Our mail was being forwarded to a private mail handling service so immediate replacement of the box was not an issue. We had a handyman haul off the remains. Shortly after we returned home, the mail carrier stopped by, told us she did it, gave us a claim form. The USPS honored the claim, paid enough to replace the box in kind.
We decided to do a gabion column instead of stucco. I took a jackhammer to the remains of the stucco box, and ordered the gabion parts, a locking mailbox and a set of metal house numbers. Assembly was fairly easy but hauling the rocks was another matter. We made numerous trips to a local rock place, hand picking the rocks and hauling them home in 5-gallon buckets. Over a ton of rocks!
When the project was completed, we congratulated ourselves, and I said, "If they hit that, they'll know they really hit something!"
Sure enough, 3 weeks ago, it got bashed again. Ruined. And yes, whoever did the dirty deed bloody well knew it. Couldn't prove it, but given the angle and height of impact, we're 99% sure it was the mail carrier. Again. The local post office 'investigated' but the alleged perp didn't confess (had already done a hit and run, so no surprise) and the vehicle's heavy duty rubber bumper appeared to be undamaged. As they say in Russia, tough shit-ski.
I ordered new gabion parts and we built it all over again, much quicker this time cuz the rocks were already there. I positioned the new box further back from the road, hopefully making it less vulnerable to dipstick mail carriers and demolition derby wannabees.
That covers the 2 most recent bashes. The first bash occurred several years ago. Neighbor lady hit the old stucco box, causing cosmetic damage. She paid for the repair.
Wanna place a bet on how long it will be before it gets bashed again? Given the history, I'm not betting.
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