Of the three houses I've owned in my life, only one had a mailbox that survived every winter we lived there. Mostly because it was screwed to the side of the house, and the mail carrier used to walk right up and plop in the box outside our door. It was awesome, in retrospect. I used to wish the box was a bit bigger, but hey... whatcha gonna do?

When we moved back up to Bangor, the very first winter in our new house, the mailbox was decimated by a city plow driver. I never thought much of it. It wasn't extremely well marked, and that particular storm was legendary as far as the amount of snow we got, so it was no surprise.

In our current house, I was the one that destroyed the mail box, in the first week we lived here, no less. I was going about 8mph, and slid right into it, trying to make the turn into the driveway, haha. No one to blame but myself on that genius move. But the question remains, what can you do to protect your precious mailbox?

According to a recent post by the BDN, there are many things you can do. For starters, you can go to the state's website, and in with all the rules for placing a box, there are plans you can use that should help prevent accidents in the future. They offer all sorts of tips, including the special snow removal method to keep your box from being buried.

I've seen all sorts of crazy contraptions as well. I've seen folks build elaborate springs or even swings, to mount their boxes on. Some folks take a more practical approach. One man who is a veteran, put his old army helmet and a small American Flag on his mailbox and said it was never hit again.

Another woman discussed mounting hers to some saw horses so that she could move it to and fro on a whim to get it out of the way. Putting some brightly colored reflectors, or painting it a bright color could also aid its being seen by plow drivers. Might as well harken back the my TGI Friday's days, and cover that mailbox with flair!

If all else fails, some towns will even replace your box. Bangor and Ellsworth for instance... They will look into the situation and assess next steps. Bangor has already had three such requests just this winter alone. And appear to be more than happy to replace a mailbox when necessary.

So far, this year, I haven't had any trouble with my mailbox. There are certainly times when it seems like having a PO box would be the way to go. But I have a set appointment with my dog every afternoon, to go out and get the mail. That's our quality time, haha. I can't mess with that kind of tradition.

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