How should I handle this (neighbor question)

Can you really not control yourself? Get someone else to do it - married? GF?

Try the super-nice tactic first. Figure out when the sumabich comes home/leaves for work, whatever, and be outside near the road. Flag him down - be looking over your broken mailbox when you do this - and cheerfully and sheepishly wave him over to the side of the road. Tell the dude (or girl, you never know) that their kid must have borrowed the car or something because the good neighbor said it was his/her truck blah blah blah - all with a big smile, almost apologetically. If the guy/girl takes the bait, you can ask him/her politely to drive a little slower and to please mind your property. Tell him/her the sheriff was very interested, but you weren't interested in being a jerk to a new neighbor, and that you were totally sure that they had a teenage kid that borrowed the truck occasionally...

And that stuff.

Now, if at any point they guy/girl gets defensive, drives away while you are talking, doesn't pull over, throws beer at you etc... it's on.

I'd recommend removing the oil from the truck. Leave 1/2 qt so they don't suspect sabotage, you can do this at night wearing black - no big deal.

Second to that, just be an ass - pull off one wheel, sit it on the driveway, leave the truck on a block, and throw the lugnuts into the road.

Even better, just jack up the truck and leave on rear wheel just barely off the ground - endless fun when you hear him try to leave in the morning.

Mailbox reinforcement would be highly recommended at this point.

OK, the right thing to do is to call the sarge and tell him up front that you do not want to press charges but in case it happens again to someone else he will know that it isn't a one time thing.

Then, put your mailbox back up... at the end of his driveway.

I'm not much on the reinforced mailbox idea - it could turn a simple misjudgement into major damage. Think kid on a bike.

I'd follow up with the police. It'd be good if you could get the license number on the truck. And be careful about adding any information you didn't actually see - Have you seen them speeding in the neighborhood yourself? Just the facts, ma'am.

Oh, and don't expect much CSI. It's a mailbox - this time.

Try leaving this note in the mailbox:

"Last week, someone knocked over my mailbox and did not come forward. There are a few witnesses, but I would appreciate any additional information before proceeding further for compensation. If you can help out, I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you!"

This states an intent to fix the situation instead of escalating it, and sometimes it is easier to express oneself calmly in writing than in person. If anything, it also suggests that you know without pointing any fingers.

i dont think a kid on a bike would get any more hurt crashing into a mailbox on a reinforced pole than they would running into a 4x4 post. some shiny happy person in a car though...

I have a pink bunny suit, size XXL that you can borrow........just sayin'.

-Les

I drove by again tonight and got the whole plate #. I'll call sarge tomorrow. If he asks if I want to press charges, I'll say no but I'll make it clear to the sarge that I want this dude to learn to slow down and watch the freakin road. Maybe there'll be a ticket or something?
The thing is, like others said, it was only my mailbox this time. But next time if it's a kid I won't bother calling the cops. I'll handle it myself!!

Seriously folks, who does this? I keep thinking to myself "calm down dude, it's only a freaking mailbox" but then I think, because it was only a mailbox he should have stopped. If he'd have stopped, we would have walked out there and I'd have probably just said don't worry, I'll take care of it. But this dude is a prick!

many many many yrs ago I drove like a shiny happy person, also drank 10 - 15 beers a night and drove home.... every night of the wk, for ~ 15 yrs.... ( I've since grown up bit.... no more speeding through the neighborhood, and no more drinking and driving) but once I did the same thing to a mail box on the way home ... destroyed it.... went back the next day, they had already replaced it, went home got an envelope and put $30 in it and that night went back and put in their box w/ a note of apology .... doubt if they every figured out who I was, I lived ~ 1/2 mi up the rd.

it was about that time that I started the "growing up" phase...

EastCoastMojo wrote: I'm not advocating laying down and being a victim, I just think the hassle and potential backlash from the kind of asshat who would do this to begin with is not worth the satisfaction of saying "I know it was you". Dr. Boost knows who did it and Mr. Asshat knows who's mailbox he plowed through. Going over there is not likely to yield the wanted result, which I assume is assurance the the world is not actually full of asshats who will cream a neighbor's mailbox and not own up to it. Life is too short to get tangled up in that. I say, let it go.

Excatly

id not bothered the police and sent the remains of the mail box to him via mail, wrapped in brown paper.. sorta like a dead fish.. he'd get the message...

aircooled wrote: You could always JB Weld the remains of the mailbox on the hood of the truck.

...or, better yet, slotted neatly into the correspondingly dented fender.

As someone who has anger management issues I try to limit the situations I put myself in where I might have trouble. Here is how I read the OP:

DrBoost wrote: The question is, what should I do? A) Go over there. This can get dicey. I can have a bit of a temper. I see things getting ugly possibly. B) I don't think it has to go as far as the cops. This guy is my neighbor and I'd like to handle it like civilized folks. C) Let it go.

I'd call the cops. They know they hit it, and they haven't done anything about it. They are already being shiny happy people, and probably won't change.

John Brown wrote: I installed my last mailbox with rebar reinforced brick. It would have eaten that Ranger.

My uncles mailbox is 4x4-1/4" steel post, wrapped in wood. It kept getting knocked down till that change. After the change, he once found a half of a baseball bat next to it. I have been informed that this is illegal, and anything near the road must be a 'breakaway' design.

Mine will break away. After it rips the guts out of the car that hit it I will stand it back up and go about my business with a smile on my face. I figure all that steel will at least get a oil pan. I hope they try to run.

Mail them the broken mail box. Then mail them a horse's head a few days later, just for laughs.

I had an old timer in at work one day and we got talking about "mailbox baseball"

He said it happened to him a few times until he replaced the mailbox with an identical malbox that was filled with concrete.

About a week later, he found a baseball bat on the ground near his mailbox. Apparently your hands get a bit tingly when you mess with this mailbox.

"Stealth" reinforced mailbox FTW, just make sure you put another, functional mailbox on the lee side of the armoured mailbox.

Shawn

eye for an eye?.... take their mailbox out with a similarly colored truck.

I favor the Go-Talk-To-The-Guy. Most people when confronted will at least make noises about being polite. So unless this guy is a world class jerk, if you're polite "Hi my name is Bob, some of us have noticed you drive a litle fast", he'll make all the right noises about being sorry. Then if he keeps doing it you gave him a chance.

As for the mailbox, pass the info up, let it go I say.

DrBoost wrote: But next time if it's a kid I won't bother calling the cops. I'll handle it myself!!

Then you are an idiot. If there is ever a time not to handle it on your own, that would be it.

If you're not going to do anything, why bother calling the cop? What, you think this neighbor is going to be impressed by a cop saying "slow down"? There's no ticket, especially with you refusing to press charges.

In fact, this will likely egg the guy on. After all, he's won and cowed you down into submitting to his actions. He does what he wants, and you do nothing in response. He's the alpha dog, and you, you're nothing.

Most folks won't stop for a mailbox or such. Never have. Taking responsibility for ones actions is not a natural response. Knocking over mailboxes, going through fences, tearing up yards, etc. Run and leave the mess for others. Look in this board, you'll see many people bragging about doing exactly that.

Let it go. You don't need some asshat eyeball berkelying you every time he sees you.

When I was a little kid my mother said something to the guy around the corner for driving like a twit, there are seven kids in the family and many others living on the street. I remember every night this dickwad sitting in front of the house revving the engine for a minute or two and the doing a burnout.

Let it go.

foxtrapper wrote:

DrBoost wrote: But next time if it's a kid I won't bother calling the cops. I'll handle it myself!!

Then you are an idiot. If there is ever a time not to handle it on your own, that would be it.

What I mean is, if this guy hit's one of my kids I won't call the cops. I'll go down there and end his life. I'm not making a threat, simply an observation. And yes, I'll end up in jail but the justice system is not just. The dude will walk after mowing down my kids and I will not let that happen.
Just typing that make my blood boil....

DrBoost wrote:

foxtrapper wrote:

DrBoost wrote: But next time if it's a kid I won't bother calling the cops. I'll handle it myself!!

Then you are an idiot. If there is ever a time not to handle it on your own, that would be it.

What I mean is, if this guy hit's one of my kids I won't call the cops. I'll go down there and end his life. I'm not making a threat, simply an observation. And yes, I'll end up in jail but the justice system is not just. The dude will walk after mowing down my kids and I will not let that happen. Just typing that make my blood boil....

Take a breath, you're getting ulcers over what ifs.

The cops know what happened, explain your plight to them. They more than likely have kids too. They have handled more pinheads, naer do wells and asshats than you; call the nice man that came to your house and talk to him. Don't confront the neighbor, don't get excited over what hasn't happened.

Trans_Maro wrote: I had an old timer in at work one day and we got talking about "mailbox baseball" He said it happened to him a few times until he replaced the mailbox with an identical malbox that was filled with concrete.

A neighbor of mine did that under similar circumstances. Somebody brought a backhoe by one night, ripped the entire boiler-plate-and-concrete assemblage out of the ground, and left it sitting across the end of his driveway.

I'm late to the party here, but a couple of observations.

I'm assuming it wasn't intentional, because that would be a whole different conversation.

Feuds between neighbors can get very ugly, and it doesn't matter who started it or who was in the right. I prefer to let some things go, rather than worrying about an immature asshat's revenge motives.

To me, mailboxes are cheap, and somewhat sacrificial. Maybe that's because I grew up in the north, where the snow plow would take mine out sometimes twice a year.

Building a brick e36m3-house mailbox is tempting, but again - most of the time it is an accident. The second person doesn't deserve the punishment. If it is a chronic vandalism problem, then maybe - but otherwise, you may be setting up someone who doesn't deserve it.

It doesn't matter who delivers the message - you or the sherriff. He knows which mailbox he hit and he will know who lodged the complaint.

Unless there is a chronic behavior of unsafe driving in the neighborhood, I'd let karma handle it.

I'd be making the mailbox post out of cemented together cinder blocks. And filling the holes with cement.

Then see what happens.