Brick Mailboxes Offer Protection Against Vandalism

I used to live in a rural area about 30 miles outside of the city of St. Louis, Missouri. It was in a river valley, one of the small tributaries that flow into the mighty Mississippi. Except for the occasional flood, it was nice for someone who was very used to living in the city. In the summer I could take long walks in the woods, float down the river, or go fishing, and in the winter chop wood and sit by the fireplace sipping cocoa, or something a little bit stronger. There was one thing however, that shattered my idyllic existence: "mailbox bashing."

At first it was very infrequent. Every few months or so I would go out to get the mail only to find that the mailbox had either been ripped off of its pole or leaning at a crazy angle over on the ground. The solution was simple, push the thing back upright and tighten the screws that held the box to the wooden pole. After a few months of this, the vandals became more resourceful and aggressive. One time the box had been smashed beyond all recognition with a heavy blunt instrument like a baseball bat or possibly even a sledgehammer. The battle was on, me against them. I bought a new metal box to the tune of about $15.00 and some fast-drying concrete, fastened the box to the pole with some very long heavy duty screws, dug a new hole and filled it with concrete. For a time this actually appeared to work. The box stayed in place and functioning, though it did show some evidence of being battered a little. Then the boys pulled out the big guns. I awoke one morning to find that the box and the pole had been destroyed beyond recognition. Someone had run over the thing with a car. For the next couple of years I drove down to the local post office a few times a week to pick up my mail. It was like something out of Andy Griffith. Oh well, at least it was on my way to work.