Grandpa's Mailbox Loophole Takes Mail Into The Third Dimension

Author image for Eric Lund
Eric Lund
Jul 31, 2021 5:00 PM EDT

It's another episode in the wide world of mailbox drama. The rule was that mailboxes had to be 6 feet from the street, but no one specified in which direction. There's probably no way anyone could get away with this now, but that's what the past is for. What can we say except loopholes are great. Here's a dad's masterfully designed Basketball Loophole and these other loopholes people exploited for years.

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  • 01
    Font - Posted by u/zanfar 9 hours ago 6 9 3 4 Six Feet Out, or Six Feet Up oc L I was reminiscing with my family about my late grandfather and some of the tomfoolery he got up to. I thought this story made a perfect post for this sub. Backstory: Decades ago, my grandparents purchased a large plot of land out in the middle of nowhere with the idea to build themselves a home and retire on that plot. They were both from the rural midwest, so they originally wanted to keep horses, chickens, and mayb
    via zanfar
  • 02
    Font - Because of their incredibly advantageous position, they made a point to only sell to like-minded buyers: friendly retirees who were looking for their last home and wanted a bit of the same rural isolation that my grandparents wanted. The result is that my grandparents ended up with their dream bungalow on a spacious lot surrounded by friendly neighbors, and without any major time or money obligations. They ended up spending a lot of time volunteering and generally making friends with the
    via zanfar
  • 03
    Font - The Event The area ended up becoming incorporated, and the town they were now living in eventually decided that the two- lane blacktop road needed to be re-paved and upgraded with sidewalks, gutters, and all the other amenities townspeople expect. Now the county that the town was incorporated from had planned ahead, and there was plenty of room set aside for exactly this type of project, so none of the residents needed to move their fences or give up property to the state. However, most o
    via zanfar
  • 04
    Font - My grandfather, being of light schedule and helpful demeanor, offered to help his neighbors temporarily relocate their mailbox and post. He had retired from a career as a handyman, and several of his children owned landscaping or similar businesses. So he and my uncle spent a few hours with a mini-backhoe and unearthed all eight of his neighbors' mailbox posts--cement and all. He saved the posts to re-install when the road was complete, and mounted the mailbox proper on each property's fe
    via zanfar
  • 05
    Font - The Issue Lo and behold, on Monday they had no mail service. After a bit of investigation, they realized none of their neighbors did either. So the next morning my grandfather waited outside to see what the problem was. Right on time, the mailman drove down their side of the street, completely ignoring all eight properties. Redoubling his efforts, the next morning my grandfather was able to flag the mailman down and ask what the problem was. According to my grandfather, the very curt resp
    via zanfar
  • 06
    Font - The Compliance Now it's pretty amazing what you can get done with 8 business hours of free time. The problem was that 36" from the current edge of the road is in the way of construction. My grandfather spoke to the construction supervisor, who was sympathetic but just as stuck as my grandfather was. My grandfather then visited the postal office and returned with a current copy of the regulations about mailbox locations. After a few hours of study, and another visit to the construction sup
    via zanfar
  • 07
    Font - Remember his sons who ran landscaping businesses? My grandfather got in his truck and visited both businesses. He returned home with eight 20-gallon plant pots. These things are huge: 30" tall and just about as large around. You see, while the construction guys couldn't mess with a federally-protected, fixed mailbox, they were happy to move a pot out of their way in the morning, and back when the job was finished for the day (my grandma makes some pretty damn good doughnuts) which is a pr
    via zanfar
  • 08
    Font - The kicker was that a mailbox post that is meant to stick 4- feet out of the ground has at least 2 feet buried in the ground--in other words, it's a 6-foot post. When you put that inside a pot with a few inches of soil underneath and that pot on the surface of the ground, a mailbox on top is easily more than 6-feet in the air. You see, the mailbox codes clearly specify how far horizontally a mailbox needs to be from the road, but say nothing about how high that mailbox needs to be. It too
    via zanfar

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