Shake your mailbox day in Michigan is Saturday

by Peter Jakey, Managing Editor

Shake it. Find out if it?ll break. It?s your roadside mailbox and shaking it is part of getting ready for winter. Gov. Jennifer Granholm has proclaimed Saturday Shake Your Mailbox Day in Michigan, part of a joint public awareness effort on the part of the road commission and the United States Postal Service (USPS).

?The road commission annually faces citizens upset about the damage to their mailboxes during the winter plowing,? said Jerry Smigelski, Presque Isle County Road Commission (PICRC) superintendent-manager. ?Since some damage is caused by snow thrown from a snowplow blade, it cannot be helped.? SHAKE YOUR Mailbox Day started in 2008 as the innovative idea of one county frustrated by residents? complaints of damaged mailboxes. The County Road Association of Michigan and the USPS joined forces in 2009 for a statewide campaign.

More often than not, damage to mailboxes is caused by snow pushing against weakened posts or hardware. If residents can shake their mailbox, it probably needs maintenance. Smigelski urged folks to take time now to make any repairs needed so the mailbox post will be strong enough to survive the winter. Proper maintenance may help to prevent damage that results in delayed mail delivery, or worse, having to make alternate delivery arrangements.

THIS YEAR, to reduce the damage and expense, roadside mailbox owners, are urged to take the following precautions: – Those residents leaving for the winter should remove their mailbox and post, and store it inside for the winter. – If the resident owns a custom-made mail

box, replace it with a standard non-ornamental box for the winter. – Make sure the mailbox is securely attached to the pole and the pole is not damaged or decaying. – Install a snow board alongside the mailbox to absorb the impact of snow thrown from a plow. – Make sure the mailbox?s door is a minimum of 12 inches behind the plow line at the road?s shoulder. – Keep snow cleared away from the mailbox. – Use only wooden posts no larger than 5 inches in diameter or hollow metal posts no larger than 2 inches in diameter. – Mount no more than two mailboxes on one support post.

THE ROAD commission does not replace mailboxes or posts hit by plowed snow. Properly installed mailboxes and posts physically struck by PICRC equipment will be replaced. A verbal or written notification of damage must be sent in, which details the date and time of the damage, location of the mailbox, and the name and address of the owner. A standard USPS mailbox and/or 4-by-4 inch wooden post will be put in its place if determined by the road foreman the damage was the result of a direct hit by PICRC snow removal equipment.