Did a Snow Plow Take Out Your Mailbox?

With the massive amounts of snow, the county plows have been working tirelessly to clear the roads. But with such a massive clean-up effort, some collateral damage is to be expected.

We were so excited when the plow came down our dirt road out in the country, that we didn't notice that our mailbox had been knocked over by the county road plow. Living in Genesee County, I called the road commission on Wednesday to find out if the GCRC would replace or reimburse me for a new mailbox. But here we are two days later, and I am still waiting for a callback from the administrator. The operator told me that they had 100 or so people that were still waiting for a call back.

I called the Lapeer County Road Commission and had a conversation with spokeswoman Lynette Daily. She told me that the policies and procedures vary from county to county. In Lapeer County, their policy is to typically send someone out to verify that the damage was caused by one of their plows, and not someone in a pick up truck. Once the damage is confirmed to be that of the LCRC, they will supply residents with a replacement metal box and a standard post.

However, because of the scope of the storm that covered Mid-Michigan with more than a foot of snow, they are just having residents come in to pick up their replacements, since they simply don't have the manpower to verify the damage to each of the many damaged mailboxes. I would assume that the Genesee County Road Commission has a similar policy, but I won't know until I finally get a call back.

I also asked Lynette about garbage cans and bins. We decided not to put out our garbage this week because I figured that the plows would knock them over or bury them. On my way to work on Monday and Tuesday, I noticed several dozen trash cans either buried or destroyed by the plows. Lapeer County doesn't replace damaged garbage cans. I am guessing that goes for Genesee County too. I will update this story once I have had a chance to talk to a representative from the Genesee County Road Commission.

Did you end up with damaged property when the crews were removing snow? Let us know in the comments section below.

UPDATE:  The Genesee County Road Commission website states that a reimbursement of no more than $20 will be paid to residents who mail in, or drop off a receipt for a replacement mail box.  You can read their policy by clicking here.