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Hit and run on my mailbox!

Started by gspren, January 26, 2013, 03:24:39 PM

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gspren

  Through the years I've had to replace a few mailboxes from getting whacked with bats, pipes, etc. but last night it got whacked with a car. I know they got some damage because they lost both door handles and the mirrow from the drivers side of their car! The box is/was mounted on a 2" steel pipe cemented into the ground and comes up to a threaded elbow with about 20" piece coming forward with a pipe cap on the end and a flat plate welded to the the top for mounting the box. The top piece is now turned about 30 degrees and those threads hadn't been moved in over 20 years. replacing the box is easy but turning the pipe joint might be tough, it wouldn't budge with a 24" pipe wrench so I sprayed it with some PB Blaster and maybe tomorrow I'll try a little heat. I will be looking for a car with the drivers side damaged. It's not a big deal but they should have stopped or left a note.
Stihl 041, 044 & 261, Kubota 400 RTV, Kubota BX 2670, Ferris Zero turn

beenthere

You should have some Blue Creeper.  :) :)

Sorry to hear about the hit and run job.
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

snowstorm

in the state of maine the law states you cant use anything stronger that a 4x4" wooden post for a mailbox. steel or anything like that is considered a fixed deadly object. so if some drunk hits your mailbox mounted to a steel i beam and gets hurt you can be held responsible. i know a guy that hit a 4x4" wooden post and mailbox at 100+mph on a motorcycle he said it hurt a lot. it did break the post

Cedarman

At our peak production , we were producing 10,000  per month  3 1/2 x 3 1/2 cedar posts for the mailbox industry.  A lot of those were replacement posts for ones ran over.  Cedar was a prefered post because it broke off like should.
I am in the pink when sawing cedar.

Chris Burchfield

I had a problem with mailboxes being destroyed by ball bats.  Replaced with a four treated post, one for each corner.  One piece high one piece low horizontal protecting the mailbox each side.  This was a large box for good sized delivery.  The mailman seldom had to leave a package at the front door.  One day I came home and noticed some busted out auto glass being just West of the mailbox.  Parked and went out to inspect.  Found a deep crease in the front post.  Looking on the asphalt, what was left of a brick, then all the auto glass.  Now, go home and tell daddy what happened!   :D :D :D  I was okay for several years after, till one night.  I had already layed down for the evening, heard a bam that caused me to jolt up from the bed.  Went out front and my service car I parked against the curb on the street, was now in my front yard.  With the rear end sticking out in the road, 20' from where I had parked it.  One of Professional Wrestler, Jerry "The King" Lawler's ex-wife had centered her Jaguwa directly between the twin exhaust pipes of the service car.  Knocking the car through my four post mailbox with the front end resting in my front yard and the rearend against the curb.  I looked West and her car was still moving West at a coast.  The rear bumper of my service car was under the rear windshield.  There was a solid line of something liquid on the road from the crash site to where her car stopped rolling 300' to the West.  She was knocked out, the engine was still running after impact, being in gear, the car kept rolling till all the transmission fluid pored out onto the street.  This is what was in the road from the point of impact to where her car stopped.  Seems she spent too much time at a local watering hole.  The four post mailbox was history.
Woodmizer LT40SH W/Command Control; 51HP Cat, Memphis TN.

Kcwoodbutcher

I used to have that problem then I built a mailbox out of 1/4 " plate that looks just like a normal mailbox. It's mounted on a sch 80 stainless pipe. Over the years I've seen some splinters on the ground from attempted smashing with a bat. I wonder how their wrist felt after hitting it at 20 mph.
My job is to do everything nobody else felt like doing today

Charles Barnes Sr

My mailbox kept finding itself deposited in the snow bank from the plow truck, so after the third time last winter we went and got a Post Office box. No worries from flying beer empties, plows, or halloween pumpkins.
Baptist Pastor trying to make ends meet logging.
76 IH S8 Cable skidder
Husky 55
Husky 372XP

gspren

Quote from: snowstorm on January 26, 2013, 03:48:18 PM
in the state of maine the law states you cant use anything stronger that a 4x4" wooden post for a mailbox. steel or anything like that is considered a fixed deadly object. so if some drunk hits your mailbox mounted to a steel i beam and gets hurt you can be held responsible. i know a guy that hit a 4x4" wooden post and mailbox at 100+mph on a motorcycle he said it hurt a lot. it did break the post

  I think that if they had hit it with the front bumper the 2" steel pipe would have bent or broke however their sideswipe merely twisted it while raking the car side. 20+ years ago when I put it in the post office approved of the 2" pipe. If they would have gone off the other side they would have hit a 10" utility pole! I think they fell asleep and got an exciting awakening.
Stihl 041, 044 & 261, Kubota 400 RTV, Kubota BX 2670, Ferris Zero turn

WDH

I finally went to a cheap plastic mailbox from Lowes.  No fun in busting that up, so I have been good for a while.
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

POSTON WIDEHEAD

The older I get I wish my body could Re-Gen.

drobertson

There is a saying "if you build it, they will come"  not sure the implications here, but just saying, some folks like a good chalange.  I have witnessed  folks that toss bottles at  road signs for the fun of it,  I guess they are keeping score?
only have a few chain saws I'm not suppose to use, but will at times, one dog Dolly, pretty good dog, just not sure what for yet,  working on getting the gardening back in order, and kinda thinking on maybe a small bbq bizz,  thinking about it,

WDH

That is the silliness of youth.  Poston is actually only 16, but wants to think that he is 56  :D.
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

POSTON WIDEHEAD

Quote from: WDH on January 26, 2013, 09:55:35 PM
That is the silliness of youth.  Poston is actually only 16, but wants to think that he is 56  :D.

I love plastic mailboxes.  :D   smiley_smash smiley_smash smiley_smash smiley_smash smiley_smash
The older I get I wish my body could Re-Gen.

Magicman

I believe that the FBI is still looking for one of my parents' children that did bad things to some mailboxes when he was 15.   :-\
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

POSTON WIDEHEAD

Quote from: Magicman on January 26, 2013, 10:09:01 PM
I believe that the FBI is still looking for one of my parents' children that did bad things to some mailboxes when he was 15.   :-\

Do you have pictures of THAT?  ;D
The older I get I wish my body could Re-Gen.

Magicman

I think that there are pictures of it all in his mind.  Anyway, what else could boys do with a gross of cherrybombs  ???
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

Sonofman

I had a friend a few years ago that was having problems with mailbox bandits. He got tired of replacing it about once a month, so he got a piece of 3 inch pipe about 6 feet long and threaded on one end. He got a threaded flange for the pipe which he attached to the bottom of the largest mailbox the post office allows. He than took a piece of 6 inch pvc which he cut to the length of the depth of the mailbox. He put the box on it's back end and filled it around the pvc with concrete. When it had set enough, he screwed the flange on the pipe and dug a hole about 2 feet in the shoulder of the road, set the pipe in it and filled around it with concrete. After it had set, he covered the crete with dirt.
One morning about 2 weeks later he heard a commotion just down the road from his house about 3 am or so. He slipped out the back door and went down to see what was happening. It seems 3 teenage boys in their mama's Buick had driven by and taken a swipe at the box with a baseball bat. The swinger of the bat was in the front passengers seat. When bat met box, the bat lost and shattered. It broke out the rear passenger side window, the rear window, and the arm of the boy swinging the bat. He figured they would have enough trouble explaining things to their parents and did not call the Law.
He looked at his box the next morning, the paint was a little scratched. He never had any more problems with box bandits, either.
Located due west of Due West.

Magicman

Ouch !!!

Welcome to the Forestry Forum, Sonofman.  How about an intro and sharing some of your timber/sawing interest  ???   :)
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

Sonofman

I've been a lurker for a long time, about 5 years. I had been looking for an OWB. With the advice here on this site and what I've seen in Alaska visiting family, I decided on a CB 4030. I got it running in November and my only disappointment is that I did not do it sooner. It is sitting right by the house now, hope to move it to a shed on the back side of the property this summer, about 200 feet of line to the coil.

My interest in wood is pretty much limited to the sawing, splitting, and burning for heat variety.

I am from Eastern NC, lived about 10 years in Charlotte, and have been here in the Upstate of SC about 12 now.

My equipment is limited to 2 saws, a splitter, 16 foot tandem trailer for hauling, and various hand tools needed to collect firewood.

Thanks for the welcome!
Located due west of Due West.

thecfarm

Sonofman,welcome to the FF.
I never touched a mailbox. But a road sign and a bottle,we all thought that was a match.
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

sawguy21

Quote from: Magicman on January 26, 2013, 10:09:01 PM
I believe that the FBI is still looking for one of my parents' children that did bad things to some mailboxes when he was 15.   :-\
:D :D :D 
old age and treachery will always overcome youth and enthusiasm

LeeB

Quote from: POSTONLT40HD on January 26, 2013, 10:10:29 PM
Quote from: Magicman on January 26, 2013, 10:09:01 PM
I believe that the FBI is still looking for one of my parents' children that did bad things to some mailboxes when he was 15.   :-\

Do you have pictures of THAT?  ;D

Did they have cameras back then?  ???  :D
'98 LT40HDD/Lombardini, Case 580L, Cat D4C, JD 3032 tractor, JD 5410 tractor, Husky 346, 372 and 562XP's. Stihl MS180 and MS361, 1998 and 2006 3/4 Ton 5.9 Cummins 4x4's, 1989 Dodge D100 w/ 318, and a 1966 Chevy C60 w/ dump bed.

blackfoot griz

For a shop project in High School, I built a mailbox for the principal because the life expectancy of his mailboxes  for some reason, was rather short.  The box was welded up 1/2 inch plate welded to a scrap chunk of oilfield pipe.  The base was set in concrete in the ground.  Near the base was a coil spring from an old junked car.  That particular mailbox could fight back!

POSTON WIDEHEAD

Sonofman....Welcome to the Forum.
I live in York County, S.C.  Are you up around Pickens County? Hog Back Mountain?

Another member, OKRAFARMER lives up in the hills somewhere close to you.

David
The older I get I wish my body could Re-Gen.

Sonofman

Hi Poston, thanks for the welcome. I used to live in Charlotte, when I was in school and a few years after. I now live about half way between Anderson and Abbeville in the edge of Abbeville county. There is a member map that shows where. I saw OkraFarmer's place listed, just above Greenville, and I saw yours. I live in the country, but work mostly in Greenville and sometimes in Charlotte.
Located due west of Due West.

easymoney

i have heard that in the snow country they frown on you putting up a sturdy mailbox. they want the snow plows to be able to take them out. ;D

Al_Smith

They have the bright idea of shielding one side of the mail box with a piece of plywood to fend  off the snow plow .It works to a point .

I've been lucky ,only replaced the box once it 15 years . Rubber Maid box lost to the snow plow .They will take a hit from a  ball bat better than a sheet metal box .For 60 bucks they ought to .

beenthere

Quotewith a piece of plywood to fend  off the snow plow

I see that plywood piece as a way to keep the slush from the plows from coating the mailbox with snow/ice/salt when the trucks zip down the highway. Don't see them so much on the rural roads around here. For one, less salt so less slush. For another, can't get up the speed for throwing slush so far.
Just a thought.
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

Al_Smith

With those big side cast roll plows they can sling heavy snow hard enough to knock over a mail box .Sometimes the plywood too .

One time I had the top knocked off a Rubber Maid from mud clods from a farmers tractor .It was the size of a 5 gallon bucket something had to give .Most likely from a set of duels that got loaded up from spreading manure in the spring from the muddy field .They usually get that done in dead of winter when the ground is frozen but sometimes the weather gets them .Rain ya know .

thurlow

A high school teacher's mailbox kept getting "ball-batted" and neither he nor the po-leece could catch the perpetrators.  He bought some (coupla quarts?) of indelible/PERMANENT purple ink from a printer's supply house and put it into a large zip-lock bag.  Every night he'd walk to the box and drape the bag over it (it was pretty much invisible in the semi-darkness);  every morning, he'd remove the bag.  A few nights later, they hit the box again, except this time there was no doubt which student had dunnit, because of the purple splotches on his hands, arms and face.
Here's to us and those like us; DanG few of us left!

JuniperBoss

Sometimes our mailbox gets spray painted with naughty words and our family farm sign shot up. It has been "pumpkined" on halloween too. I believe that mailbox maniacs are lacking a lot of integrity, or else they would forgive their enemies (either the neighbor or the mailbox) or talk to them about why they are hurt.
"The three great essentials to achieve anything worthwhile are, first, hard work; second, stick-to-itiveness; third, common sense." --- Thomas Edison

Al_Smith

They go in spurts .You might get a rash of mail box banditos then it goes dorment a few years .On the road I live on there are a few 1/4" plate steel mailboxs evidently a carry over from a more violent era of mailbox chicanery .

A couple years ago all but one residence on the road had mailbox damage .It was obvious where it came from where the PK lived .You got it preachers kid who could do no wrong .Problem was that's exactly where the snowmobile tracks led to .Explain that one .

Phorester


A few years ago there was a letter to the editor in our local paper from a woman who complained about all the beat up old rusty mailboxes in the county, how bad they looked and why did the homeowners keep such ugly boxes in front of their homes.  A few days later there was a letter from one of those county residents saying pretty much what has been said here - that it was no use putting up a pretty mailbox or replacing the beat up ones.

Al_Smith

I suppose if a person were real creative you could make a mailbox from an old tractor tire or a huge oil hose from a tanker ship or something .They could beat on that thing until the end of time ,nary a dent.

I've seen some amusing and creative ideas. One used a big coil spring from a truck or something that was set in a concrete base with a 4 by 4 stuck in it .Hit that thing it will swing back at  you.

PC-Urban-Sawyer

Quote from: Al_Smith on January 28, 2013, 06:27:10 AM
...
You got it preachers kid who could do no wrong ....

Al, I resemble that remark, being the son of a Southern Baptist Preacherman (and the grandson and nephew of preachers too...)

Course, you know why us PKs were so bad don't cha? Cause we had to play with the Deacons' kids....  :D

We pulled a lot of stupid stunts when I was a kid but never anything that did any significant property damage (well, if you don't count the time the fire got out of hand and burned up close to four acres of vacant land behind the parsonage...)


Herb

Al_Smith

Quote from: PC-Urban-Sawyer on January 28, 2013, 11:07:13 AM
  Course, you know why us PKs were so bad don't cha? Cause we had to play with the Deacons' kids....  :D


In the little podunk town I grew up in outside two general stores and two gas stations were a couple benchs they called "deacons benchs" .

The "deacons " were a bunch of old retired coots that would congregate and roost on the benchs where they argued about everything .Drinking whiskey from a hip flask and splitting tobaco juice on the sidewalk .Just like clock work  every day the weather was fit they carried on like that .Cuss at each other and just acted like fools .Toter off come supper time and go right back at it the next day .--Memories of growing up in middle America ---

Phorester


Hope I live long enough to be one of those "deacons".  Come to think of it..., maybe I have.

Phorester


Quote from: thurlow on January 27, 2013, 05:34:23 PM
A high school teacher's mailbox kept getting "ball-batted" and neither he nor the po-leece could catch the perpetrators.  He bought some (coupla quarts?) of indelible/PERMANENT purple ink from a printer's supply house and put it into a large zip-lock bag.  Every night he'd walk to the box and drape the bag over it (it was pretty much invisible in the semi-darkness);  every morning, he'd remove the bag.  A few nights later, they hit the box again, except this time there was no doubt which student had dunnit, because of the purple splotches on his hands, arms and face.

Plus, he got his mailbox painted a pretty purple color that probably lasted for years.....

WDH

I am feeling a little "Deacon Benchy"  :).
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

isawlogs

 I never did get into wacking mail boxes, always figured that karma would eventualy get me back. Karma has been good that way so far with me.  ;) :snowball:
A man does not always grow wise as he grows old , but he always grows old as he grows wise .

   Marcel

Cedarman

I was told at a young age that damaged mailboxes and federal penitentiary were intimately connected. 
I am in the pink when sawing cedar.

thecfarm

cedarman,I was told the same thing. I think that was why we was so hard on those metal curve signs.  :D
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

Don_Papenburg

So Thurlow what did the teacher do to you?
Frick saw mill  '58   820 John Deere power. Diamond T trucks

SwampDonkey

Quote from: JuniperBoss on January 27, 2013, 09:21:18 PM
forgive their enemies (either the neighbor or the mailbox) or talk to them about why they are hurt.

I think probably the pot and/or weekend booze numbs them and alters their judgement a bit. "Just for fun" is different than asking forgiveness. One takes some forethought, the other is an afterthought.  :D :D
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

thurlow

Quote from: Don_Papenburg on January 29, 2013, 02:53:34 AM
So Thurlow what did the teacher do to you?
Waddn't none of me;  been 50-plus years since I was in high school................in fact, we held our 50th reunion last Fall.  I was one of the 'good kids';  not because I didn't have the urges to get into trouble, but because I was afraid my dad would kill me :(.  As I recall, the mailbox/purple ink thing happened in an adjoining county.
Here's to us and those like us; DanG few of us left!

pineywoods

Never messed with mailboxes, for the same reason Cedarman mentioned.  ;D But now I did tip over an outhouse or 2, and may have been involved in moving 1 or 2 back about 3 or 4 feet   :-X
1995 Wood Mizer LT 40, Liquid cooled kawasaki,homebuilt hydraulics. Homebuilt solar dry kiln.  Woodmaster 718 planner, Kubota M4700 with homemade forks and winch, stihl  028, 029, Ms390
100k bd ft club.Charter member of The Grumpy old Men

Onthesauk

It was always the "town" kids that did in the mailboxes.  Us "farm" kids" had to fix them. :)
John Deere 3038E
Sukuki LT-F500

Don't attribute irritating behavior to malevolence when mere stupidity will suffice as an explanation.

Al_Smith

Quote from: pineywoods on January 29, 2013, 09:59:01 AM
But now I did tip over an outhouse or 2, and may have been involved in moving 1 or 2 back about 3 or 4 feet   :-X
That used to be great sport when there were out houses .

Speaking of which and a fact I don't remember is my mother loosing me though a hole of a two holer when I was a baby .

Evidently I had soiled my diaper and she changed me and stood me up on the seat then I disappeared knee deep in do do .They've been calling me chit heel every since . :D

thecfarm

Better than going head first and be called c... head.  :D
I'm sorry Al,  :D  I had to get that in there before Poston did.
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

Al_Smith

 :D I don't think I dove in head first but I have been called s-head a time or two along with a number things .

SwampDonkey

I thought that title was reserved for the new spring calf that got too close to momma cow's exit hole.  :D
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

Al_Smith

 :D Well bovinely speaking I'm sure that does happen .

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