Here's a great question for this time of the year, especially given the brutal winter we've been having up to this point.

What happens if a Sioux Falls city plow accidentally hits your mailbox?

You can see how something like that could easily happen given the volume of snow we have stacked up around just about everything in the city at the moment.

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Some of the snow mounds in my neighborhood are more like snow mountains in size. You literally have to creep up to most of the intersections to make sure there are no cars coming from opposite directions because you're unable to see over the gigantic mountains of snow that are piled up.

And good luck finding the fire hydrants in most neighborhoods too, it was quite the project locating and then digging out the one near my home on the west side of Sioux Falls. Remember, according to the Sioux Falls Public Works Department it's the responsibility of every homeowner to keep fire hydrants clear of snow and other obstructions for 3 feet in all directions.

Right after our most recent Snow-Mageddon in Sioux Falls, the set of mailboxes located on the street right across from my home were nearly buried in snow. My neighborhood had to use his truck with a blade in front to clear a path for us to get to them. It's amazing they are still standing!

After witnessing that, it got me thinking, what happens if a city plow comes along and damages your curbside mailbox while attempting to remove snow on your street?

When something like this happens, most of the time it's due to the fact that a mailbox was damaged because they tend to overhang the curb and it's easy for a plow driver not to see them from their cab, especially if the boxes are covered in snow.

It's also common for the force of the snow coming off of the plow to clip a row of mailboxes and take them out that way.

Either way, accidents can and do happen, so the question becomes, who needs to pay for the mailbox to be repaired, the city or you?

I placed a call to the Public Works Department here in Sioux Falls and spoke with a very nice lady named Maureen. Here is what she told me.

Should your mailbox sustain damage resulting from a city plow attempting to remove snow, the city of Sioux Falls will pay for it to be repaired. The homeowner simply needs to notify the city of the damage and they will come out and investigate.

If the mailbox is damaged to a point where it cannot easily be repaired, the city will put up a temporary mailbox until the ground thaws out in the spring and a new permanent mailbox can be installed.

Now, if your mailbox gets damaged because you take it out attempting to free it from snow, or let's say you accidentally back into the mailbox with your car, then unfortunately my friend, you're on the hook for that little mishap. And that more than likely will not be a cheap little venture to fix. Materials like concrete, wood/metal posts, and the new mailbox or boxes in most cases can get expensive. So be careful.

One more quick thing...

During the winter months, make sure to always keep a path to your mailbox in the event of inclement weather. Your carrier may not deliver your mail if there’s a car or snowdrift in front of it.

Here's to counting the days until all this crap melts for good, so this is no longer a potential problem!

Source: Sioux Falls Public Works Department

Scenes From Blizzard

A foot of snow in Sioux Falls!

Winds blowing that snow into nasty drifts!

That scene repeated all over the Sioux Empire. The BLizzard of February 2023 was a cold, snowy mess. AKA, just another South Dakota winter. We can handle it. It sucks, but we got this.

We asked to see your view of the storm, here's what you saw: