Today was an adventurous day for us. We had to go to the DMV to get our Connecticut drivers licenses. That in itself was an adventure. Now, we need to update our car insurance and go back to register the cars here. The thing that really stinks is that I just paid for a new registration for my old car, then got a new car and paid again. Now, I have to pay all over. I wish they would pro-rate a refund for me. Fat chance of that happening.
We also went to Home Depot to get the new mailbox supplies. As I said in an earlier post, I got the new post, a mailbox, some Thompson’s Water Seal, some cement and the brass post numbers. I think that’s it. I mean, I got some other stuff too, but none of it relates to this story. Ok, I’ll tell you what else I got…a new rake, a rake handle that I broke the other day and a 5 gallon, plastic gas tank. Satisfied?
I got the post all soaked with the water seal, then nailed on the numbers. Then, I cut a piece of scrap wood and screwed it on to the post and then screwed the mailbox onto the scrap wood. I am a real carpenter. I did have another job before me though, and that was to get the old mailbox out of the ground. I had no idea how it was installed.
I went up to the road with my shovel and started digging. Then, I noticed some rocks that were cemented together. I had to walk back down to the garage to get my sledgehammer. I walked back up and broke the rocks and cement apart with the hammer. That was pretty easy. Ok, so I started wiggling the mailbox post, trying t pull it out of the ground. Oh, no, not that easy. I first had to dig some more dirt out, only to find more cement down at the bottom. I dug and dug and finally got the whole thing out. I kind of made a bigger hole than I thought I would. Honestly, I thought would just go up there and pull the sucker out and use my post hole digger to widen the hole a bit. Now, I had a two foot hole across. Whatever. I used the post hole digger to dig down a few inches, so the new mailbox was the proper height, whatever that is. It looked good to me.
Cement time…I went back down to the garage and mixed up the bag of cement I got in the wheelbarrow. I brought that up and cemented the whole base of the post. I threw in some rocks and dirt on top of th cement. Then, I used my level about 30 times to make sure the post was perfectly level. I stomped the dirt down and…
…there you have it. The most level mailbox post on the whole road. You can’t tell me that’s not the most perfect install you have ever seen. Sometimes, I need to just pat myself on the back (since no one else will).
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I don’t believe you, take a picture with the level on it.
I’de say with the trajectory of the wind and the magnitude of the gravitational pull of the earth times the rays of sunlight beating on it and the groundhog digging holes underneath it to undermine it, the levelness could be in jeopardy and should be monitored and measured at precisely the same exact time each day and all data findings be compounded and reported to the level police at the end of the month for inspection. Only AFTER all this could we declare set such item as level.
Damn. Now I have to go back up there with the level again.
I’d get an all-steel locking mailbox if I were you. Identity theft, you know, and it’s pretty easy when you can just pop the lid and pull out someone’s mail. Meth heads have been doing a lot of this. A sturdy steel locking mailbox of at least 14 gauge will hold up better to ‘mailbox baseball’ than your average tin-can job.
I think you might need to move to a new neighborhood. Meth heads?
Mary, it’s common to think that only ‘nice people’ frequent nice neighborhoods. Not so, anymore. Actually mail thieves, including meth users and others who depend on identity theft for a livelihood like to target curbside mailboxes in more expensive, upscale neighborhoods – why? well there are more goodies! Netflix dvds, cards with money, boxes of checks, credit cards and card applications, etc. And more money in the accounts they access after stealing your info from your little unlocked mailbox.
Point well taken. And I thought I had all my bases covered when I worried about the 400 other things in my life. Now I have to worry about meth heads coming in my neighborhood stealing my mail.
You know, I am over 70 years old and have never met anyone who even knew a meth head.
I can see it now when the mailman delivers my mail a month late. I would ask what took so long and he would tell me its because he was too busy unlocking all those mailboxes.
Again, the mail carrier doesn’t unlock ANYTHING when delivering mail to a individual curbside locking mailbox, and he doesn’t fool with any keys. You keep the key.
Mailman comes by, drops your mail into the mailbox slot of your locking mailbox or (depending upon the design), opens a door and deposits your mail – no key. Your mail falls down into a secure locked lower area of the mailbox. You come by later, unlock the door to the lower compartment, and retrieve your mail. Pretty simple, really.
As Glen said, a locking mailbox does not require the mailman to have a key, you keep the key. There is so much more at stake these days with the stolen identity potential, a security mailbox is the best way to protect yourself.
As a police officer and crime analyst, I would like to throw my 2 cents in. In the more affluent neighborhoods, bear in mind that those homeowners can afford landscapers, contractors, etc. The homeowner that calls someone to change a light bulb. You know the guy. That means more people in the neighborhood on a daily basis that don’t live there. While they are putting in Mr. Jone’s water feature, they are also making mental notes. ID theft is a pain in the proverbial cajones. Such a tough crime to solve. Any steps you can take ahead of time can certainly help, make you feel all warm and cozy but strike a balance. If the perp wants what is in your mailbox, you think that little lock will stop them? Sure it will deter the one just checking boxes randomly, but if your mailbox contents have been targeted, that lock is useless. If you are constantly thinking you are going to be a victim of ID Theft and not (like my mother) shop online, lock your mailbox, not use online banking, shred your mail, etc. You could do all that and still be victim of ID Theft. All your efforts to prevent it from happening were for nothing, making this frustrating crime even more maddening. I know from personal experience. My credit number was stolen from Hannaford’s Supermarket. My locked mailbox and shredder just stood on the sidelines, helmets in their little hands. Biggest help was the credit card company. One or two phone calls, a faxed letter was all I needed and I got the money(credit)back. It was easier to get things back to normal than do prevent it from happening in the first place. I wasted all that time and energy to trying to prevent something that happened anyway. My frustration was escalated because I put so much thought and effort in prevention. I joined a credit monitoring service so it will not be years before I know someone spends thousands of dollars under my name. Hard to believe it would be years before one would know someone opened a card in your name. But I have personally completed police reports for that very crime. I do not lock my mailbox anymore, but I do monitor my credit.