My 6 year old asked about these and at first neither my wife nor I had a good answer. Later in the trip we realized that all of these mailbox boards are in front of the mailbox when driving down the road. Our conclusion is that they prevent the mailbox from being covered by snow that the snow plow pushes off the road.
In most areas this isn't a concern since snow is rarely high enough to cover a mailbox, but given that these roads are close to Lake Michigan and get great amounts of snowfall due to the lake effect, having a mailbox protector can be very useful. This is first time I've ever seen these.
Maybe I'm completely off in my explanation, but it's the one that makes the most sense to me at this time.
The plywood is there to protect the mailboxes from being beat up by the snow and ice the plows push in wintertime. Otherwise you could be buying mulitple mailboxes every winter season.
ReplyDeleteFrom a Northern Michigan resident.
Thank you for that clarification!
ReplyDeletePeople downstate do this too. It is not uncommon to see them in the Bay City area and we don't even get that much snow.
ReplyDelete