Quote History Quoted:
I knew a guy who was having issues with kids smashing his mailbox with ball bats.
He took a piece of 1/4" steel and rolled it into the shape of a mailbox, then welded it
to a piece of 4" steel pipe. He then set it in concrete.
I don't know if kids ever hit it with a bat again, but if they did I'm sure it was the last time they did.
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This.
Our solution was to buy several 4 X 4 posts.
We sank them into concrete and built a cage around our box.
They could come along and hit the cage with the bat, but it would hurt like hell.
What we WANTED to do was buy one of the "farm size" mailboxes, sink a regular "residential" size box inside it, then pour the inside with high-pressure concrete. Set it out there and let them swing their bat at it.
Once.
We figured that's about all they would get, and they might get a broken arm out of it.
We never used this method because the 4 X 4s worked for us.
Nobody hit our mailbox once it was in 4 X 4 jail.
Could they smash it from the front?
Yes.
But they'd have to slow WAY down to do that, and that would take all the joyriding thrill-junkie fun out of it for them. so they didn't.
ETA: I just don't see what the security camera would do for you.
Will you know who did it?
Yes.
Will that stop it? Likely not. Law enforcement is not going to do anything to those kids, you'll end up being the "local asshole" if you persecute them over a mailbox (since, you know, it's been happening for generations now. And yes, I was ready to declare war, but it's not a fight I could have won--not with the law anyhow.) AND...if you end up taking down some kids for it, other kids will then see it as a challenge. Stupid? Yeah. But you know they will.