With snows come plowing.
With plowing comes windrows of snow being placed along the sides of the
road. With plowing there also is the
occasional issue of mailbox “failures”.
These fall into two general categories.
The obvious for most people would be the plow hitting the mailbox,
knocking it down. The other category is
the weight of the snow that is pushed to the side of the road carries the
mailbox down. These two types of
failures are handled in different manners.
There is also the issue of a conforming installation of the mailbox.
A conforming mailbox is one that is installed at the proper
height and setback from the roadway.
Having it at the proper height is important for mail delivery. If the mailbox is too low it can be hit with a
plow. The setback is also
important. Having the mailbox too close
to the roadway makes it susceptible to being hit. The mailbox should be setback so the plow
blade can move along the edge of the roadway without having to move out to
avoid the mailbox.
It is amazing to understand the weight that snow can carry
when coming off a plow. Certainly you
understand that some snows are light and others are heavy depending on water
content. Typically snows in the early or
late season are heavier than those during the dead of the winter. We also understand that a snow of 6-8 inches
will carry more weight coming off the plow than one of 2 inches. These heavier snows pose more problems with
mailboxes than lesser snow events.
To help with these concerns the city sells “swing-up”
mailbox supports. These provide for a
small movement of the mailbox when hit by the snow coming off a plow. These can be purchased elsewhere but the city
has them available for residents to purchase.
Installing these is one part of a conforming mailbox installation. These lessen the possibility of the box going
down when hit by snow from the plow. To
further this goal of establishing conforming mailboxes the city has recently
agreed to install support poles for mailboxes for residents at a cost of
$30. The city will install them in the
right location and at the right height.
The property owner can then install their mailbox on these support
poles.
If you have a desire to change your mailbox in the future
and want the city to install the swing-up mailbox support please let us
know. If you are interested in a mailbox support, we
have them available. We also can provide
you with instructions for the proper placement of mailbox.
