TIL postboxes extend an extra foot or two into the ground - eviltoast
    • Endorkend@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      Theft and the fact they tend to be in locations (like street corners) where cars may crash into them.

      There’s a really OG mailbox in my town, it’s bent a full 10° towards the house it stands in front of, has classification as a historical relic and all, that has been run into by cars at least 3 times per year since cars were around.

      It is still standing.

      At one point (around when it got its classification), they put safety poles around it.

      Until they got removed, they ended up getting replaced every year because they were all bent to hell from new accidents.

      • DoomBot5@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        In the US, residential mailboxes are actually suppose to be made to give away when hit by a car. Even the large brick ones in the south are designed to just fall over on a hit.

        It’s a safety feature for the dumbass drivers hitting mailboxes.

        • TonyTonyChopper@mander.xyz
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          1 year ago

          Muricans prioritizing the wrong thing as always. If you want to carelessly run through my property I want to see a big dent in the car

          • Texas_Hangover@lemm.ee
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            1 year ago

            I solved this problem on my rural road, 5 gallon bucket of concrete, holding the mailbox. Wont kill you, but it will fuck your car up all to hell.

            • DoomBot5@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              That works, car hits it and pushes concrete bucket. Their car is fucked, your mailbox just need to be put back in place, postmaster is happy. Win win win situation.

              • Texas_Hangover@lemm.ee
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                1 year ago

                Yeah lol, on one of my old phones I have pictures of my mailbox, broken pieces of bucket, and several chunks of honda scattered 30 yards down the street. No more bucket, but the concrete was just fine. I had to straighten the pole a little, but it still stands.

          • Vent@lemm.ee
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            1 year ago

            Safety of humans vs safety of letters 🤔

          • DoomBot5@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Oh they will have a dent for sure. They just won’t potentially be dead from impact.

      • RunawayFixer@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        It sounds like they should have used mail boxes instead of safety poles, in the long run it would have probably saved money too.

    • bamboo@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      1 year ago

      I’d imagine that’s a benefit, but the design was probably for structural integrity. Last thing you want is for someone to lean on it, tipping over, and then rolling down a hill or something.

        • 000999@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          1 year ago

          Now I’m left wondering who filmed that video, they clearly knew the bomb was about to go off

          • IphtashuFitz@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            When the IRA was in full offensive mode they would call in bombings to the authorities to give them enough time to evacuate areas before the bombs detonated. They wanted publicity & destruction but not injuries or deaths. By making the bombings more of a nuisance than a threat to life they figured they would avoid losing a lot of public support for their cause. They were against the British government, not British citizens.

          • Flax@feddit.uk
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            1 year ago

            Generally, someone involved in planting it would have phoned in to a newspaper and been like “I just planted a bomb at this place lol”