ground about 2 feet, filled the pole with concrete, and put the mailbox (rubbermaid) on the top. Neighbor's kid hit again within 6 months, no damage to my box/pole, but a fair amount of damage to his car. Guess what, he slowed down and hasn't hit my pole again.