How to Stop Mailbox Vandalism

I was tired of picking up my mailbox off the ground and duct taping it back on the post, my neighbors use to laugh at me because of the duct tape, they would go out and buy another cheap mailbox, but not me, I was fed up and fought back! Now I have the last laugh as I drive off to work and everyone's mailbox is on the ground, except mine.

After duct taping my mailbox back on the post about 4 times, I decided I needed to do something to stop this from happening, but what? Mailbox vandalism was bad in my neighborhood, especially on my side of the street. What do I mean "my side of the street"? I live on a dead end street, a cul-de-sac, the kids wouldn't touch the mailboxes on the way in the neighborhood, but mine was on the way out, and my mailbox got clobbered every time.

So I searched for indestructible mailboxes on line and came up with a the perfect solution, but I wasn't sure if it would work, these kids were throwing large rocks at the mailboxes and I wasn't sure if just a heavy duty mailbox would stop it from happening, face it, you'll never stop mailbox vandalism so you need to fight fire with fire, so I gave it a shot.

The first time my new indestructible mailbox got hit, it broke off the post bracket because I only had it screwed to a piece of wood. I made a few modifications to ensure this would never happen again. I found a bracket kit that attached to the mailbox and the post bracket, so I bought two wood post adapter plates. I mounted both wood post adapter plates on either side of the wood plate under the mailbox, then drilled 2 holes up through the center of the mailbox from the bottom, through the post bracket, and then the wooden plate that is sandwiched between the mailbox brackets, I added a couple of large washers to the inside of the mailbox and on the other end of the bolts, at the post bracket, this sucker wasn't going anywhere!

I have had great success with my new indestructible mailbox, I can't stop the vandalism but I can fight back, and that's what I did. I wrote a blog on this same topic, it started out as a place to vent, but then people started emailing me asking questions and telling me their own stories, all I wanted to do is rant about how I debunked the punk smashing my mailbox, but something else happened, I inspired other people to do the same, fight back. One guy put lally columns (cement filled steel post) on both sides of his mailbox to protect it, so someone put an M80 explosive in it to prove a point.

I had another guy tell me he bought the same mailbox I did and hung it from chains on a large post; (if you hang a mailbox from chain, it will not absorb the impact, it will swing out of the way) he never had another problem after that. I thought it was cool that I was connecting with people, but helping them at the same time. If you're having the same problem with mailbox vandalism, you need to get creative with how to approach your situation because every problem seems to be unique. This isn't the first time I had problems with mailbox vandalism, I came home one day to find my whole mailbox missing, I thought to myself "who does this and why?"

The mailbox and brackets I used are all on Amazon, the mailbox is made by Solar and the brackets are standard steel mailbox brackets. I use galvanized bolts for longevity and I bought them at a local hardware store. The post bracket I already had, but you can find one on Amazon as well, I added all the products I used in the Amazon advertisements on this page, but like I said, every situation is unique and you may not need everything I used. I like to over kill all my projects, I wanted to make it as indestructible as possible, I hate doing things twice. If you have any comments please ask, I have fun helping people with this ongoing problem, I figure if I can come up with a solution for a problem, why not share what I've learned, it also calms me to know I am robbing some punk kid of his good time, it brings a smile to my face :)

If you liked this article or if you know someone who has a problem with mailbox vandalism/ mailbox baseball, please share this article with them, or I would really appreciate it if you would just push one of those buttons at the top of the page that says "Like" or "Tweet," that would be awesome! Thank you :)