posted
They are at it again. Every so often some punk(s)come through and bash everybody's mailbox down our road. The last time they got ours they hit it with a dead rabbit... A DEAD RABBIT.
They got my neighbor's a couple nights ago. He had me letter "git" on the back of it(His little girl says "git" all the time). Now it's caved in on top. I just lettered our new one with "millstone farm" and designed a picture of a (what else) millstone on it. It hasn't been touched yet.
My neighbor is going to weld a big solid steel pipe inside his next box and that oughta rattle their eye teeth next time they whack it.
I thought about rigging up my son's motion detector activated game camera close to ours and maybe at least get their tag number or identify whoever it is.
Any creative ideas?
[ July 15, 2004, 05:33 PM: Message edited by: Wayne Webb ]
-------------------- Wayne Webb Webb Signworks Chipley, FL 850.638.9329 wayne@webbsignworks.com Posts: 7404 | From: Chipley,Florida,United States | Registered: Oct 1999
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posted
I hear ya Wayne...We have the same idiots up here too!
I have lettered several "innovative" anti-basher mailboxes in the last while. Some are heavy duty stainless steel, some are welded steel plate. But the BEST one I did was made from a chunk of 10" square steel tube with a wall thickness of about 3/16" one end was welded closed with a steel plate and the other end had another 1/8" steel plate with the top hinge welded to the main body.
That thing weighed a ton but I bet it'll break quite a few bats/arms before it gets damaged!!!!
-------------------- Dave Grundy retired in Chelem,Yucatan,Mexico/Hensall,Ontario,Canada 1-519-262-3651 Canada 011-52-1-999-102-2923 Mexico cell 1-226-785-8957 Canada/Mexico home
posted
Get an oversized mailbox. Put the mailbox on its end with the door in the air. Cut a piece of PVC (with a large enough diameter to comfortably put mail in) the length of the box. Fill around the PVC pipe with concrete. You'll have their fingerprints on the end of the arm that's laying beside your mailbox.
posted
Last summer I was sitting here at my computer, I can see outside through some sliding glass doors, I live on a country highway, the road is about 75' from me. All of a sudden I hear squealing tires and look up and see a late 80's Buick sliding sideways through the ditch on this side of the road, when he crosses my driveway he spins to the other side of the road and takes out my mailbox. My mailbox uses a 24.5" steel rim from a 18 wheeler for the base, a 4" diameter pipe going up with a flat plate on top for the two mailboxes to bolt on to. By the time I run out there the car is climbing out the ditch and hauling butt leaving most of his exhaust system in the ditch, several hubcaps and my mangled mailboxes. I got the last 3 numbers of his plate and called the sheriff but they never caught that sucker. Now I'm still using the same wheel rim for a base but have upgraded to a 6" pipe to support the boxes.
-------------------- Mark Perkins Performance Signs & Graphics Eunice, Louisiana "The heart of Cajun Country" Posts: 506 | From: Eunice Louisiana 70535 | Registered: Nov 1998
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hahaha Dave, That's what my neighbor says he's going to do. He's plans to slip the steel pipe inside the flimsy sheet metal mailbox, right under roof of the box....One good whack and SURPRISE!!
I've thought of a few other things to do but some are extremely dangerous and illegal.
-------------------- Wayne Webb Webb Signworks Chipley, FL 850.638.9329 wayne@webbsignworks.com Posts: 7404 | From: Chipley,Florida,United States | Registered: Oct 1999
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posted
A couple of my neighbors had their mail boxes trashed the other night.
One of my neighbors in Florida had his demolished. He worked for Gulf Power...brought his truck home...used the auger to sink an 8' hole and dropped a twelve foot, 10" pole in for his box. I moved shortly after that. I would hate to see the car after they tried to knock that down.
-------------------- Rove Gratz Gratz Signs 342 Walden Station Drive Macon, GA 31216 rovegratz@aol.com Home Page: http://rove-342.tripod.com Posts: 861 | From: Macon, GA 31216 | Registered: Jan 2004
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posted
We don't have mailboxes, just cluster boxes kinda like apartments have. It's like that in many housing developments around here. Sometimes I wish we had a regular mailbox so we didn't have to walk up the road to get mail.
-------------------- Amy Brown Life Skills 101 Private Address Posts: 3502 | From: Lake Helen, FL, USA | Registered: Feb 2001
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Ours wasn't trashed, just completely stolen one Sunday afternoon last year. It was an antique milk can I'd painted up for my wife before we were even engaged. I'd tek-screwed it, strapped & bolted it to the 12" post we used. We were inside and heard the dogs barking, and couldn't see anyone so ignored it. Ten minutes later-poof no mailbox. It really makes you feel down in the stomach. It had survived for 15 years before that.
-------------------- "Stewey" on chat
"...there are no limits when you aim for perfection..." Jonathan Livingston Seagull Posts: 7014 | From: Highgrove via Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia | Registered: Dec 2002
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posted
You know what really sucks about the whole thing? If you go ahead and make a mailbox like that, and someone gets hurt while trying to commit mailbox-murder... guess who's gonna end up getting sued... and most likely the injured guy is gonna win!!
I think coming up with something that when hit, produces some horrid rotten smell that clings to the culprit for quite some time would be fun!!
-------------------- Dana Ferry St Cloud, MN Posts: 1556 | From: St Cloud, MN | Registered: May 1999
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posted
Here is the remnants of our box a few months ago. This is custom painted with auto paints and clearcoated. I think it could be a good target.
here is our new box. Versa camm print wrapped over the top. A lot less time involved. I'm still going to be hot if they smash this one.
-------------------- Jerry VanHorn, Pres. Pure Sports Designs, LLC Pro Sign Design / United Wholesale Signs www.prosigndesign.comwww.unitedwholesalesigns.com West Liberty, OH 937-465-0595 866-942-3990 Since 1990 Posts: 925 | From: West :Liberty, OH | Registered: May 2004
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posted
A lot of mailboxes around here have stone, brick, concrete or stucco facades wrapped around the exteriors.
Hiding reinforcement inside the box could get you into trouble but if it's obvious the box is built tough from looking at it, they're pretty much taking the risk on that one.
I don't have any vandals going after my mailbox. I just have to deal with a cranky owl that's claimed it as his perch and I have to run down the street to retrieve the box post and all after summer storms wash away its footing.
-------------------- "If I share all my wisdom I won't have any left for myself."
Mike Pipes stickerpimp.com Lake Havasu, AZ mike@stickerpimp.com Posts: 8746 | From: Lake Havasu, AZ USA | Registered: Jun 2000
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posted
Jerry - awesome mailbox! But it's kind of like someone driving their Bently around in Harlem...and then parking it in front of the Crip's headquarters and getting out in a custom tailored suit flashing their bling-bling. In other words - - drawing attention to a real target.
I've discovered that the best defense is a rubbermaid mailbox system or a $5 mailbox mounted to a t-stake.
The Rubbermaid is dang-near indestructible...our road is rural and therefore very attractive to late night drive-bys. The rubbermaid has been whacked (occasssionally you see a few scuff marks) and even shot through with an arrow (didn't know there were apache's in the area) but they just can't bring 'er down.
The latter method (cheap plastic mailbox on a t-stake) is really ugly, but it lasted until we decided to go to the Rubbermaid system. That $5 mailbox is very hard to damage...it won't dent and when it gets hit, it just bounces all around because the t-stake has soooo much spring in it. This cheap box frustrated many attackers....they finally had to get out of their car and twist the flag off for a souvineer because they couldn't crush it. It was like trying to hit a pinata. Hehehe.
Although I know it's tempting, I definately wouldn't create a mailbox that was specifically made to cause damage to someone's body. At least in Michigan, there are legal issues involved with that intent...not to mention that a busted mailbox doesn't equate to a busted arm in my outlook on justice. But then, this has been hashed out in a similar post.
I have had some vandal, or drunk - hard to tell which - run my mailbox down....he left more car parts in my yard than what damage was incurred to my box...so I guess he got the raw end of that deal. There was headlight glass, blinker plastic, and miscellaneous bumper facia in the yard. This was a long time ago when my mailbox was metal and mounted on the typical 4X4 "L" brace rural post.
Go plastic and you'll never look back.
Edit: that $5 mailbox is a plastic one by-the-way.
posted
Tampering with mailboxes is a Federal offense, so don't get mad... get even.
A friend of mine lost four or five mailboxes from this crap. Finally he set up a motion detector flash camera about ten feet from the box, aimed so as to get a shot of the licence plate. It wasn't cheap, but the offenders were caught on film and arrested by the FBI.
He said it was great entertainment, watching three whining little bastards wet themselves when the prosecutor promised them fifteen years in Federal prison for tampering with the mails. They all pled guilty to lesser charges and fell all over themselves ratting each other out. The owner of the vehicle - he was all of seventeen - ended up admitting to bashing dozens of mailboxes, and got a ten-year suspended sentence.
Betcha he don't even LOOK at a mailbox no more....
-------------------- "A wise man concerns himself with the truth, not with what people believe." - Aristotle
Cam Bortz Finest Kind Signs Pondside Iron works 256 S. Broad St. Pawcatuck, Ct. 06379 "Award winning Signs since 1988" Posts: 3051 | From: Pawcatuck,Connecticut USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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BooHoo, some idiot with at best 2 brain cells decides to commit a federal offense, gets hurt in the prcoess, then sues. Gee, wouldn't that be confessing to a federal crime??? About as stupid as the idiot that got drunk at the bar here, picked a fight, got the snot kicked out of him then drove himself to the police station to press assault charges. Can you say DUI caught on film?
I for one am so fed up with the amount of people who are too lazy to work and spend their lives looking for a reason to sue someone so they don't have to work.
If ya use a piece of drilling rod pipe as the post, cement 4 feet of it in the ground, fill the post with cement, then put a little mailbox inside a big mailbox & fill the area in between with cement, it'll not only total a pickup but bumping it just once will make the snow plow drivers pay a lot more attention when they go by your place.
-------------------- Chris Welker Wildfire Signs Indiana, Pa Posts: 4254 | From: Indiana, PA | Registered: Mar 2001
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My buddy works at a steel mill. He made me a steel mailbox from 3/16" steel plating (looks exactly like a store bought one without the ribs). I hit it full swing with a 25lb sledge and it didnt even budge it:) ... mounted on a 4" pipe with a break away spindle base. I would LOVE to see them try to whack this one. I tried to no avail. 3 mail boxes in one week last summer ... this summer I WIN
-------------------- Ryan Ursta Ursta Graphics 116 B North Mercer Avenue Sharpsville Pa. 16150 Call: 724•962•2206 "We make YOU look good"
Known as "Ugraph" on mirc Posts: 558 | From: Sharpsville Pa. USA | Registered: Sep 2000
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posted
Anyone who suggests that building a mailbox designed to injure a "basher" is wrong...
falls into the same catagory as someone who stops at the side of the road to assist and give "mouth to mouth resuccetation (sp?) to a skunk that has been hit by a vehicle!!!!!
The buttwipes that think it's fun to destroy other people's property need to get their arms destroyed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-------------------- Dave Grundy retired in Chelem,Yucatan,Mexico/Hensall,Ontario,Canada 1-519-262-3651 Canada 011-52-1-999-102-2923 Mexico cell 1-226-785-8957 Canada/Mexico home
posted
i had a few mailboxes bashed, but the worst that ever happened was the kids put a dead snake coiled up ,so that when the box opened , it flung at you!! almost peed my pants! they put a dead rat in an old aunts mailbox a few doors down. they heard her scream a mile away. rotten kids!!!(not mine, thank goodness()
posted
Todd I, like the friends I had growing up (mostly male, I've always been a tomboy), were taught not to destroy someone else's property. My group had over 50 people at any point in time.
-------------------- Chris Welker Wildfire Signs Indiana, Pa Posts: 4254 | From: Indiana, PA | Registered: Mar 2001
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What's even weirder than bashed in mailboxes is shot up street signs out in the country.....where I grew up, there were rifle holes through just about every sign in the county....I never saw anyone do it but they were there. I always wondered why anybody would pepper holes through a sign when there were houses in the vacinity??? And this wasn't even in a redneck area...
-------------------- Todd Gill Outside The Lines Potterville, MI Posts: 7792 | From: Potterville, MI | Registered: Dec 2001
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I agree Kissy....most young people are taught not to do that, and many other things as well.
Yet kids still have sex in the back seats of their parents cars, drink, smoke, and do drugs, shoplift, sneak into movies, and a lot of other things that aren't right.
It's impossible to be perfect, even when you do know right from wrong, and for whatever reason...kids are going to do dumb things because they're prone to...out of immaturity, frustration, despair, mischieviousness or just feeling their oats.
Doesn't make it right of course. Sometimes a good kid goes through a stage where they get to hanging out with a bad one, and sink to their level for a time.
Teenagers make bad choices from time-to-time...it's a given. Now if a 30 year old was going around smashing mailboxes...I'd really start to be concerned about that person.
I'd have to say that kids are probably exposed to different kinds of peer pressure depending upon the regional cultures they grow up in at a given point in history.
It might be in "vogue" at a particular school to engage in a particular illicit activity, whereas the next school over is into something altogether different.
I remember when "streaking" was the big thing at my highschool for a few months. Some brave (stupid) kid would put on a halloween mask and dart through the halls buck-naked and run out an exit door....and out into the woods.
-------------------- Todd Gill Outside The Lines Potterville, MI Posts: 7792 | From: Potterville, MI | Registered: Dec 2001
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Its not a question of admitting to being guilty of a federal crime,criminal guilt has nothing at all to do with the ability or right to file a civil lawsuit....god forbid someone interefere with these precious little darlings god given right to act like an irresponsible assh*le. Its not an if,its a yes that they will sue you or some maggot thats related to them will sue you, and theres over a 90% chance that they will win a judgement with 6-7 zero's behind it,esp when the other attorney submits a printed out copy of this post to both judge and jury to demonstrate that you did it with the premeditated intent to cause them injury,before its over with the idiots on the jury will be convinced that you're just half a genetic degree under dr mengele. Don't worry,they will find this post..you register here in your own name and almost everyone here has name address and phone number etc in their sig line and profile and all that can be brought up thru a simple google or yahoo hit on your name....wont take dick tracy,but it will make it to court and they will hang your ass because someone else chooses to be an idiot.
-------------------- Gavin Chachere Plotter in the garage,New Orleans La.
"Sgts Shugart and Gordon again request permission to rope down to crash site two" Posts: 1223 | From: new orleans.la. | Registered: Mar 2000
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Hehehe...the REAL federal crime is going out to a mailbox you personally paid for and installed on property you owned and find it full of unsolicited junk mail sent to you trying to sell you everything from car insurance to tampons....
Now there's a racket with the federal government's blessing.
Or how about the kid that decides to clean out the family car on the way home by throwing all his McDonald's crap out his window into your front lawn?
-------------------- Todd Gill Outside The Lines Potterville, MI Posts: 7792 | From: Potterville, MI | Registered: Dec 2001
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posted
From what I understand around here, it is illegal to reenforce your mailbox. We have to use these cheap mailboxes and put them on a breakaway post. The reason they say is for the poor motorist that drives off the road and hits the mailbox should be protected from something that could hurt them. WHAT! Everyone around here is P.O.ed about it. My brother said the other day that the state is replacing all metal sign post along the highway with break away wood post so there is less chance of a motorist getting hurt if he/she plows into one.
My question, "should we keep all vehicles off the road while these idiots (we have to protect) are driving?" Wonder if they cross over the center line and drive into a semi tractor or any vehicle in the other lane? Doesn't make since to me. If I run off the road for any reason, it's probably my fault or an at of God, I know it's my problem, not anyone elses. Everytime I get into a vehicle, there is a mailboxes or anything along the road "stupid people proof?"
I was amazed to find out this is law and we can be in big trouble if we reenforce a mailbox.
Pam
-------------------- Pam Eddy Niles, MI ple@qtm.net Posts: 460 | From: Michigan | Registered: Dec 2000
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posted
As I understand it, mailboxes in the US are supposed to be marked as authorized by the postmaster general. I own the outside of my mailbox, and the postal authorities own the inside. Messing with the outside is not the federal offense. I'm not a lawyer, thank God, but this is how I've been told the law works.
-------------------- The SignShop Mendocino, California
Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity. — Charles Mingus Posts: 6716 | From: Mendocino, CA. USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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In Louisiana if you live on a state Hwy. you are not allowed to have your mailbox supported by brick, pipe, or anything wood larger than a 4x4. The stae has authority because the boxes are on state right-of-way. You can be sued for erecting a non-complying mail box that causes injury.
Check the laws in your state before re-inforcing a mailbox. You are easier to find than the vandals!
-------------------- Kathy Joiner River Road Graphics 41628 River Road Ponchatoula, La.70454
Old enough to know better...Too young to resist. Posts: 1891 | From: Ponchatoula, LA | Registered: Nov 2000
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posted
Why don't you place a camera outside to get those license plate numbers. I know people who put closed circuit cameras on their house to see who is at the door, also can be pointed at the street and a parking lot. Lights at night are effective to take that pic too.
-------------------- Deb Fowler
"It's kind of fun to do the impossible - Walt Disney (1901-1966) Posts: 5373 | From: Loves Park, Illinois | Registered: Aug 1999
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posted
Ok alright already! Nobody's gonna reinforce the mailbox. It's against the law. That's not a stupid law by the way. Sometimes people can't avoid running off the road. I've personally been a passenger in a vehicle which blew a front tire and headed for the ditch out of control. Other than drunks, not paying attention etc, ball joints go out, axles break, all kinds of things happen. An indestructable mailbos could hurt someone really bad in that situation.
quote:I'm leaning toward the wildlife camera. A few details will have to be worked out.
Is it OK to aim a motion sensor activated wildlife camera at my mailbox? Or will that be violating some other law? I'll bet it will be. Like "violating someone's privacy" while they destroy your property?
Another thing: There's no excuse for destroying other people's property just for the fun of it. I don't care how old you are. It's simply cuz your mamma or daddy or somebody didn't beat your BUTT enough times to make a life changing impression on your devious little mind. Wish mine had beaten me lot more times. I have three teenagers and they don't pull crazy stunts like this. If they did they'd be in a heap of trouble. And you know what? They have more fun than a barrel of monkeys while behaving themselves. Kids today just don't have enough to do.
Sowing your wild oats....that's a bunch of baloney!
-------------------- Wayne Webb Webb Signworks Chipley, FL 850.638.9329 wayne@webbsignworks.com Posts: 7404 | From: Chipley,Florida,United States | Registered: Oct 1999
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quote:Mailboxes are considered federal property, and federal law (Title 18, United States Code, Section 1705), makes it a crime to vandalize them (and to injure, deface or destroy any mail deposited in them). Violators can be fined up to $250,000 or imprisoned for up to three years for each act of vandalism. United States Postal Inspection Service
I'm with Wayne on this. There has never been a "good kid" who committed an act of malicious destuction of property.
"Good kids", properly raised, do not commit felonies.
-------------------- Steve Purcell Purcell Woodcarving & Signmaking Cape Cod, MA
************************** Intelligent Design Is No Accident Posts: 900 | From: Cape Cod, MA | Registered: Oct 1999
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posted
My brother in law and his cousin up the street had problems with kids using their mail boxes for batting practice.
As a joke, I made a graphic of a baseball bat with a red circle and slash superimposed over it and applied one on each side of the boxes. I used reflective vinyl so my creation would show up at night. My brother in law figured it would attract the box whackers even more. Ironically, they quit hitting the boxes. They must have thought our attempt at humor was cute and moved on to other victims.
-------------------- David Harding A Sign of Excellence Carrollton, TX Posts: 5084 | From: Carrollton, TX, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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