Results 1 to 6 of 6
  1. #1
    Senior Dog janedoe's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Location
    New England
    Posts
    5,095
    Thanked: 1922

    That hurt you more than it hurt us.

    We have had an ongoing mailbox saga since we moved in. According to my mother in law, the mailbox has always been an issue. Why? Because we share a driveway opening with our immediate neighbor. He's never around so not a problem for us but that double wide opening just invites people to try to make a U turn or snowplows to dump whatever snow they've collected coming down the street. The end result is that we kept losing the mailbox, mostly because of the plows. The post would stay but the mailbox would go flying.

    So we put our heads together and created a mobile system designed to withstand any hit but mostly to keep it out of the way during the winter. This thing is fantastic. We bought an enormous half whiskey barrel type planter, screwed a square metal plate on the bottom of the post, stuck it in the planter then put down 50 lbs of river rock and 150 lbs of dirt on top of that. It's such a substantial system that I actually plant vegetables in it and currently have pea vines climbing all over the post and box. When we want to move it, we just tip and roll.

    This morning my husband noticed that it wasn't even remotely where we had left it. The mailbox was pointed at the neighbors' house and it was practically up on the sidewalk. There were tire tracks on the easement and the new grass I had planted was all ripped up. I went up to take a look and there was absolutely zero damage to the planter. Someone had clearly hit this thing in the middle of the night, pushed it about three feet, backed up and took off. Given the height of the planter, I'm thinking that it took out the bottom of the bumper.

    Can you imagine? They probably thought they'd hit some animal. I wonder how fast they were going.

  2. #2
    Best Friend Retriever Sue's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Location
    New England
    Posts
    500
    Thanked: 510
    So I am assuming the mailbox is between the two driveways?

    I'd move it to the other side, otherwise that could happen again. I really would like to have seen that happen, though. I bet it was quite the show. Hahaha

    FWIW, shortly after our first winter in our place, we went and got the Mail Swing. It is the absolute best invention ever. Well, as far as mailboxes go. When you have snow plow drivers that put a notch in their blade for every box they take out, you have to fight back.

    MailSwing Mailboxes | Swing Away Mailbox Arm Prevents Snowplow Damage
    Hidden Content
    Abby
    ​Decisions, decisions, decisions


    Hidden Content

    “It came to me that every time I lose a dog they take a piece of my heart with them. And every new dog who comes into my life gifts me with a piece of their heart. If I live long enough, all the components of my heart will be dog, and I will become as generous and loving as they are.”

    Cheryl Zuccaro

  3. The Following User Says Thank You to Sue For This Useful Post:

    SunDance (06-25-2015)

  4. #3
    Senior Dog janedoe's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Location
    New England
    Posts
    5,095
    Thanked: 1922
    Quote Originally Posted by Sue View Post
    So I am assuming the mailbox is between the two driveways?

    I'd move it to the other side, otherwise that could happen again. I really would like to have seen that happen, though. I bet it was quite the show. Hahaha

    FWIW, shortly after our first winter in our place, we went and got the Mail Swing. It is the absolute best invention ever. Well, as far as mailboxes go. When you have snow plow drivers that put a notch in their blade for every box they take out, you have to fight back.

    MailSwing Mailboxes | Swing Away Mailbox Arm Prevents Snowplow Damage
    That's a fantastic idea. Ours is actually off to the side on the easement. We put together the setup because the double driveway invites unwanted traffic but it's not on the pavement. In fact, if the driver hadn't hit the box, s/he would have plowed into the other neighbors' stone wall.

    Maybe we should put a camera up.

  5. #4
    Senior Dog Snowshoe's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Location
    Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    8,136
    Thanked: 5108
    Since hearing stories of my OH's miss spent youth when such things were done to mail boxes on purpose I have to wonder if there is a young OH clone living near you.

  6. #5
    Senior Dog Jeff's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Location
    Grand Rapids, MI
    Posts
    1,816
    Thanked: 2198
    Another option I seen is the lever arm mail boxes. Easy enough to make but the post is way off the road and there is a cord system that pulls the mailbox down. Keeps it out of the way of plows and mail box baseball people.

  7. #6
    Senior Dog POPTOP's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Location
    Illinois
    Posts
    10,985
    Thanked: 6722
    Never seen the anti-snow plow boxes.

    Ours is on a metal pole; the pole's at least 4 inches in diameter and set in cement. There's a metal plate welded to the top to hold the mail boxes, both ours and our neighbors. The mailboxes are bolted to the metal plate. If a car or plow hit the pole/boxes, they are going to get considerable damage done to their vehicle. Once thing I've noticed, our boxes are a little higher than others. Also, it is set back from the curb just a little further than others around. Heck, put in an "I" beam in cement.

    One sad thing, the original owner of the house, the one we bought from, had a heart attack and passed while he was putting the post, etc, in.
    Hidden Content
    Kissing Bandit

 



Not a Member of the Labrador Retriever Chat Forums Yet?
Register for Free and Share Your Labrador Retriever Photos

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •