News, Smash our mailbox? I don't think so. (how much, stone, steel)

[John1960]

Wisconsin family sets up middle-of-the-night stakeout to catch accused mailbox vandals.

Call this family the mailbox vigilantes. Fed up that their mailbox was smashed four times in two weeks, Greg Fisher and his son set up a middle-of-the-night stakeout to catch the vandals _ and it worked. Four teens were caught after a high speed chase.

"We only did this because we felt very violated and targeted by whoever was doing it," said Greg's wife, Kim Fisher.


http://www.newsweek.com/id/116673

[Tesaje]

I don't blame them. Every time the vandals whack my mailbox, it costs me $50 to $100 to fix it depending on how much damage they do. I don't feel violated but very irritated and it's expensive. A neighbor got so sick of her mailbox being whacked so much, she spent about $400 on an armored one.

I did learn a trick after one whacking that didn't completely destroy my box. I just set it on the post without screwing it in. The next whack didn't do any real damage because the box just rolled. They don't seem to attack mine as much anymore.

[Bidney Turner]

When I was a kid, I lived on a rural road, and there were about 5 mailboxes in a row across the street. Inevitably, every few weeks, some bored kids would come by in the middle of the night and smash all of them. My dad finally tired of it and made his own mailbox. He fashioned a mailbox out of another steel pipe (about 1/2 inch thick), and posted it upon a steel pipe post that was set 6 feet under the surface, with cement. The kids and their aluminum bats didn't stand a chance!

[scottv]

Fill a regular steel mailbox 3/4 way with concrete, you can still get mail into the front of the mailbox and if it happens again the perps will definitely regret it.

[BlueLily7]

Love these ideas!

It's stories like this along with stories of mail theft/identity theft from mail that make me glad we keep a PO box...

[harborlady]

That cement in the mailbox definately works.
I saw in another neighborhood someone had created a tasteful mailbox that resembles a miniature brick tower with a cast iron door knocker for a handle and a lampost atop. Unappealing target for a bat, but a compliment to the neighborhood architecture.

[Bones]

Maybe just scare them......

[harborlady]

Originally Posted by Bones

Maybe just scare them......

OMG thats so funny! Somewhere there must be a mail carriers coffee table book of oddest mailboxes.

[NorthmeetsSouth]

I remember reading an article about someone who built a brick tower to house their mailbox so that the vandals couldn't knock it over anymore. They tried anyway, got hurt trying, and sued the homeowner!!!
Remember the good old days, when you were allowed to protect your property??!!

[Tesaje]

There are several brick or stone towers to enclose mailboxes in my area where we have regular vandals but I've never heard of anyone getting sued over it, fortunately. It is one of those expensive solutions to obnoxious kids who ought to be made to pay for it.