Vandal Proof mailbox?

[Nyboy]

A neighbor just called me, our street was once again hit by mailbox vandals. I have replaced 7 or 8 maiilboxs, the first couple of times I blew it off as kids having fun. I was no angel as a teenager. It happens about once a year. I am getting tired of replacing the mailbox, I know this is a big problem on country roads. Does anyone know of a way to make them vandal proof?

 

[NwMtGardener]

Ummm someone here tried to make their mailbox vandalproof by making a stone and brick shroud all cemented together around it. When the idiot kids tried to blow it up with mortars, pieces flew off and severed the one kids femoral artery. He lived. And maybe stopped blowing up mailboxes...

 

[thistlebloom]

Why don't you go to a metal shop and have them weld a cover for it out of heavy steel? I'm sure they could fabricate something with a shroud and post that you could insert your mailbox in and bolt
to.

 

[Smart Red]

It is not just vandals around here. The snowplows take some and I had one taken by the garbage truck. We had someone around here fill his box with cement. During a drive-by, a teen hit it with a baseball bat and ended up dead. The mailbox owner got into deep doodoo for trying to protect his property that way.

Many years ago I gave in to damaged mail boxes and got a P. O. Box. Problem solved! However, that was when I worked across the street from the post office. Now that I am retired and the mail is 5 miles away, I don't pick it up daily. I did install another mail box last year, but still have the majority of my mail go to the nearest post office.

It saved on new boxes and on mail snoopers. I was home sick once and found a Playboy magazine addressed to me in the box. A local 'someone'? had the magazine delivered to me and removed it out when it arrived, knowing that I was at work and wouldn't be home for a while.

 

[Nyboy]

Problem with having something made of heavy steel is if a car hits it, and people get hurt they can sue. Thinking more on line with some kind of swing, when hit will swing away.

 

[Nyboy]

Red bet you where shocked when you pulled out a playboy!!! Did you ever figure out who it belonged to?

 

[Smart Red]

Red bet you where shocked when you pulled out a playboy!!! Did you ever figure out who it belonged to?

Nope! There were several high-schoolers in the area at the time who might have been suspect. I called the publishers and cancelled the subscription. The problem never came up again. Since my (angel of a) son was still in his single digits, I didn't suspect him.

Hey, they did have good stories, ya know!

 

[majorcatfish]

short of building a mailbox bunker have you looked into getting po box?

 

[Smart Red]

When we lived in town (hated that) I found several really raunchy mags -- playboy was kidstuff compared to these -- hidden over the duct-work near my water meter. There were also a few soda cans stuck up there and lots of cig. butts in the meter hole.

Once I removed the magazines and cleaned up the cigarette mess, I never found a sign of them again. I figured the meter man used to arrive at our meter just about break time and knowing we were never home. . . . . I wondered whose house he found to rest at after that?

 

[Carol Dee]

The horse farm just south of us has nifty swing away set up. I slid and hit it one morning. So I went to the house to tell them I had and offer to fix it. No Problem they said. We will just go stand it up again! I do not know how they had it rigged. But basically it would just tip over backwards! No broken post or smashed box.