My mailbox was vandalized today

[cleveramerican]

I woke up this morning to find my mailbox smashed. The little flag was torn off and laying on the ground. Daisies at its base were stepped on and crushed. I am stunned.I have lived here for 14 years and am on good terms with my nearby neighbors.I take part in community events and try to be supportive of others who do the same.
I am a peaceful man but its struck me that its better that I didn't catch him. I don't think I could have stopped my self from beating his head in.This is a very unsettling thought.
The funny part is just two days ago I had the most sublime moment, sitting on the patio ,just me and the dog, watching the sun rise and slowly burn off the mist over my freshly mowed backyard.I realized my family was inside sleeping, safe and sound. I am current on my bills.The lawn and house are in good repair. It dawned on me how lucky I am, how hard work and good choices have worked out well for me. It was a magical moment that I savored.

.... And then this happens. Talk about the ying and yang of life!


Any comments?

[Deep13]

1. Someone crapped in mine.

That was over a year ago.

[mainegreen]

3. I am amazed at the places people crap.

I was shocked when my wife told me that people regularly crapped in the center of those circular clothes racks they have at Macy's.
Sick bastards.

[Hugin]

8. Did they ever prove it was KKKarl?

[Deep13]

9. No, there was no visible slime trail leading away from it. nt

[Wcross]

12. That was a shitty thing to do.

I wonder what goes through peoples minds that make them think it was a good idea.

[Crabby Appleton]

25. Special delivery!!

[Inchworm]

2. Teenagers doing what they do

I wouldn't take it personal. I guess they get bored and look for something to break.

Ours was destroyed with a row of 4 others 2 days after we put it up.

:hug:

[cleveramerican]

4. If I had caught them in the act....

I would have taken it REAL personal. Even though I know your right, I can't say exactly how I would have reacted.

[Omphaloskepsis]

6. Bored kids..

Kicking some 13 year old ass. Brilliant. The 30$ to replace the mailbox is cheaper than bail.

[cleveramerican]

11. The urge to lash out ,...

to protect my home was shockingly close to the surface in me. Thats partly why I feel bad about the whole thing now that a few hours have passed.

[Blue Diadem]

13. It's not always 13 yr olds.

Around here mailbox baseball is done by driving around. The kids are usually 16 and older. I've heard of college age males doing it too.

Not that anyone should risk going to jail or be beating someone's ass..but I do understand the OP's feelings. I'm a woman and I've felt like kicking ass for some of the vandalism that's been done to my property.

[Omphaloskepsis]

16. No shit..

I was under the impression that only 13 year olds smash mailboxes. Guess I was wrong.

[Blue Diadem]

18. smarty pants

:spank:

[AllegroRondo]

5. Have you considered a brick mailbox?

they are becoming very popular in my area due to drive-by smashings. Also, some people will mount their mailbox on the side of a 4x4 post, making it harder to hit, or putting a large metal pipe in the ground near the front of the box (cant hit the box with a pipe in the way!). Then theres the neighbor who put a small mailbox inside a large one, and filled the space between them with concrete.

[seemunkee]

10. Mailbox baseball

I've lost two to that and two to snowplows.

[trof]

24. Brick mailboxes outlawed in our town. 'Nanny' government?

Many brick homes in our area have matching brick mailboxes.
I guess since the mason is already on the job, it doesn't cost that much more to have him whip you up a mailbox.

A few years ago a teenager wiped out her car when she ran into one.
Her family sued THE CITY!
Reasoning: The mailbox was on city property (street right-of-way) and it was a road hazard. Anything in the right-of-way is supposed to be frangible/breakaway.
They won.
:eyes:

If you have a brick mailbox, you can keep it, BUT the city has to deed to you the 2 square feet it occupies so they are not liable.
I dunno...
:shrug:

[SteppingRazor]

7. I doubt they were targeting you specifically.

Having been a complete delinquent during my early teenage years, I did a lot of things I'm not proud of. The only time I can remember specifically targeting someone with vandalism was TPing a couple houses. Anything worse than that, and we were just looking to break something, regardless of who owned it.

Happily, I've reformed since then.

[supernova]

14. The reason I have not replaced

my 40 year old metal mailbox. It's already dented, rusty and the front door is off.

I haven't come up with a better idea. I like the brick though.

[supernova]

15. Dupe oops!

[Wcross]

17. Happend to me last year.

They tore it off the post and I found it a half mile down the road. You can buy cheap plastic boxes at (eeeek) Wal-mart for 6 bucks. Ever since then nobody has touched it, I guess its beneath them to destroy a 6 dollar box.

[swag]

19. That'll teach you to mow your lawn when your neighbor is trying to have

JUST ONE FUCKING QUIET AFTERNOON in the screen porch.

No, seriously. Sorry that happened. Some people are shits.

[Gormy Cuss]

22. Damn straight.

Your neighbor in Connecticut is not happy.

Mailbox baseball doesn't happy in city neighborhoods with mailboxes mounted on the house. I blame the post office.

[GoneOffShore]

20. There's always the shotgun loaded with rock salt

Or the airpowered potato cannon- Don't use carbide but DO use rotten potatoes.

http://www.instructables.com/id/EDFTHMSTCJEQ2W334L/

http://www.spudfiles.com/

(Links added on edit)

[reyd reid reed]

21. It's things like this that *really* make you appreciate

the good things in your life. We live in a nice, quiet neighborhood and we've had our mailbox trashed more times than I can count. Battered on with bats and pumpkins and driven over and any number of things. We're probably on our fifth or sixth box in 18 years and this one's been picked up and replaced on its pole about a half-dozen times. And I still feel fortunate when I think about what *could* have happened. Yesterday...on the other side of the highway, up in another nice neighborhood, a woman was leaving for work and pulled out of her driveway. She noticed her mailbox was standing open at the curb, so she looked -- and found an undetonated pipe bomb inside. Apparently there was no rhyme or reason, just a random act, but...

Appreciate the quiet moments.

:hug:

[grace0418]

23. These things are random sometimes. I remember a few years ago I woke up to the sound

of squealing tires. I looked out the window in time to see a guy get out of his car, run to a car parked on the street, smash the windshield and drive away. I didn't have my glasses on so I couldn't read the plates, but I ran out to offer a description.

The car with the smashed windshield belonged to one of my neighbors. I felt so bad for the guy because he had just moved to Chicago from some very small town in Michigan. He got a good job, bought a condo and was going to get married. Within a very short time span, he lost his job and his fiance left him. He had just put his condo on the market to move back home and was leaving the next week when the windshield thing happend. He had no enemies that he knew of (he hardly knew anyone in Chicago). It was just a random, really sucky thing. I'm sure he really didn't have an extra $500 lying around to pay for that deductible either.

Oh, and it was starting to rain as we stood outside talking. Luckily, we have a rented garage space for one of our cars so I pulled out and let him leave his car there until he could get it fixed. I hate when the universe kicks people when they're down.

Anyway, sorry about your mailbox. I doubt it was directed at you. Just some asshole being destructive.

[trof]

26. Funny mailbox story: My 'W' Post Turtle

We live on a bay, and our mailbox is mounted on one of three pilings with a thick rope wound around them.
Very salty looking.
;-)

I heard the Bush as Post Turtle story and decided to make my own.
I found a lifelike plastic(?) turtle and epoxied it to the top of one of the pilings.
On the side of the piling under the turtle I nailed a 2" reflective 'W'.
Wondered if any of my mostly repug neighbors would 'get it'.
Got no comments.

A few months later, I noticed some chipping around the turtle's shell.
Vandalism?
A week or so later the head was gone. Couldn't find it anywhere.
Bastid repugs!

And then one morning I was looking out a front window and saw a squirrel gnawing on what was left of my turtle.

Found out that, like rats, their teeth never stop growing and they have to find hard things to gnaw on to keep them ground down.
:rofl:

[NV Whino]

29. A republican squirrel no doubt.

[trof]

31. Hadn't thought of that. Probably so.

[RubyDuby in GA]

27. I had mine knocked in with a bat about a year ago

They hit mine and the next two houses down. While my neighbors bought new ones, I just put mine back up on the post and it's being held on with a bungee cord. Stills works and the mail lady puts my mail in there just like the other ones.

I won't let the little bastards win. They think they've inconvenienced me. Nope.

[trof]

28. Baseball bat is tool of choice.

They come through our neighborhood once in a while.
Usually around high school graduation time.
My plastic mailbox is pretty much impervious.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

30. In the big scheme of things,

it's just a mailbox! :)
And probably a random act by a teenager who doesn't yet know him or herself........

[Blue_Tires]

32. i had something similar happen some weeks ago

and posted about it here...woke up one monday morning and saw the mailbox GONE...someone ran it over with a car, and then STOLE the mailbox and post it was attached to, just leaving a jagged wooden stump...i don't know why, but even with all the other things going on in my life and the world, i had never in my life been so angry (easily angry enough to kill)...it took me three weeks to settle the rage down...

[femmocrat]

33. We got so tired of replacing mailboxes that we got a P.O. Box instead.

It's usually kids in pick-up trucks committing random acts of violence against mailboxes.

[cleveramerican]

34. its been replaced

bought myself nice white new one, $12 seemed pretty cheap to me.

If that bastard comes back.....

[Flaxbee]

35. someone blew our neighbor's to bits with a shotgun

the mailboxes sat in groups of two, and ours and hers were right next to each other. I'd painted ours an obnoxiously loud pink (helped people find our house - we lived in the boonies!) and hers was standard green. I don't know who or what they were aiming for, probably just the same jackasses who shoot at traffic signs.

People are just really messed up.

But, I wouldn't take it personally - the urge to protect is strong, but it is just property - nothing that can't be replaced. Now, if someone came after my family or a pet, that'd be an entirely different situation.