My Mom lives in a very rural-suburban area. Most people have one or two acre lots. She's right near a big intersection. Her mailbox has been hit by snowplows and people making U-turns. Just one of the hazards of country living. My brother puts them back up for her.

I'd do what the other guy did. Our mailboxes are encased in a brick pillar. Let those little snots try bashing that other guys. They'll vibrate for a while.

It seems every spring we get a rash of mailbox bashings, so we know it isn't the plow guy.
BUT, the local high school baseball team will have it's team pictured in the paper the same week.....wonder if it is actually batting practice?!
Kathy G in MI

I know this used to be popular sport but didn't know it still was popular. Some peoples' hobbies! Mine's been hit a couple times over 30+ years, including the snowplow which I am convinced was NOT an accident but anyway.... And I caught the mail carrier vandalizing it one time. The hinge broke on one side (a rivit popped) and he was deliberately bending it back and forth trying to break it off. I was so mad! But it was a heavy metal box that survived being hit by a car that I left it up until I could get the new one put up. After that incident I decided to replace the missing rivit and see how long it lasted and make him use it. So my new (large) mailbox sat in the garage a couple years. Then he deliberately broke the alert flag off the new one within a week of it going up. So there's all kinds of vandals out there.

Any idea if they're hitting them with cars or using something like a baseball bat? I've heard of the putting small one in large lined with concrete. Driving down country roads, it's interesting to see some of the reinforcements that are used. These days there's relatively inexpensive battery powered video cameras that will hook up to computers. Could be interesting to get a few people to put them up and see if you can catch them.

It's not the mailbox itself that's the big problem, rather it's the post and so often they get damaged and although it sounds like you have a great carrier, others aren't always that lucky. I saw them out literally measuring the neighbors' mailbox one day. The carrier complained it was too high to deliver to. The neighbor asked me and I said I don't know, doesn't look that bad to me. We measured it against a couple others and it was a few inches higher. He hit tough digging putting the post in the ground. Come to think of it, he knocked out the phone service the one time he dug! But they sent them a notice that it had to be between so many inch range from the street level and so he cut off the top of the post and fastened it. But this isn't about the post office, it's about vandals!

A lot of times something built around the box works well. Some make bricks or whatever around it. Some are very attractive actually.

Oh and I do like the large mailboxes. Nice for small packages, and large envelopes and magazine sized items will lie flat in there rather than rolled up like a cinnamon roll! I have one of the Rubbermaid "plastic" ones with the little alert flag when the door has been opened so you know someone has been in there, usually the carrier. Very handy. Don't waste time checking if there was no mail that day. But I digress again!

I have my mail delivered to a box inside the post office. We are extremely rural and no one would probably think to come out, but you just never know. I do not want my mail accessible to anyone that happens to drive by.

I grew up in the country. I think my parents may have had one instance of bashing.

I live in a subdivision. We have the mailboxes built into the brick pedestals. They must be pretty sturdy. My drunk neighbor let his dog drive one day (that's his story) and the dog hit the mailbox and flipped his SUV. Anyway, the brick pedestal broke into a couple of pieces and had to be replaced. Overall, I thought it was pretty sturdy and did a good job of deflecting the vehicle.

Mine was bashed once and of course it had to be the nice stenciled mailbox that I spent hours on. I made one for my parents too and it got bashed. They still use theirs though.

I would never do the concrete encased ones. I guarantee if somebodies kid got killed while bashing your mailbox, there would be legal action taken. I think the mailboxes encased in bricks is a great idea though... they can see the bricks and if that doesn't deter them, oh well.

IF I had a real problem with bashers, I'd set up a webcam of some sort and get them on tape. Bashing mailboxes is illegal and usually when the kids do it.. they do a whole neighborhood. I imagine they'd be in a whole lot of trouble.

Our mailboxes are encased in a brick pillar.
I've thought of that, but the road is quite narrow (and no better place to put it in sight), and it drops off quickly into a ditch.

Occasionally, I think the damage is done by a farmer pulling some wide equipment and is not being careful enough. I'd sure hate the expense of something happening to a bricked up pillar.

Any idea if they're hitting them with cars or using something like a baseball bat?
It looks to be a baseball bat or a pipe. It is usually hit on the right hand side as one looks at it from the center of the road. I figure a basher is either hanging out the window of a vehicle, or riding in the back of a truck.

Luckily the post has never been damaged. It is treated 4 X 4 I think and has been there about 20 years. The PO said yesterday the recommended height is 41' to 45" to the bottom of the box and 6' to 8" back from the roadway. I think I found an on line regulation though and there was more leeway in the height

Come to think of it, he knocked out the phone service the one time he dug!
I did the same thing, and was a repair person for the phone co!. How embarrassing. I came home and found my box and post thrown into the ditch and a heap of loose soil where it had been, and where the cable splicer had dug it up and spliced the cable...YIKES!

Sometimes I only get to town once every week, or two or three, so a PO Box isn't an option. That's usually when I am out of doggie food and 'have' to go.

Several boxes in the area look similar to the one in the link below. If a box can live to be old and rusty, the bashers don't seem to bother them. I've never had a box live long enough though to get rusty.

Here is a link that might be useful:

Ours used to get smashed all the time, especially after 9-11 and I gave it an eagle flag and a regular flag on top of the post. I think it lasted about 2 weeks before being vandalized and torn apart, not just smashed.

We did the box-in-a-box trick for a while but it never took a hit (I was sad that we live too far from the box to hear the yells we would have heard if it had been smashed!) but I also worried about liability, so I finally broke down and bought one of the heavy-duty steel boxes that they say are bash-proof to a certain degree. No one has hit it since then. It has been knocked over by cars turning around in our drive though. Our drive comes off the road at an angle, sort of like when a road splits in two, it's the worst place in the world to try to turn around and I don't know why people can't figure that out. If you don't hit my mailbox, you'll fall into my ditch, tearing out your oil pan, most likely. lolol

If mine was getting smashed a lot, I would fashion something on either side to prevent them from getting a good swing, even just put a 4 x 4 on each side. Or mount it on something that swivels so if they hit it, it just moves. If you google for this, you'll see tons of ideas of what you can do to protect your mailbox, but do keep liability in mind. Some sue-happy punk is probably out there waiting for a chance to make his prank into a money-maker for him.

When we first moved out in the country in 1977 we had to replace our mail box often, cause it got bashed in.

After replacing twice in one month, we started painting the boxes. Just old brown and green stuff, kind of camouflaged. That worked. That mailbox was up for years! :)

Just try to "hide it".

Moni

This is a federal offense
My husband caught the boys doing it once and they were not taken to the county jail, but to the federal one. That surprised DH, the boys, and their parents. They had hit several boxes that night and had to pay for replacing all of them. One of ther boys (now grown) was afraid of DH until he died.

No...not by the younger set....

Just once it got smashed by the school bus driver.

I was really disappointed because I had built the mailbox myself. It looked just like our barn with double barn doors opening in the front for the mail.

He complete killed it. Just splinters.

But he did come back later with a cedar mailbox that reminds me of a covered bridge.

He said he couldn't find a barn like the one I had.

I thought it was nice of him.

patti

I had friends that 'took in' their mailbox every night as they picked up their mail & put it out in the morning as they went to work. Can you tell they'd lost quite a few to drive-by bashing?

Really ingenious people have used motion detection devices to trigger a flash camera for photo evidence.

PS I wonder if it is a federal offense to damage a rural mailbox?

Pattico, I'm assuming the box you made was of wood. Was there a metal one inside of it?

I 'thought' of maybe making a box of wood, (no metal one inside) but then wondered how it could be waterproofed. I could then just replace whatever 'parts' were broken when it got bashed.

hmmm...if I made it out of 2' thick lumber though, that should withstand a ball bat, or pipe.

One time my box was shot with a shotgun. I heard them do that. My box is out of sight from the house....sigh.

I had friends that 'took in' their mailbox every night as they picked up their mail & put it out in the morning as they went to work. Can you tell they'd lost quite a few to drive-by bashing?
My goodness, I'd say so!

Really ingenious people have used motion detection devices to trigger a flash camera for photo evidence.
That would sure take a lot of batteries because in my case it would take a pic of every car that went down the road 24/7.

Lots of food for thought in this thread. Thank you for the many replies and suggestions

We had ours bombed when we lived in a subdivision, young children were standing right next to it waiting for the bus, neighbors saw who did it, police did nothing. Since we've lived in the country, we go through spells, I guess we've been bashed about a dozen times in as many years.

When we lived in CA in the mountains we also had a PO box in the city and all the important stuff went there as we to lost too many boxes. Then all of us went together and demanded locked boxes. Our mail boxes were all in one area. Our delivery person fought this as he got paid per box and a locked group counted for one, not several. We then went to the main office and had a meeting and finally months later had our locked boxes, but we kept our PO box as this too was damaged occasionally but mainly when the carrier was putting mail into the boxes, some mysteriously either ended on the ground, or given to someone else. Not a good carrier.
I do feel for those who are isolated and expect something, and find it on the ground (soaking wet and damaged or put by the wrong box--too lazy to take it to the right box etc) checks and letters scattered etc. It is sad that some rural carriers and others do not respect our mail and privacy. Our neighbors even had mail opened, and then put in the boxes. But we were 5 miles from the boxes. Here they do not seem to have a problem as our carrier is so very dedicated and really watches the boxes and roads.

Didn't give them the opportunity...since we live less than a mile from the PO and drive by it everyday, a PO box works better for us! But you'd better believe those guys would have given it a good whack..in fact we had to move a large natural rock marking our drive way. I wanted to plant flowers around it, instead it was becoming the neighborhood "bash a beer bottle" target!

The first time ours was bashed, I saw it happen, they backed up and hit it with their vehicle. It was night time and we are off the road a way. It was on or near Halloween. Each time it got bashed, husband would fix it and put it up and almost every year it would get bashed. Finally he put up a new box a big rubbermaid one and since then I don't think it has taken a hit. I think they like hitting the old ugly boxes but that isn't always the case. Amber and Terri's both have taken a hit with a shot gun or something. Each time our boxes get bashed, the sheriff's department is called and they come and make a report. It is a federal offense to mess with a mailbox.

Sue

We live 30 miles north of Chicago within a town. Only a small percentage of the town's homes are on small lots, with mail boxes on the house. Most are on larger lots and have the rural type mailboxes at the foot of a driveway.

Suburban youth are as vicious as rural. Boxes get hit by baseball bats on different streets, at different times, every year.

We are fortunate. The P.O. requires most boxes to be right alongside the road. Ours was 'grandfathered in' to allow the box to be set back about six feet. It's accessed by driving onto the apron of our driveway. We have an iron box and pole anyway! It's never been hit except once by a furniture truck delivering a mirror. No kid in his right mind would swing a bat at our box. (As if they were in their right minds...they're adolescent boys!)

We live in the country too, and mailbox bashing seems to be a favorite "sport". However my husband has solved our problem. He made our malbox out of a piece of pipe with a hinged door on it. The mail carrier has no problam with it and we have had no vandalism for over 8 years. If they hit it they will be hurting. Of course our neighbors are still having to replace theirs about once a year.

Melissa

We have one acre lots out here but I have a post office box. It wasn't that kids were bashing the mailbox, it was that mail kept blowing out. The mailperson said the door didn't shut right, then said the door was too hard to open. Finally, after finding mail in the field by our house, we decided to just get a P.O. box.
We have a lot up for sale and the sign has been bashed, looks like it's been beaten by a bat.

I haven't read all the responses to this post, but....we were told you are libel if you put something (like concrete) around your mailbox and someone hits it with their car and gets hurt or killed. We had a very nice mailbox (custom made) and caught the bashers one night. The one boy didn't want this on his record, so his folks paid for our custom made mailbox to the tune of $200. We have since moved and had another nice mailbox...it was stolen...we now have a $5.00 plastic box that no one would want to steal...and so far no one has bashed it. But..don't put concrete or brick around your mailbox

Our mailbox was beat up regularly...until the neighbors moved away.

I don't understand the purpose of it. All it does is alienate your neighbors.

we are lucky to have a U shaped driveway and the mailbox is located at the bottom of the U.....our mail lady will drive in off the street to deliver....right up by the house