While helping my Dad-in-law plant a new mailbox by the side of the road (again); He mentioned that the next time he has to replace it (due to kids driving by and whacking it with a bat) he is going to install one similar to those of his neighbors’. - Steel reinforced cement.
Sure they’re harder to vandalize, but it happens nonetheless in their neck of the woods, and they’re more expensive to replace.
I propose a thick steel mailbox with a spring post. Whack away! It will behave as an inflatable punching bag does and may even strike back.-- Shz, Aug 30 2003 (?) Inflatable Punching Bag http://shop.everlas...e-punching-bag.html [Shz, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 06 2004] (?) my idea of a letterbox http://www.falconwi...tures/letterbox.jpg [po, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 06 2004] (?) thought that might be the reason. http://www.mediacel...actus-letterbox.jpgtry one of these beauties then. [po, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 06 2004] Bobo doll experiments http://www.criminol...imtheory/Image2.gifDie Bobo Die!!! [jivetalkinrobot, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 06 2004] [po] rural mailboxes are on a post at the end of the driveway so the mailman can lean out the window and put the mail in as he drives by. Houses are too far apart in the new world for the mailman to go about on foot. Here, anyhow. Mailbox baseball evolved soon after. Great idea, Shz +.-- lintkeeper2, Aug 30 2003 Make it so it retracts rapidly into the ground if approached by anything too fast. The batter will miss and may attack their friend's car instead. :-)-- Loris, Aug 30 2003 How about a wireless camera and motion detect software to catch the kids doing it and get the license plate number.-- DeathNinja, Aug 30 2003 Sounds like a job for hippo's silent dodgy mailbox.-- waugsqueke, Aug 30 2003 I was just thinking that!-- thumbwax, Aug 30 2003 An exploding mailbox would keep the little buggers at bay. The safety people might object. A post office box may be a solution.-- LabRat, Aug 31 2003 What would happen if an unstoppable bat met an unbreakable mailbox?-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Sep 01 2003 jutta, that is perfect.
I think I've got a new, cheaper and better solution than my previous.
You need a semi-rigid plastic container with a spout, integrated with the mail-box on the side facing traffic. You fill this container with water. The spout has a horizontal slit to maximise the angle covered, and faces just slightly away from perpendicular to the traffic.
Your batter will receive a faceful of water when they hit this postbox.
Well, it works for cats.
I think this also has the advantage of being safe in the event of a wayward car crashing into it.-- Loris, Sep 01 2003 Or a wayward cat.-- Canuck, Sep 02 2003 Illegal here in the states due to the safety concerns. My dad's solution to both the kids and the snowshovels? The mailbox is cantilevered on a pivoting mount, set back 3 feet. Hit it, it just spins.-- RayfordSteele, Sep 02 2003 I like [po]'s idea. Brighten up your street with a good, ol' piece of British street furniture.-- silverstormer, Sep 02 2003 What [silverstormer] said. Look! It even has a litle Daily Mail in in it! Bless!-- gnomethang, Sep 02 2003 I remember a segment on THis Old House (or one of the lookalike home improvment shows) where they built a mailbox that would total even the biggest pickup truck.-- DrCurry, Sep 02 2003 Put a plastic plate on the side of the mailbox, camoflaged to look like the true side. Concealed under the mailbox is a CO2 actuated paintball gun which fired indelible paint. When the side plate is whacked, the paintball gun goes off, marking the hooligan's car. Ideally this would be paint which required sunlight exposure to develop. The hoons would not be aware they had been marked. No doubt they sleep late, while the morning sun exposes the paint. Then the stormtroopers arrive.-- bungston, Sep 05 2003 Custard-filled mailboxes?-- Condiment, Dec 08 2003 random, halfbakery