Got a call from the wife saying someone ran over our mailbox. Both the neighbors and oirs was out in the road when the kids went out to get on the school bus. In 30 minutes between my wife leaving for work till the kids went out to the bus someone lost control and wiped out the mailboxes. Right where my kids wait for the bus. We had some good bad luck there. Neighbor put up a new mailbox my wife picked up. I'm on the road for work. I want to replace the cheap mailbox post with an I beam post/column with a bolted section of girder to set the mailbox on. Probably 6x4 I beam for column and girder. I can get a 8 ft section of highway guardrail I beam for $12. It's already galvanized to be pushed into the dirt. Any recommendations?
From time to time I get calls to fix structual columns in warehouses damaged by blind forklift drivers. Some times they even drive the fork thru the column. We have found that a pipe or square tube column filled with nonshrink grout up about 4' after straightening and welding the steel makes the forklifts bounce off. On H shapes we weld a 1/4" plate on each side to make 2 chambers for grout. Try a piece off 6" schd 40 pipe, 3' concreted into the ground and filled with concrete. Cars and light trucks will have to be going pretty fast to take that out and they will need a tow to leave the scene.
Growing up someone took out our mailbox on an old wooden post. I had some 4 inch square box tube from where I was working so I fabricated a post out of that , buried it deep in the ground and cemented it in , then filled the tube with cement as well. About a year later the neighbors car rolled down the driveway across the street and smashed into the mailbox , the mailbox post had a small scratch but their car was not so lucky. Last time I drove by the old house that post was still there.
Unfortunately roadside mailboxes are not on your property they are usually on public right of way. This opens liability issues in case of serious injuries. All state and municipal sign and light posts are break away designed.
Yeah I think in many places people can hire sharky lawyers to come after you for a "bombproof" mailbox I just recently seen one like this locally...good design...the mailbox is mounted on those spring loaded swinging door type hinges. (which I am not sure that is what was used in this picture...but same idea) More ideas...Swing Away Mailbox - Get Snow Plow Protection If you look around online, there are lots of great DIY swinging and/or breakaway mailbox designs...some reasonably priced kits out there too...
I understand wanting to protect your kids, but placing an immovable object next to the road isn't a good idea.
It doesn't have to be immovable. I can put 3-4 ft of beam in the ground with a cap plate. Plate would have 2-4 holes to bolt upper column too. Bolts through cap make a shear plane. I want something that's not a normal 4x4 post mail box. Something like below. I noticed whomever drew the cad model never put buildings together because the z reinforcement makes installing some bolts impossible. I could then make an address plate that mounts to the horizontal beam to show house numbers. I can make the design shear off just like a highway sign. But robust enough I can use the post again.
Happens to my place and my neighbor all the time. I put a 6x6 in- Would probably still shear, but they are gonna feel it. I like what I did with my neighbors(my mom) mailbox better- I concreted a vinyl sleeve for a 4x4 fence post into the ground, and just drop the pre-assembled mail box and 4x4 post right in. I can changed it out in minutes in any weather, and it will still break instead of kill somebody. I hear you about people being careless, and kids could have been out there, but ultimately you really don't want anyone at all to die over hitting a mailbox.
it's illegal in some states (maybe all?) to put a mailbox post up that won't give way. I know in Maine it is, since I've been researching on relocating there. (weird crap you find in looking up things..) They have a code on what is allowed. kind of blew my mind..
Haven't found any laws in Missouri regarding mailboxes. USPS has height and offset from curb requirements. I have found laws and regulations for northern states with alot more snow. Some documents even mention the breakaway is for snowplows and cars skidding off roads. Locally I've seen large brick structures, 55 gallon drums, and utility poles holding mailboxes. I'm an engineer, I can make the post shear off at a bolted connection. It's just the opposite of my usual design nature.
Not to digress too much - but on the mailbox topic - I remember some old bachelor brothers that were friends of the family. They had one too many incidents where a bat happened to hit the mailbox (car window and kids certainly involved). These guys were master mechanics and fabricators and could easily engineer pretty much anything. Long story short they built a beast of a mailbox. I assure you, they never had an issue with a smashed mailbox again.
I did the same thing, for the same reason years ago. We had some jugheads who loved playing mailbox baseball on our road. I was in the sign biz then and had a chunk of 8"x12"x 1/4" wall steel tube left from a sign install. I made a 24" deep box, welded a 3" x 1/4" wall steel pipe to the bottom... and planted it out by the road. I don't know it a bat ever hit it, but I do remember the "baseball" games faded away quickly... Back then, the idea of a solid post being a bad thing never even occured to me. I was probably lucky no one hit it when their car.
I'm pretty sure that someon alluded to this earlier, but check with your postmaster as to what is allowable. I don't even have the choice of where to place my mailbox along the road. When I moved in, I placed it next to the driveway. I got holy heck from the post master stating I had to place it where another road T's from my property. Of course that is where the town plows push snow to in the winter, but doesn't matter - they won't deliver the mail if I move it. Also, I get my mail a couple hours later that my neighbor's to either side (on the same side of the street), because I get my mail when those on the other road that T's my property get theirs.
Here is one I seen in my travels today...1st photo shows the stardard door hinges used on the side away from oncoming traffic...2cnd photo is the other side and shows a standard screen door spring...simple but effective. I think this was just put up, that's why they have the post strapped...until the soil settles a little more...
There is a company that makes a swing away box similar to that up in Maine, I'm sure there is probably others? Made to deal with taking the abuse from plows. I'm lucky on my current road, it's 25 mph and they don't get fast enough to hit it that hard.
If any steel fab guys wanted to make a break-away arm on a post, for their mailbox... the main post is the trick. Take one pipe that slides easily inside another. Maybe in the 3"-4" dia size range? Down about 12-18" from the top, make a smooth chop saw cut at 45 degrees, of the larger outside pipe only. Weld an arm on that top section, and mount the bottom section in the ground, with the smaller diameter pipe inside, going all the way up thru the top section. Have to set the larger pipe in the direction you want so the arm will settle where you need the mailbox. If something strikes the mailbox arm, it will just swing out of the way and resettle back to it's original spot automatically (the 45 degree angle does that). That's how break-away clearance signs are made at places like McDs, etc.
over here the post man puts ours in the door though the letter box.we dont have to go out the door for the letters.
