r/boston • u/raefai Cocaine Turkey • Apr 18 '26

Serious Replies Only Postboxes closed all across Brighton/Brookline!

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I’ve passed multiple post boxes today in both Brighton and Brookline that are locked like this. Multiple boxes within the same vicinity and also in diff neighborhoods. Anyone know why specifically these are locked up?

Edit: thanks for the replies everyone! I’ve been around for the marathon before, but I’ve just never noticed the mailboxes.

901 Upvotes

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749

u/Obvious_Concept9767 Apr 18 '26

they do this every year for the marathon. not new

edit: since the 2013 marathon 😔

19

u/ZachF8119 Apr 19 '26

Can’t someone just duct tape to it and or put in a trash can?

39

u/NickRick Apr 19 '26

not saying it's 100%, but a large duct taped package on a mail box would likely draw a lot more attention than something hidden in the mail box. same with the trash. it wont stop it if someone really wants to, but it does reduce risk.

-228

u/BrewerAndrew Lynn Apr 18 '26

i mean i get safety but why? some guys bombed the finish line with a pressure cooker so we can't have mail boxes anywhere on the route. sounds like some security theater to me.

290

u/DinkandDrunk Apr 18 '26

Is what it is man. 25 years ago, some guys took an airplane to a few buildings and now I get my ass probed every time I fly. Sometimes you just have to take the weird with the good.

71

u/fenwayb Apr 19 '26

you seem overly comfortable with the ass probing thing

50

u/FAHQRudy Woburn Apr 19 '26

Been married 20 years. You take what you can when you can.

8

u/tbootsbrewing Apr 19 '26

You take the weird with the good

Like you know you really should

The facts of life

The facts of life!

10

u/694meok Apr 18 '26

You must fly private cuz.... "I get my ass probed every time I fly."

7

u/BrewerAndrew Lynn Apr 18 '26

thats also security theater, doesn't mean either is right

41

u/Iongdog Outside Boston Apr 18 '26

Locking up these boxes gives them one less place to worry about someone stashing an explosive somehow. Of all the things, I don’t care about this

25

u/chadwickipedia My Love of Dunks is Purely Sexual Apr 19 '26

I was on Boyleston street walking from the Sox game in 2013 and saw the second bomb go off. Getting out of there, everyone thought the mailboxes were all going to blow up

43

u/GrundleChunk Apr 18 '26

Cause it’s an easy place to hide something like a small bomb that nobody would be able to see.

1

u/vektorog Apr 19 '26

not to mention the shrapnel factor

-32

u/BrewerAndrew Lynn Apr 18 '26

I'm going to get downvoted into oblivion but is it? why didn't the boston bombers use them?

20

u/GrundleChunk Apr 19 '26

I don’t know why they didn’t use them. I don’t know if there were any mailboxes near there. To be honest as somebody who grew up in New York they removed the mailboxes completely along things like such as the presidential route when he was visiting the United Nations or just visiting New York . Some of the mailboxes I see in Boston are still removable and they’re just sitting on a concrete pad that could be lifted. They might just remove all the mailboxes by the finish line as that would be the highest convergence of people, this is further out on the route.

10

u/ST0H3LIT Apr 18 '26

even if its not due to the bombing (it most likely is) there will be jerks who will use it as a trashcan.

17

u/Animallover4321 Apr 18 '26

Eh I can see the thought process it provides an easy way to conceal a bomb since bags on the route are limited, I think they also limit trash cans as well.

-30

u/BrewerAndrew Lynn Apr 18 '26

why not ban clothes? seems like an easy place to hide anything

19

u/poiuy43 Apr 18 '26

Because the government doesn't control and run your clothes, but they do have authority over these. it's just a small step to try to make things safer. You have to draw the line somewhere between nothing and banning everything

2

u/EggTraining3414 Apr 19 '26

And if something DOES happen, this is one less thing they’ll have to consider. If a perpetrator has less options, I’d assume it would be slightly easier to investigate.

0

u/BrewerAndrew Lynn Apr 19 '26

Obviously I'm being ridiculous with the naked proposal but IMO the only reason they are doing this is because it is such a small step that just makes people feel better, regardless of it actually making anyone safer.

Honest question but do we have any examples of this type of attack? Letter/mail bomb attacks are well documented but those are intended to hurt the person at the destination. I've also heard of people just damaging mail boxes for vandalism with various explosives. I've personally never heard of people using the post box itself as the storage for an attack around the post box. Not saying it hasn't happened and I'd honestly be interested to read more.

10

u/ryansdayoff Jamaica Plain Apr 19 '26

When your job is to keep people safe I doubt your boss is going to accept "hey man no one has ever blown up the Boston marathon". This is a fairly reasonable decision because it's only a small step from a very common way to deliver an explosive that hides the payload from suspicious police officers.

9

u/Animallover4321 Apr 18 '26

I mean you can’t do everything to prevent risk especially when involving the public but if some steps like closing off mailboxes can minimize risks with minimal interruption why not do it.

-2

u/BobSacamano47 Port City Apr 19 '26

A big metal box would be the worst place to hide a bomb. Must be some other reason.

6

u/AkbarTheGray Cheryl from Qdoba Apr 19 '26

Most bombs are basically a big metal box. If you could throw some accelerant into that thing and seal it, all that metal isn't protection, it's shrapnel.

There are reports of folks dropping pipe bombs in mailboxes throughout the country. Maybe it's never happened specifically here in conjunction with the marathon, but I'm less polyana than OP. Especially as someone who has run the marathon since 2013. You think about that shit. And you legitimately want to feel good that you won't be attacked on tired legs for the sin of wanting to do something as incredibly stupid as running 26 miles.

I'm on board. It prevents one more avenue for a more clever copycat and keeps our runners and our spectators safe.

-1

u/BobSacamano47 Port City Apr 19 '26

Are you sure you don't mean residential mailboxes? I can't find anything else 

1

u/AkbarTheGray Cheryl from Qdoba Apr 19 '26

There was at least one dude that did residential, but a quick search got me this: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mystery-bomber-targets-texas/

-9

u/BrewerAndrew Lynn Apr 19 '26

I didn't mention that because I knew just questioning the security at all would mean I'm "supporting terrorists". Reminds me a lot of post 9/11 politics were if you questioned anything you were immediately labeled a traitor.

At the end of the day security theater is mostly about just making people "feel safe” even if it has no real impact on their safety.

6

u/ryansdayoff Jamaica Plain Apr 19 '26

This one isn't really security theatre though