Winter is coming: Check your rural mailbox

GRAND HAVEN, Mich. (AP) - Shake your - mailbox?

Indeed, that's the message in many areas of Michigan where mailboxes are attached to posts at the end of a driveway. As another winter approaches, road commissions are reminding residents to check the stability of their mailbox.

A weak mailbox post is no match for snow coming off a plow at 35 mph. The Ottawa County Road Commission in western Michigan says it's "no picnic" to dig out a fallen mailbox and try to reinstall it in frozen ground.

Alex Doty of the road commission says mailboxes can be a serious hazard along a road and a liability risk for homeowners.

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