Witnessed A Vandalism CLOSE-UP (UPDATE Post# 116)

[CityGirlintheCountry]

I still think you need to seriously consider a couple of large, scary looking dogs. Preferably black with really big teeth and HUGE barks. That'll scare the crap outta anyone.

 

[Godsgrl]

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I don't think you can.

Ours has a sign that says Federal regulations forbid handing mail over the counter. I wish the OP the best in this situation.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

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Like I said, the police cannot order them to do anything. They could try to persuade the families involved to agree to replacing the mailboxes, but they have no authority to make them do so.

Yes, it would be the ethical thing to do, but this goes beyond a few mailboxes and these kids are in a heap of trouble. It's possible that their lawyers have told them to do nothing until they can review what has happened. I'd suspect the lawyers would prefer that they not apologize or admit to any wrong-doing until they can get their ducks in a row.

 

[Laurajean]

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Like I said, the police cannot order them to do anything. They could try to persuade the families involved to agree to replacing the mailboxes, but they have no authority to make them do so.

Yes, it would be the ethical thing to do, but this goes beyond a few mailboxes and these kids are in a heap of trouble. It's possible that their lawyers have told them to do nothing until they can review what has happened. I'd suspect the lawyers would prefer that they not apologize or admit to any wrong-doing until they can get their ducks in a row.

Yes, I understand that. But they DID order them to whether they should have or not. So that's annoying, when you're told something specific will be done and then it's not. That's all. I'm no police hater by any means, I'm just annoyed. I'm allowed to be annoyed.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

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I hear ya... Really your best bet as far as the mailbox is concerned is to buy a new one, pop it it in the ground, and get on with life as usual. Don't wait for a neighborhood consensus on who is going to replace the frame, just put yours up and be done with it. Let the authorities handle the idiots.

Even with the best of intentions, I don't think it would be wise for them to come out there anyway. Tempers are still flaring and who knows what could happen. It's best that the courts handle it.

 

[Laurajean]

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I hear ya... Really your best bet as far as the mailbox is concerned is to buy a new one, pop it it in the ground, and get on with life as usual. Don't wait for a neighborhood consensus on who is going to replace the frame, just put yours up and be done with it. Let the authorities handle the idiots.

Even with the best of intentions, I don't think it would be wise for them to come out there anyway. Tempers are still flaring and who knows what could happen. It's best that the courts handle it.

Well, considering the mailboxes are way at the end of our road, and there are no houses for at least a half a mile, I see no reason why at least the parents shouldn't replace them. There's no 'flaring tempers' around here; like I said, all my neighbors are just shrugging their shoulders, they're used to this stuff. But as far as "popping it in" myself, it's not that easy. I'm disabled, I'd need a pole digger, and quite honestly my muscles are too bad to do this by myself. It's just not a job I am physically capable of. I'll figure something out I'm sure, it's just frustrating.

 

[Oldfort_mailman]

At the post office i work at(bet you cant guess which one) if hooligans and thugs knock over your box we place your mail on hold. When you come to the office if you give us a reasonable timeframe we will let you pick up your mail daily till your box is up. A reasonable time frame is within two weeks. We cant put mail in a box laying on the ground for several reasons. It is illegal because your mail will get wet if it rains, some of us(me) are too fat and old to bend over that far, most all of us have back problems, and if we weren't sorta lazy we would get real jobs. I do, however, allow my customers to use a damaged box placed back up on the pole temporarily until they can get a new one. The cheapest place to get one is walmart. They start at nine dollars. I can promise you your mail carrier is almost as mad at the vandals as you are because its is much easier to deliver your mail than keep it at the office, so i am sure they will work with you if you contact them. My attempt at humor is not meant to make light of your situation but maybe provide a little levity and hopefully clarify some postal rules that can be flexed to help customers.
FYI do not get the junky cheap metal ones at walmart for nine dollars. The handles fall off in a week. Get the junky cheap plastic ones forr nine dollars. They actually paid the chinese workers to assemble them unlike the metal ones.

 

[StrayMagnet]

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I agree. on the mailbox. if you need to put a temp up. get the plastic!! we use to have a Metal, and one day a passer by got to close to the mailbox's and Took my mailbox off the post and it went bouncind down the road an in the ditch.. I heard it.. and Went to see what the noise was. and they kept goin... it was a accdent but they could have stopped.

So i bought the plastic one.. and put it on the next day. and it's been accdently wacked twice once by me lol.. and once by some lady.. as soon as she hit it she hit her brakes and backed up to appoligize. it old her no harm no foul.. I was outside when it happend and I heard it and turn around quick I thought she blew a tire so I watched her car to make sure she didnt need help..
when she back up to apoligize i told her No worrie.. it looks like it will take more then a car going 40 miles to damage that sucker.

 

[country lady]

Have you thought about moving? I wouldn't want to live around those types of people. We have a big country and many wonderful neighbors. No one should have to put up with your situation. I have become so cynical about people now: their morals, lack of work ethic, and rude behavior. Fortunately, I have mostly wonderful neighbors, so they do exist.

 

[Laurajean]

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No! Moving because my box got hit?? No way. I just bought this house a year and a half ago, I have no intentions of moving! To be honest, if I add up all the pros and cons, the pros FAR outweigh the cons: I have a nice little cottage on a couple of acres surrounded by woods on all sides. Nature galore, lots of animals. Built my dream chicken coop/run, my neighbors mostly do their own thing and mind their own business, there's low crime in this town, it's actually my dream come true. The only thing is that there's kids in town that get bored and occasionally get into trouble. None of them even live near me, they just drove out into the boondocks to cause some trouble, but this is the first time I've seen anything like that here. And yes, my neighbors (most of them) are a bit lazy, because they've lived here their whole lives, so that's mildly annoying. But I'm certainly not going to move just because some kids hit my mailbox and I have lazy/odd neighbors!! No way! I worked hard to buy this place. I've lived in so many places in my life, and I wouldn't trade this for the world. I know that sounds odd on a thread complaining about vandalism, but this is hardly an every day event. And fortunately the two best neighbors happen to be the two closest to me, so I rarely have to see the others.