WFMJ.com News weather sports for Youngstown-Warren OhioYoungstown carpenter builds mailbox protectors

Youngstown carpenter builds mailbox protectors

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - The weight of snow pushed by the plows can be crushing. Especially for your mailbox.

"I got tired of mine being broke every year," said Youngstown resident Jeremy Moore. "$80.00 every year just for a cheap one just to fix it."

After years of broken mailboxes, Meridian Road resident Moore decided to put an end to it.

A carpenter by trade, he built a wooden protector for his mailbox. The guards are two posts, screwed together with 2x4s, with the address on the outside.

"I use 2x4s, pressure treated," he explained. "4x4 posts and I screw them together instead of nailing because the nails are just going to eventually work themselves loose."

He built his protector this summer, and advertised it with a small yard sign.

"I've seen all my neighbors mailboxes broke," Moore said. "Anywhere I go on main roads the mailboxes are broke every year.  I have neighbors that have a summer mailbox and a winter mailbox. Their winter one's duct taped and patched together."

Those neighbors began asking about his guards.

"Me and my kids are tired of duct taping our mailbox and going out after the snow plows go by and picking it up out of the front yard and then taping it!" said Moore's next door neighbor Melissa Lipinski.

Neighbors like her have hired Moore for his handiwork in the past, and were interested in his protectors after years of broken boxes.

"They only hold your mail for so long, I was running up and picking up my mail because they had no where to put it until I could get it fixed," she said. "So Jeremy fixed it for me and when he came up with this idea I'm like, I need one!"

Jeremy charges $50 for a protector, $100 if you want it installed, which he does with cement.

"I wanted something that would stand up to a big blast of snow and ice," he explained.

His work will be put to the test in just a matter of months.

Jeremy Moore can be contacted at (330) 565-0560.