About a week and a half ago I went to check the mail. I got to the mailbox and noticed it was leaning. That’s not normal.
I opened the door and pulled out our mail. I pushed the whole thing trying to get it to stand up and it fell to the ground. That’s not good.
It seems someone ran into the post and knocked over the whole thing. The post was cracked near the ground and it just couldn’t support itself.
I suspect it was the postal delivery person, or the UPS guy, or the FedEx guy. They often turn around in our driveway. The only other possibility would be our neighbor, whose mailbox is right next to ours. At any rate, whoever did it didn’t want to take responsibility and tell us it happened.
A friend of ours said he’d be able to help me replace the post if we got the materials. I went to several hardware stores but the mailbox posts they had were kind of expensive. The wife, being an expert shopper, found a metal post online, which was less expensive, and ordered it.
It came in after several days. Called our friend but he wasn’t available. Looked like I was going to have to change the thing myself.
I got started the next morning. The first thing I had to do was dig up the remains of the old post. It was wood encased in a concrete block.
Five hours later (!) I finally got the last of it out. That was grueling. Muscles I previously hadn’t been aware of ached.
I assembled the new post only to find that I didn’t have any screws to attach the mailbox to it. Another trip to the hardware store.
Returning home with the screws I got the mailbox on the post. I need to get a cordless drill because the holes from the assembly on the post don’t match up with the ones on the mailbox. Currently it is attached by just two screws at the front of the box.
Anyway, I got the new post in the ground and now we have a mailbox again.
I’m hoping that the metal post might be a little sturdier should anyone hit it with their vehicle again. I really don’t want to have to go through replacing it again.
If you’d like to support my efforts, why not buy me a chocolate chip cookie through my Ko-Fi page? https://ko-fi.com/jhusum