When a problem meets a team of engineers, you can bet the solution will be both creative and unforgettable.

So, what would you do if your professor offered extra credit to design a mailbox that could survive nightly attacks from a truck? Would you leave it up to someone else? Or would you build something that can take a hit and still stand?

In the following story, a group of engineering students were faced with this very opportunity and decided to rise to the occasion. Here’s what happened.

What Happens When Engineering Students Are Asked To Truck-Proof A Mailbox

Years ago, back when Uncle Dale and Dad were university students, their engineering professor came to their class with a problem that needed solving. His mailbox was getting broken by someone driving by every night. He and his wife had put up something like four or five mailboxes, and all four or five times, the mailbox had been knocked over by someone driving a red truck.

This professor offered extra credit to any group of students who could come up with a truck-proof mailbox that not only fit with city regulations but within a budget of $20 (which back then was a good size chunk of change).

Well, if anyone here knows anything about engineers (as Dad puts it), they love solving problems. And if it’s engineering students, they’ll make it an experience to remember.

The students created the perfect mailbox.

Dad and Uncle Dale got together and got to work. They found a steel bar that fit within mailbox regulations (posts have to be a specific height, width, and depth) and filled the inside with a mixture of concrete and steel rebars. Once the concrete had cured, they welded 8 rebars to the sides of the bar, bent them in half, and stuck them inside a bucket. To add extra weight, they filled the bucket with the heaviest rocks they could find.

As a finishing touch, they painted it brown and black (to look like wood) and put “the ugliest mailbox we could find on sale” on top, welding it down for good measure.

They brought this monstrosity into class (more dragged it because it was so heavy) and told the professor to bury the bucket where the mailbox stood. Since they were the first to turn in their project, the professor agreed to give it a try.

It didn’t take long for the vandal to strike again.

That night…the professor and his wife were awoken by a metallic BANG!!!!! followed by a lot of cursing. They went outside and wouldn’t you know it, there was that red truck speeding away, the mailbox still standing. At the base was a broken wooden baseball bat.

Two days later, the professor gets a bill in the mail for a hospital visit. It turns out that when the passenger hit the mailbox, he did some serious damage to his arm and shoulder. They were planning on suing the professor, but the professor hired a lawyer who basically told the plaintiffs, “You’re just going to admit that you were vandalizing the mailbox multiple times?” That shut them up.

To the best of my Dad’s knowledge, the mailbox is still standing. The other students who still brought in mailboxes had theirs gifted to different professors throughout the town and are also still standing.

Wow! That was a tough mailbox!

Let’s see what the people over at Reddit had to say about their design.

Florida loves ordinances.

That’s a long time for a mailbox to still be standing.

That must’ve hurt pretty bad.

This is actually an excellent idea!

It serves them right! Next time, they’ll think twice before destroying anyone else’s mailbox.

If you liked that story, read this one about grandparents who set up a college fund for their grandkid because his parents won’t, but then his parents want to use the money to cover sibling’s medical expenses.