This elegant affair used to be attached to our house, next to the front door, until about a year ago when the powers that be ordained that all such receptacles must be at the roadside, so that Postman Pat (subtle English unisex nomenclature, not possible in Danish) could deliver the mail without stepping outside the van. So it was duly relocated and the van now made its daily ruts in the grass verge, forbidden to approach the house, even with parcels. So far, so bad.
Then at around 3 a.m. on 1st January we heard an enormous bang from the road – long after the annual fireworkfest had ended for most people hereabouts – but thought nothing of it. Just a few stragglers from a party having fun. But next morning we discovered that our fine box had been blown to smithereens – casting its various parts about 20 feet in all directions.
The telly reported later that there had been a spate of such hilarious events. My thanks go to the Post people for making it all possible.
Boadicea's Chariot 
Morning J,
On first glance I thought that was an electric razor. Sorry to hear about your post boxes. We had some trouble last year with thefts of plastic wheelie bins (our rubbish nice and tidy not like that pit Edinburgh). Apparently, gangs of youth were stealing them, setting them on fire and inhaling the fumes for a high. I
More than irritating.
When you replace it what about setting a lockable box in a brick pillar? Much more difficult to destroy! Do you have a system where it is only openable by key, you hold one and the PO the other?
How do you deal with parcels then?
We have had an assault by baseball bat from kids but that was in Texas, too law abiding up here.
Interestingly it is a total no no socially to mess with others mail boxes here, plus the law is positively draconian on the subject. It is not viewed as any kind of joke at all. I may be wrong but I believe it rates instantly as a felony here with a record for life.
It might be interesting to check to see whether the govt there has changed the legislation to keep up with the altered state of the delivery and it’s increased vulnerability. You might well check and start pressing local politicians to DO something about it.
Short of that rent a postal box in town and collect the mail yourself and insist on a discount.
Now this of course would have been a nice time to stick a shot gun out of the window and give them both barrels! Nothing like a bit of return fire!
The brass cover to my letter box was stolen a couple of years ago. Replaced by cheap tat. No point tempting the bastardos.
Janus, CO: Way of life here, if not Cherry bombs then a baseball bat or a crowbar, alternatively riddled with bullet holes.
Our mailboxes are on the public road, over half a mile away from any human inhabitant, in a convenient cluster for the vandals. We started with the usual sheet metal variety, then progressed through successively heavier gauge to the current 1/4 inch rolled steel plate jobbies (made by local metal shop), now we are breaking baseball bats and unwary teenage wrists or winging the incautious with their ricochets. It’s an arms race.
PS
Our posties name is Cliff, I call him Fiscal for short.
LW how strange that the rural East coast should have so much trouble compared with here, I wonder why?
there are some clusters like that here at the end of sub roads but I have never noticed any damage, most of them are so old they are disintegrating rather! Most rural people here have no delivery at all, they have to have a box in town. We are about the last road towards the mountains that have it delivered.
We have just bought another house in town and our postie all by himself does that round too, he just scoops up our mail from both addresses and brings it all out here, no official redirection required!
Thank heavens we are so much ‘behind the times’!
Sipu, thieving like that just doesn’t happen here either.
Mrs. O. It seems to be a right of passage for the youf about here, peaks during high school graduation and summer school vacation time, it’s not the poor, most of the perps have nice cars or trucks as well as guns. There is no theft as far as I know, just malicious damage.
We only get postal delivery because the dozen houses on the creek have been here for fifty years (grandfathered). We did offer to put all twelve mailboxes together when we did the road, but the Post Office told us if we attempted to relocate any of them we would all lose our delivery rights so there are still two groups about a half mile apart.. Any new builds hereabouts do not get local delivery and are required to rent a box at the local PO. FedEx and UPS will of course still deliver right to the door. .
CO and LW, this is a police state with a hand in everything – like the design of post boxes, probably taking a cut from the manufacturers. Postie leaves a note if there’s a parcel for collection.
Gosh, I really feel a bit left out of this discussion about dreadful things happening to postboxes. Nothing but nothing exciting ever happens here. Our post is shoved through the letterbox at regular intervals, parcels are left with neighbours if we are not in, and always have been, and our postie makes sure that all the oldies are still alive and kicking. This seems to consist of regular tea stops so deliveries can be a bit late, but I’m not complaining.
Here in Broken Britain, of course, most of us have to suffer the indignity of postmen regularly walking right up to our houses as if they owned our paths and shoving letters straight through our front doors without any sort of by your leave.
I just can’t understand how we continue to tolerate this sort of intrusion. I blame the abolition of the dog licence or Marathons becoming Snickers or the EU or something.
Don’t we just, Mr Mackie, our tolerance is taken for granted. What a truly appalling state of affairs, indeed.
.. and this is possibly not a good time to mention MILKMEN, now they truly take the biscuit, or even leave one, packet, of course and potatoes, bread and all sorts of other stuff.
We all know, of course, what liberties they take if allowed!
JM point is how much you pay for postage!
I was appalled to see that it took x3 postage from the UK to the USA than it did the other way!
Most cards from the UK were about £1.90 to send and mine, the same size was$1.05=65p!!!
For that I would gladly walk to the bottom of my drive!
I might add, people in rural Wales often have boxes on the road rather than have the posties come to the house, they have the nasty tendency to leave gates open, not amusing when 200 prize charolais start mooching down the A40. (Had it happen!)
Janus, were I you I would have a serious go at the politicians over this one for new designs etc, not fit for purpose.
My post box is down on the road, about a kilometre away from The Cave. The postman, who also delivers firewood by the tonne on winter weekends, leaves any parcels at The Bar to save me the faff of going to the village post office. Mrs Machiavelli signs for any registered communications. It works well.
OZ
Janus, I’m concerned about the ruts on the grass verge. That is forbidden in our neck of the woods, though I’m not sure how many transgressors are ever caught. Complain to your equivalent of the county council or society for the preservation of rural Denmark.
You do seem exercised about the cost of sending a Christmas card to the USA from Britain, Christina. The only time I ever post anything to the States is at Christmas, so I am able to save up all year for the event.
Yes, Sheona.
I quite agree about postage for the odd Christmas card to the US and Australia, which is the same price. I only send about half a dozen now, and really I don’t think, in the general scheme of things, it is a major concern!
JM @ #9 A good New Year to you sir. The US postal system could probably manage to make door-to-door deliveries providing of course they could get the whole population to relocate to the State of Texas.
I am only exercised because it is so indicative of rip off UK as a whole, it is not just the post, it is mobile phones, land lines, electricity, gas, petrol, food, transport, in fact every bloody thing except the rates.
Rates are about the same but that is only because we choose to allow the poor to access hospitals without insurance, corpses on the streets are untidy and smelly!
I have unlimited phone calls to the UK for $5.00/month, no special conditions of duration or timing, no strings, no contract, just part of the service of the land line. Friends ring me, put the phone down and I ring them back, they are more like $5./minute!! I exaggerate but not by much.
The British are being screwed backwards, forwards and in every orifice. People on here may well be able to afford it still but most are hurting quite badly from what I hear and the Govt does nothing at all, in fact, they aid and abet the exploitation of the bulk of the population of the UK.
It fails to amuse me when you consider on what they spend others taxes.
LW a Good New Year to you and yours as well.
Your #18. Interesting. Apparently the population density of England. is 1,010 per square mile which means that only DC, New Jersey and Puerto Rico have higher densities, USA-wise..
Jockland is apparently 171 per square mile which means that we come between Michigan (173.9) and Georgia (169.5) and behind such states as Maryland (596,3),or even North Carolina (198.2). Texas is 98.7 if google is to be believed.
Not that it matters. I got a leaflet through the door this morning. It was from from Alex Salmond and assured me that, if I vote for Independence, he will personally deliver all of the mail for all of us until further notice. One of his less extravagant promises to date, to be fair.
Tina.
It has always been the same. The US is a less expensive place to live than the UK.
Frankly so are many other places, but so what? It is the price one pays for living where one wants. It’s a choice for those who can, or want to afford it. It’s as simple as that.
I do think the discrepancy has widened over the years. The UK has become quite extraordinarily pricey over the last decade. It is all very well for you who can afford it and still choose to stay, so would I, but what about all the poor creatures who do not have the skills or the means to leave? They are really beginning to hurt with no means of redress.
Not a good way to run a country unless you want to foment civil unrest in due course.
Ah weel! It’s forbidden here too but since the Great Postbox Migration it happens everywhere and so far the Holy Welfare State hasn’t managed to come up with a solution that makes money.
I’m still stuck in the dark ages.
Our postman walks his beat and inserts my mail through the letterbox.
A year or so ago he suggested a postbox at the bottom of my driveway, I duly nodded and told him that he had my permission to build a suitable structure at the Post Office’s expense and that the only proviso was that it was painted to match the colour scheme of the house, funny enough I haven’t heard it mentioned since!
Good Lord, Christina, a real epiphany moment. Did the Christmas Tree Fairy tap you with her wand or did you stray on to the road to Damascus on one of your walks?
Most of the “poor creatures” are receiving benefits of one sort or another from the government/my taxes. As for those who who want to leave, I would happily put some money into the kitty to pay their fares back to their countries of origin. I doubt there are that many who really want to leave, since the UK pays some of the most generous benefits in the world. This is the problem. If we got rid of all our uninvited guests, there would be more cash to help Brits who really need assistance.
JM and Soutie, I’m sorry to hear of your victimisation at the hands of the postal authorities. Why can’t they treat you badly like the rest of us?
In early 1980’s I once witnessed an unwelcome object poking through our letter box, … into the hallway, accompanied by raucous drunken laughter from its owner. It was not the postman’s appendage.
The object was pink and limp, and leaked – until my roar of disapproval made the owner of the article promptly withdraw, interrupting the stream, so to speak. Most disgusting. But no explosions!
Pity you didn’t have the breadknife handy, Pseu.
there’s a thought.