Height for rural mailbox

Does anyone know what the height is supposed to be for a rural mailbox? I live on a rural gravel road and there is a deep ditch next to the road. I originally put a wooden post right on the edge of the road, but in summer the box just falls over after heavy rains because the edge of the road to ditch is so steep that there is nothing to really dig in to, unless I put the post hole about 6 feet deep. Besides that, the box is actually hanging over the road, and more than once a car has hit it. In the winter, the snow plows have broken off the post several times, and that just happened this past winter again. I drove a steel t-post next to the wooden post and wired it on, but it rained hard the other day and I found the mailbox in the ditch again.

I'm completely fed up with fixing that damn thing about 5 times a year, which means I have now fixed it around 40 times since I moved here 8 years ago.

I just took an 8 foot piece of 2" steel pipe and welded a shelf on top, that sticks out 3 feet past the post. This way I can put the post down at the bottom of the ditch, and the mailbox will not overhang the road. This seems like a more sensible method and it's unlikely the plow will hit it. The only problem is that after I installed it, the mailbox is only about 40" above the road level. It looks low compared to neighbors boxes or what my old wooden post was. I'm only in the ground about 16" so I cant raise it any more.

Is there some measurement that the post office requires?

If it's too low, I'll have to either weld on more pipe at the bottom, or maybe get a larger pipe and make a sleeve. I plan to put concrete around the post, but until I know the acceptable height limits I am not going to do that. Right now I just packed some rocks around the post in the hole, so I can get my mail. (Its too cold to make concrete anyhow). And I suppose if I make a sleeve, the post and mailbox will rotate when it gets windy.

Another thought is to put some old tires around the post and fill them with concrete, which so far seems to be the best idea I can come up with, and then I could raise the post in the ground.

It's just a bad place to put a mailbox. On the other side of the road it would be easy since there is no deep ditch, but the P.O. said they wont deliver on that side.

Anyone have ideas?

thanks

Reply to
letterman
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Your mailbox is a little low, ask the letter carrier what he/she wold prefer 42 to 48 seems about right.

2" is a bit large & might create "fixed object" hazard. The pole should break away if hit. Consider putting a 2" pipe into the ground (really deep) & then reducing to 1.5" via a bell reducer or bushing & coupling. That way, if hit, the piece the ground will survive & the above ground pipe can be replaced easily.

Your mailbox cannot overhang the road, it must be back away from the pavement edge so it will not be hit. But within reach for the letter carrier.

cheers Bob

Reply to
BobK207

Call your friendly post office. They will give you the acceptable ranges. Try to mount your box close to the middle of these ranges.

Reply to
Phisherman

when we lived in a rural area, we had our mailbox ANCHORED into the group with CEMENT, but it was on a hinged cable, and if it was hit,(damn those snowplows!) it would swing away! worked like a charm!

Reply to
readandpostrosie

That is the best answer. Rural carriers usually drive their own vehicles so that might vary. You might as well take care of the person who is taking care of you.

Reply to
gfretwell

op might consider making the T part "swingable". Maybe connected with a sleeve on/over the pipe. A pin on the back of the sleeve and a pin on the front of the pipe. A set of springs between the two pins to "hold/return" it to center.

we also had the ever washing ditch problem, put an 8 foot piece of corrugated steel drain pipe in the ditch in front of the box. i think the county crew gave us a used section they removed when installing a larger diameter down the road. they don't like wiping out mailboxes, plows and axles either.

-- larry/dallas

Reply to
larry

snipped-for-privacy@invalid.com wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Another long story.

Reply to
TD

Consider some local politicking: Ask your Postmaster if he could intervene with your road commissioner to have a pull-off area constructed for your mailbox. Mention the safety aspects for the delivery carrier, damage to snow plows, etc., etc. That has worked out well in our township for many years. Snotty township road officials found out long that messing with the mail carrier guys caused all kinds of problems, like delayed deliveries, letters misdelivered, etc., all honest mistakes (!). As the complaints multiplied, the pull- off areas were added where there was obvious need. So it really is a win-win situation when everyone cooperates and quits acting like idiots in Congress. HTH

Joe

Reply to
Joe

I have one in my neighborhood that is the old style, has the red flag raised, has red letters on the side saying "AIR MAIL" and is atop a 30' pole.

Check with the PO, and they will give you all that. After deciding where it goes, I suggest a strong one for errant drivers or country boys who like to take baseball bats to it. I lined my old aluminum one with plate steel and put it on a 4" pipe with one bys to disguise the pipe. Every year or two there'd be some new damage, and another graduating class learned the hazards of mailbox baseball.

Steve

Reply to
SteveB

Your local postmaster will be happy to direct you as to how to locate your rural mail box. If there's a culvert ditch in that spot you may consider installing a wooden plank over it anchored at both ends by driving in rebar. Then mount your mail box post on the plank with whatever fasteners you choose... screw a piece of board to the bottom of the post and then screw that to the plank... whatever.

I had a similar problem, lots of folks here do with snow plows wiping out mail boxes. Have you considered a PO Box, that's what I did... and ever since my rural mail box hasn't been hit even once. I really only keep the rural mail box as a place to have my name and house number as a way for delivery people to find where I live... I now much prefer the PO Box.

Reply to
Sheldon

a lot better than the two liners that don't give enough detail to thoughtfully answer the question.

but you can always look at the line count, if it's over 4 lines skip over it

i thought that would have been obvious.

Reply to
larry

Hehehe. At my first house I did something similar. My mailbox was on the outside of a sweeping curve that made it just TOO easy for the punks to drift off the road enough to mow it down. After about the 5th time, I found some 8" well casing at the scrap metal yard. I sunk it about 8 feet into the ground and filled it with rebar and concrete. I built a wood veneer around it to make it look like a wooden pole mount.

Shortly after installation, I came home one day to find cops everywhere and half a car in my yard, the other half in a yard on the other side of the road. The driver was stinking-ass drunk, was flying and slid sideway into the pole. The wood veneer was gone, as was the mailbox (attached with lightweight hardware to allow it to break away) but the pole was 100% intact. The drunk was too, unfortunately. Cops all congratulated me on a well-designed mailbox and anti-drunk weapon.

A friend solved the mailbox baseball problem similar to yours. He lived in a cluster with his family and all their mailboxes were in one place on a rack. The leading mailbox was a dummy, filled solid with concrete. Occasionally he'd see a scar on the mailbox and pieces of baseball bat on the ground. Another radius bit the dust :-)

John

-- John De Armond See my website for my current email address

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Reply to
Neon John

Design the pole like a modern baseball "batting tee". It swings when hit:)

Visit a sports shop for ideas. One looks similar/like this*, just modify for your needs.

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Reply to
Oren

I've seen these in the Everglades( grew up in south Florida), Near the Big Cypress swamp. Actually not far from the nation's smallest Post Office, Ochopee, FL.

...The post office at Ochopee, Florida, our nation's smallest, is a regular stop on the south Florida tourist circuit. The building, once a tool shed, was converted into the post office after a fire in 1953 destroyed the original Ochopee Post Office located in the Gaunt Company Store...

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Reply to
Oren

Dear Clark Griswold, The post master hasn't been sober in years, so you'll have to just live with it.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

Dear Postal Customer,

Usually and ordinarily when short of employees, we fly our flags at half staff.

Reply to
Oren

oooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!! I'd love to watch that.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

My rural mailbox is a stand alone, not in a cluster, so I took a medium and large mail box, arranged them coaxially and filled the space in between with concrete. The resulting mailbox weighed 100 pounds, so I had to use a 12" I Beam set upright as the post. I did not need to have a breakaway installation, since the post sits behind a guard rail. The mailbox sits forward enough for the letter carrier to put mail in it without getting out. The first person who tried to play mailbox baseball with it broke his bat.

It did get damaged once however, when a big truck that was trying to turn around on the narrow road backed into it, the rear corner of the truck went over the guard rail. But it just knocked the box off of the post, all I had to do was host it back up and reinstall it.

Reply to
BR

Someone else put up one of the tall "Air mail" boxes along route 118 in Pennsylvania.

Reply to
BR

This one is in Leeds, Utah. I need to get a photo of it next time I drive through there. It's about eight miles from me, and I occasionally go through there on the way fishing.

Steve

Reply to
SteveB

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