Winterizing Your Mailbox / Damage Policy
Damage to mailboxes generally results from pressure of snow being plowed from the street to the shoulder, bending or breaking the post and/or mailbox. The City of Zeeland's policy on mailbox damage is as follows:
"Federal law allows the erection of personal mailboxes within public right-of-ways. However, it does not place a duty on the part of the municipal jurisdiction to maintain or repair such mailboxes. Mailboxes, therefore, assume the position of other items within the right-of-way that may be there lawfully, but at the pleasure of the individual owners. All citizens with mailboxes in the right-of-way have a duty to ensure that they are properly constructed and must repair them if, by some occurrence, they are damaged.
If a truck or plow actually strikes the post or mailbox, that type of claim is valid and the property owner or resident can submit a claim against the city for referral to our insurance carrier."
To see some examples of mailbox barriers, please click on the links provided below:
City of Holland
Ottawa County Road Commission (click on "Mailbox Policy")