British Couple Reacts to 7 Outdoor Items only in America!

[@donald2106]

Putting the town name on water towers, started in the early days of aviation. Pilots would get lost sometimes, so they would look for a town, fly low, look to see the name of the town, and then look at the map to see where they were.

[@chrisinidaho4569]

US Mailboxes are placed on the road so that the mail carriers can drive from one box to another and put the mail in and keep on going. It would take them forever to have to drive up long driveways as are common in more rural areas. A mail carrier push his mail cart (trolley?) down the sidewalk also saves a lot of time by not having to walk up to each door. It's simply for efficiency.

[@anthonyramirez9003]

Not so much anymore thanks to Mailbox baseball.

[@chrisa2310]

And the mail trucks are the only type of vehicle in which the driver is on the right side. Therefore, the driver does not to have to reach across to the window.

[@Markle2k]

As for security, it is a Serious crime to interfere with the mail and they have a very excellent record for prosecution of offenses.

[@davidransom4476]

I delivered 17 years in San Jose, CA. Suburban area, single family homes. Walking route, almost 500 houses. Mail Boxes were near the front door of each house.

[@nancykaminski8600]

My mailbox is on the wall of my house next to the front door. I can just lean out and get my mail. I live in a suburb of Minneapolis. My mail carrier walks from house to house. In the winter I shovel a path across the yard for him so he doesn’t have to slog through deep snow or take the long way out to the street and up my driveway. Some people have mailboxes that are locked, the mail goes in a slot at the front but you need a key to open the top to retrieve it. My brother lives in another suburb and he has a mailbox at the curb, as does everyone else in the neighborhood. It seems that a neighborhood is either one or the other. I think older neighborhoods, like mine, have the mailboxes on the house.

[@TedC5203]

City people have mailmen bring their mail to the house on foot, cause the houses are so close together. Rural areas usually have the mailbox out by the road, so the mailman can drive from one box to another.

[@cobbler88]

I'd say that's a little oversimplified and inaccurate. I guess I would say that the farther you are from the center of a city, the farther your mail box tends to be from the home. When we really lived IN the city, the mailbox was on the wall next to the door. My parents still live in the city, but they're now so far from the center of it all that the mailbox is actually across the street. 🤣

[@ericgeil1586]

I have also seen mailboxes at the end of the road so you might actually have to walk for 10 or 15 minutes or drive to get your mail. In real rural areas the mailbox can be over a mile or more than 2km from the actual front door of the house. So Lawrence has still stay close to the city.

[@billmee4628]

Springfield Ma has areas of mailbox 📬 just a couple of feet behind the curb.

[@DavidHSouthernGent]

To add to that, in the US our mailboxes come with a red flag on it. This way you can send mail out as well. You just raise the flag to notify the mailman you got mail to send.

[@warrendavis9262]

"Why doesn't somebody come by and pull it out"? Because here in America, it's a federal offense....

[@joeyjohnson4826]

And most people arent douches 😂

[@amyvargo593]

Criminals don't care about federal offenses. Mail is stolen all the time.

[@cobbler88]

Plus we have something to threaten people with other than butter knives. :)

[@joeyjohnson4826]

@@cobbler88 yeah as a NRA member and cc you can't shoot someone for stealing your mail, unless you drag them in the house 😂

[@cobbler88]

@@joeyjohnson4826 I've managed to go 52 years without getting a tattoo, but I HAVE pondered getting one that reads, "I feared for my life, and the lives of my family." 🤣

[@gabriellareid3883]

In the U.S., taking someones mail is a federal crime which can lead to huge fines (quarter of a million) and more than a decade in federal prison.... per offense.

[@jtzutube]

Where "per offense" means PER ITEM OF MAIL - any 3 pieces of mail? $750k

[@gabriellareid3883]

@@jtzutube I believe it varies by which state the act occurs in, some might be by number of items stolen or it might be by number of mailboxes stolen from. And if I am not mistaken, the law applies to those who steal mail as well as those who receive stolen mail or who benefit from the mail theft.

[@FuzzyMarineVet]

Recently a string of mail thefts in my hometown have gone uninvestigated. The town police have been notified and the county sheriff as well as the local postmaster.

[@shawnmiller4781]

@@gabriellareid3883 Federal law not state law

[@m2hmghb]

@@gabriellareid3883 States may have additional charges, but they're talking federal charges from the post office.

[@vodriscoll]

There are yellow school buses in Canada as well. It's common knowledge that going into someone else's mailbox if a felony and you may go to prison.

[@the_dog_says_moo]

A felony is a state offense. Any crime involving mail is federal offense.

[@Loki_Trickster]

@@the_dog_says_moo Federal offenses still fall into Felony and misdemeanors. Federal Felonys have five classes A,B,C,D,E with A being the worst. Misdemeanors are less then 1 year in prison. Stealing any mail is a Federal misdemeanor, with up to 1 year in prison. Stealing leading to defraud, steal property/identity, and or put addressee in any duress is a Federal Felony.

[@edwardmclaughlin719]

@@Loki_Trickster Which class did they get you on?

[@Loki_Trickster]

@@edwardmclaughlin719 I've had a couple family member charged with Mail fraud and id theft for stealing from other family members and an elderly community. They are now serving 25 yrs. On a class A Federal Felony

[@FEARNoMore]

@@the_dog_says_moo Felony just means above a misdemeanor. They can be both state or federal involving more than a year of jail. Different degrees of felonies too.

[@vincentdarrah]

Yellow was adopted as the standard color for North American school buses in 1939. In April of that year, rural education specialist Frank W. Cyr organized a national conference at Columbia University to establish production standards for school buses, including a standard exterior color. The color which became known as "school bus yellow" was selected because black lettering on that specific hue was easiest to see in the semi-darkness of early morning and late afternoon. Officially, school bus yellow was designated "National School Bus Chrome"; following the removal of lead from the pigment, it was renamed "National School Bus Glossy Yellow".

[@WhatDayIsItTrumpDay]

Thanks. I did not know that. I had a feeling there was at sometime an official adopted color for school buses, but I did not know the story. In fact, I think that prior to that time, there was red and even blue school buses.

[@anndeecosita3586]

I see yellow with public school buses but many times I have seen private school buses are school colors.

[@grumblesa10]

..and ONLY school buses may be painted in that color. If someone buys a surplus bus, they must have it repainted before taking ownership.

[@g2s2j2]

...and the black lines (placement), actually have meanings. They are a safety device for rescue efforts.

[@robertdaniels2549]

@@WhatDayIsItTrumpDay v

[@joestone5048]

Rural mailboxes were once limited to rural areas. Some Americans once had mail slots in their front doors just like the UK. However, the US postal service now mandates the use of rural boxes pretty much everywhere. This is to save the mail carriers from having to walk the additional steps. That is the real reason why these boxes are now so common.

[@darkjedi74]

You still see mail slots in older Victorian style homes, especially in older places on the east coast.

[@rogerhuggettjr.7675]

I had a slot that went into my front closet when I first bought my house in Minneapolis in the 90's, but when I changed the siding, I had it covered to avoid potential insect problems. I've had wasps and yellow jackets near there before and would hate to give them easy access to my house.

[@davidransom4476]

That's for new construction. They build a neighborhood and put in the pultiple address boxes. USPS can't change delivery method unless residents agree.

[@annpachini2155]

There are also mailboxes attached to the house. My Mom had one because it became difficult for her to walk to the mailbox at her age and she had to use a walker and wasn’t able to cross the street to her old mailbox. Her letter carrier (mail man) suggested she contact the post office and request a mailbox on her home. The mailman just drove up her driveway and delivered the mail.

[@glamdring0007]

There's no such mandate...my last 2 houses both had a mailbox next to the garage door.

[@russrollins9978]

The state of Vermont, where I live, banned billboards along highways in 1968. As a result, we have some of the most scenic and beautiful highways, with nothing to distract you but the views.

[@djmac6088]

You have a beautiful state!!!

[@jontastic]

My previous home was built around 1900, it had a brass letter slot in the front door. The downside is that my dog would sometimes rip the mail. The advantages to the USA classic mailbox are large capacity, can hold small packages, and when installed next to the street the postman can deliver while inside their van increasing the speed of delivery while reducing the effort of their work. Fire hydrants are usually red or yellow. School buses are common due to the spread out housing in the USA, especially in rural communities.

[@mcm0324]

Yellow school buses are due safety. As a driver, you cannot miss seeing a school bus. There are several driving laws in regards to school buses. It's also a big step for 5 year old going to kindergarten to be a 'big boy or big girl' going on the school bus for the first time, however in high school (about 15 or 16) you do anything to get a ride to high school and avoid that bus. 🤣 One thing I found in common from Lawrence is the popular kids sitting in the back of the bus - same is true in the US!

[@nochannel1q2321]

It also highlights that they are school buses, rather than any other kind and as a result, when they deploy their stop signs across all lanes of traffic it provides for a reasonably safe space for students who need to change to the other side of the road can do so. And so American police can find and issue enormous fines to drivers who dare pass the extended signs.

[@wmason1961]

​@AL to be fair every one of the bullies sitting in the back thought they were popular.

[@sandylee9564]

Lawrence showed a pic of a "mesh fence' People I know call them 'chain-link' fences.

[@ZedrikVonKatmahl]

Yeah, that was a chain-link fence A mesh fence is just horizontal and vertical wires making rectangles

[@anthonyduffy5967]

It’s amazing how many things I take for granted as an American, until I watch the Beesleys or Lawrence videos.

[@runrafarunthebestintheworld]

We sure take Tumbleweeds for granted. 😅😅

[@christystokely8773]

Absolutely! I've never even stopped to consider that things like that were exclusive to or mainly known as things only in the U. S. Never considered that different countries have school buses that were not yellow. Anywhere you go in the US, even if you're me in town, you know that you put your kids on the yellow bus that comes by/near your house. Mailbox at the road I've known all my life everywhere I've lived except an apartment complex in the 90's, we had a big metal box, (at the parking lot/car park) that had 10 -20 small square boxes & each apartment number on each small box you open with a key. The mail carrier had access to the back of it with a single key & big door that opened up and they sorted the mail there by apartment # in each slot/box. I figured every country flew their respective flags in rural areas anyway, never had a house with a picket fence, so I've never thought much about that one. Had several with chain link fence in front & privacy fence in back yard/garden (tall wooden) these are very interesting 🤔 oh! And I thought that literally EVERYONE in the UK had a literal "garden" in their yard (garden where you grow flowers, herbs, fruits, vegetables...) Never thought of a garden as just the property around the house with grass only! I would love to visit UK someday.. every picture I've ever seen is breathtakingly beautiful with lush green lands and beautiful cottage style homes with thatch roofs and all the hundreds & some even thousand + year old structures.. churches, Tudor & victorian homes cobblestone streets.. etc... ❤️

[@frankisfunny2007]

The mailboxes that are in the front yard, are commonly founded in more rural parts of the US. Mailboxes in towns are usually attached to the house, but next to the door closest to the road. In apartments in cities, they're usually in a joined mail box, but separated by apartment number, or letter.

[@SDWNJ]

Funny billboard story: While making the movie UHF (starring Weird Al Yankovic) they needed a shot of a billboard for a fictional store called Spatula World, so the rented one for a short period of time and apparently after the time was up it went un-rented for while so it was left up and the billboard company got complaints from people looking for Spatula World.

[@justins2497]

Spatula CIty......Spatula City.....We have spatulas for all your spatula needs, Dads,Grads , Wedding gitfs, and remember nothing says "I love you" more than a spatula. Sorry i LOVE that movie!!!

[@daveowens9849]

Back in 1976 during our Bicentennial celebration in the hometown, the city commissioned young artists to paint all the fire hydrants into characters. Focused on the celebration, they painted each one a different character. As a 19-year-old kid, I was fascinated with the different characters on the fire hydrants.

[@larry71000]

I remember seeing many hydrants painted with stars and stripes for the bicentennial

[@CaddyJim]

Rarely some people have mail slot on the doors like Britain and only in apartments our mailbox is locked. Many of these differences is because the u.s. have such large country when it comes to school buses and mailboxes at postman just drives up to

[@FuzzyMarineVet]

The drawback for a mailbox separate from the house is that sometimes it rains all day and you do not want to go out to fetch mail getting yourself and your mail all wet.

[@pfcampos7041]

or snows or is just too cold. One nice perk of moving to the city was not having to leave the building to get my mail!

[@cryst2hu]

Especially when your driveway is a half mile long

[@ms_scribbles]

Thankfully mine is out next to my garage so it's both not a long walk and a walk where I can stand under the overhang of the garage roof so I don't get wet.

[@AmericanNoiseMaker]

Or the wind blows so hard the box’s door flys open and the mail gets wet.

[@stellaandes759]

My dad was a letter carrier for the US Postal Service. His patrons knew him as Mr. Bill, and he was much loved by those patrons.

[@lstclaire2]

The school bus thing reminds me of when I moved out west and saw tumbleweed for the first time. I also did not think it was a real thing until I saw them rolling by 😅

[@starparodier91]

My friend had German exchange students at his high school and they were amazed tumbleweeds were real! They thought it was a prank at first! 😂

[@TheRealMirCat]

The wildest part is Tumbleweeds are an invasive species from Russia. See CGP Grey

[@pfcampos7041]

ditto!

[@runrafarunthebestintheworld]

LoL I even saw Tumble weeds here in California. 😅😅

[@Bacopa68]

Tumbleweeds are native to Kazakhstan and Russia. Not sure why anyone imported them. Similar story with Kudzu.

[@asiawhite4144]

The red fire hydrant is the iconic color in the US but I have seen yellow, white, and black fire hydrants. Also it’s illegal to take someone else’s mail or intentionally damage a mailbox you can be fined or jailed if caught plus now a days you can place little cameras on or near your mailbox that connect to your phone so if someone does take it you can report them easily cause even though everyone knows it’s illegal there are still exceptions 😅

[@btnhstillfire]

We have green ones.

[@jonathonfrazier6622]

We also have green ones.

[@Naruto_uzumaki120]

In the fire service there is a cooler coating system for water flow and pressure some places don't do it some do in the us fire service

[@williamhazzard9457]

When I was a volunteer fire fighter, our fire hydrants were color coded, so you could quickly see which ones were on which water main.

[@ReiseLukas]

I've seen blue ones

[@rainbowraver666]

some mailboxes lock and some dont! I would say most don't, particularly when it's just a single one, but sometimes there will be multiple that are all part of one structure like little lockers for each house and those usually require a key to open

[@KevinBenecke]

Here in America, we usually have wall mounted mailboxes in the towns and cities. The mailboxes on posts are mainly found on the curbs of houses and businesses at the end of the driveway (sometimes the other side of the rod because it depends on which way the mailman comes from in their mail truck) that are out on the outskirts, suburbs and out in the country side. In cities and towns, the mail people usually walk to deliver mail. When you start leaving town, the are usually driving routes which is why we have mailboxes on the curb,

[@SaltyBagfries]

We have a white plastic sort of fence between us and neighbors, and on the other two sides of the back yard we have chain fence. Part of the reason for that is to not break up the scenery. We have a farm behind us, and it's beautiful in the growing seasons, and covered in snow in the winter. The side one is because it faces the road, and our dogs love kids. The second reason for the cheap fencing is so the dogs can see things without escaping. A bonus for our area is that if you don't fence, someone on your property is just trespassing. If they hop a fence, it automatically becomes burglary if the owner wants to push the issue.

[@CrankyGrandma]

I’ve never had an issue with mail stolen. Packages, yes. America is huge and there is far more rural than urban. A post driver simply can’t go up to every door. Some people in rural areas will walk a distance down their driveway to a mailbox on the main road to get their mail. My daughter has to walk to the end of her street where there are a set of mailboxes for the neighborhood (everyone has their own number). This is to simplify delivery over a huge area. The USA is massive.

[@johnmangan5729]

I HAVE had issues with mail being stolen. So I have installed an "insert" in the mail box such that a key is required to remove the mail. Mailman doesn't always get the mail into the "protected" slot but it helps. Agree with others, mailboxes are more in rural areas than in urban areas. Would not be surprised that post office regulations are causing more of the street type mailboxes in new housing to reduce the manpower needed to deliver mail by walking up to each front door.

[@bananas1443]

I was really shocked to learn that other countries don't really have school busses.

[@Blondie42]

I think you meant yellow busses. Canada and China both use yellow school busses. Mexico and parts of S America use (not necessarily yellow) school busses. And Japan has some really cool novelty school busses shaped like animals or anime themes.

[@nuttybar9]

Iraq has them.

[@grumblesa10]

Germany does for small town/rural kids. In fact they are labeled "Schul Bus" with similar laws regarding passing them IIRC.

[@nevillemason6791]

In the UK when schools were founded (often by the local church) they were in the local community and the kids just walked there. In later years, when new housing was more spread out, there was usually a local bus system to be used. Moving children long distances was never an issue. I'm surprised in the US, the place where everyone is supposed to have an automobile, that it actually happened. When I went to school in a city in the 1960s you got a free pass for the local bus only if you lived more than 2 miles away. Under 2 miles I suppose you were assumed to walk there.

[@Blondie42]

@@nevillemason6791 "everyone is supposed to have an automobile" You presume too much. With the 3rd largest country in the world not everyone can afford a car. And many, in places like NYC, don't want/need a car. Even in households where both parents had a vehicle it is still standard for the kids to ride the school bus to work. In large cities, yes, kids will use public transit, rural areas? Nope. Many of my classmates had to travel for up to and even over an hour to reach the local schools. When they were too young they took the bus, when they were 16+ they drove themselves if their parents could afford a vehicle for them. Some parents did drop their kids off, many couldn't. It wasn't practical, or economical, for them to drive an hour + to drop their kids off at school then drive back to their farm/ranch. There's other outlining reasons for the necessity of "special" busses that are for school use only. And this is only in the US. Other places outside of the states use student only transportation busses. Canda and China are two that I know do.

[@michelleparsons6931]

The Fire hydrants in our neighborhood are now yellow, so they fit in better but are still easy to spot by the Fire Dept. We have a mailbox in front of our yard, but in my brother's neighborhood in TX they have a large rectangular metal box on a pedestal that has individual mailboxes, and each resident has to use a key to open their mail box. Depending on the size of the neighborhood, there are multiple numbers of these boxes, each covering a street or two.

[@djmac6088]

Ours are also yellow where I live.

[@stocks1000]

In the town I grew up in in southern California we had fire hydrants the same color as the school buses, kind of a yellowy orange.

[@valg.3270]

When I lived on Loring AFB, Maine, we had the slot in the door for our mail. My mother-in-law has a mailbox on her front porch. I have a mailbox (tube-like) that is surrounded by rocks with a planter attached to the side. My parents live out in the country, their tube-like mailbox on a 4x4 post was replaced with a heavy duty metal mailbox on a metal pole based in a tire rim & cement. (Some people do steal from mailboxes. Some people like to drive by and hit mailboxes with baseball bats-which is why my parents replaced their original mailbox.)

[@terriehumphries6028]

It is illegal to take someone else's mail from their mail box, but it happens. I used to think every country had red fire hydrants, but then I also thought that everyone's weddings were the same in every country as well. You should do a video on that as well.

[@jimbarber9638]

School buses in the U.S., and also Canada, are painted a distinct yellow color because they are easier to see on the road, and especially during in-climate weather. Over the past couple of decades, the roofs of the yellow school buses have been painted white to reflect the sunlight, thus a cooler bus. School buses are not air conditioned. When the red lights come on, vehicle traffic must stop both behind the bus and in front in the opposing lanes. At a bus stop, many buses have a long arm that comes down along the front right side of the bus to keep children from exiting the bus and walking in front of the bus to cross the road where the driver can't see them. And the interior military green color and the dark green seats are about the same as they were in the 1950s with very basic comfort. Seatbelts are optional based on state/county laws or the policy of the school board. The same with GPS tracking devices. Basic transportation...but they always get the kids to school or home on time.

[@hephaestus6605]

As a water operator in a rural town the towers that are used are one of a few forms of water storage options used here. The tower is dual purpose in use. #1 is for storage. The water is pumped up into the "Bowl" for use as people need it throughout the day. #2 is to create pressure in the main line/distribution system and into the home for consumer use. Depending on the height of the tower as to how much pressure is being released coming out and through the distribution system. My tower is 175 ft tall and we normally have between 65 to 70 psi in our distribution lines. Also as we are a small town of roughly 200 people we have a 50,000 gallon storage bowl in our tower which is more than adequate for a days use for the number of people.

[@luismoro5720]

Billboards are not as distracting as he describes. I have driven cross country and commuted long distances on highways for many years and rarely does an accident ever happen. I use my peripheral vision when reading billboards and get along just fine.

[@catherinehowell2163]

Billboards along highways used to be a lot worse before Lady Bird Johnson (President Johnson’s wife) started a beautification program to get rid of a lot of the billboards. As for fire hydrants, in rural areas of America, a lot rural fire companies carry pumps that can draw water from creeks and farm ponds to provide water since the classic red fire hydrants don’t exist in farmland.

[@marydavis5234]

I love living in one of the 4 US states where billboards are banned. 😊

[@heronimousbrapson863]

Most of these items are seen in Canada too. Steel water towers are being phased out in many places; the one in Lethbridge, Alberta was converted into a restaurant.

[@djmac6088]

I saw that when we were in Lethbridge to visit family. Yes most of this is not just the States.

[@VelkanAngels]

@@djmac6088 - Right. Red fire hydrants exist here in Denmark too, looking almost identical to the American ones (based on the picture shown in the video).

[@shawnmiller4781]

The tops and caps of fire hydrants usually are color coded to reflect the max GPM (Gallons per minute) that the hydrant will provide. That way the engineer of any fire truck hooking up to it knows how much water he will get from the hydrant. Edit: also hydrants are usually of two types, wet or dry. The wet ones are the ones you see put out the thirty foot geyser of water when one gets taken out in a movie car chase. The water is always all the way to the top and the valve that opens it is in the hydrant itself. But on a cold climate a wet hydrant can freeze solid and crack. Dry ones are usually used in colder climates. The water valve is usually at the base about three meters below street level. The standpipe has no water in it so it stays warmer and is much less likely to freeze. The shapes can and usually are slightly different

[@mr.hanger]

Your third point is actually the definition of hydrant. I'm going out to put a U.S. flag on mine now that I've watched this.

[@kelleyappleby5322]

Interesting and I learned something today. Thanks

[@kelleyappleby5322]

In 1976 for our bicentennial our fire hydrants were painted red, white, and blue. It was really cool to see.

[@xDarkTrinityx]

Interesting, learned something new. Lived in MN my whole life and didn't know wet barrel hydrants were a thing, I thought they all looked like the dry barrel ones.

[@shawnmiller4781]

@@xDarkTrinityx I was in Ventura CA a few tree ars back and they had the wet barrel ones and they just looked weird.

[@MarcG7424]

What Lawrence referred to as a Mesh Fence is actually called a Chain Link Fence in America because the metal is intertwined like a chain

[@kayeruss7313]

When we first moved to Florida, they were called hurricane fences, probably because Hurricane Fence is one of the well-known manufacturers.

[@dustykeele]

@@kayeruss7313 In other areas, they are known as Cyclone Fences. Chain link fences are popular in areas prone to high winds.

[@johnmangan5729]

The particular fence shown was a chain link fence, but there are many types of fences used throughout the U.S. (and likely the entire world). The "Beware of Dog" signs are often put up in the belief that if anyone enters the fenced in area, and your dog decides to start chewing on them, the perpetrator will have no legal recourse to sue as the had been warned by the signage before entering the yard.

[@jeannedickson5921]

Types of mailboxes differ from neighborhood to neighborhood. When I was a little girl, our mailbox was attached to the front of the house. We moved when I was 10, and the mailbox was at the road.

[@cathead9]

I have a mailbox in the yard too. We do have problems with “porch pirates”, who follow delivery trucks an steal stuff off your porch.

[@Skymedc]

Urban areas have letter slots on the doors, or boxes attached near the door. Rural areas have the stand alone boxes, or sometimes community boxes attached together on a corner. Rural routes are driven, not walked.

[@a.dalton4491]

When I was a kid we had a silver fire hydrant in front of our house, not sure why it wasnt red but the fire chief lived across the street from us and every summer he would bring the fire truck home and open the hydrant valves up and let the water spray out... he would let all the neighborhood kids play in the water, he was a really cool fireman and I alway found it funny that his name was Mr. Tapp. 😃

[@RiRi-df9jt]

Billboard signs on the side of the road are not distracting. You don't even notice or care about them. The only time they come in handy is when you see an advertisement for a destination you are going to so you know you are getting close.

[@MarinePigVa]

Most new neighborhoods build now have a central location for the mail. We have a mailbox at the road that flaps open. You can buy ones that lock. My house growing up our postman had to walk the neighborhood because the mailbox was on the house.

[@kristinedoty7876]

Because we generally have large front yards, some have long driveways leading from the road to the house front. Interestingly, our mail trucks are made with right hand drive because they can drive down the road and deliver mail to mailboxes without getting out of the driver's seat.

[@charliepowell1348]

The mailbox are on the street for most areas not in a historic district or in a large city. Several US cities that have old neighborhoods still get front door delivery either In a box or through a door slot. For several decades the Usps has required new construction homes to have a mailbox on the street or in a large cluster box with several addresses centralized in one spot for the whole street. If an older person or disabled person is no longer able to get to their mailbox they can get a doctor to request for a hardship delivery. All hardships are put in a location easiest for the home owner to access most of the time it is in a mailbox mounted next to the front door.

[@davidransom4476]

The water towers are to provide a static, or pressure head for the town water pumps suction side. They keep the pumps from cavitating. Used in areas where water is sucked up from a well.

[@JoKeR93007]

Also of note, most "mail trucks" (the tiny one the Postman drives) are right hand drive so that they can reach the mail box without exiting the vehicle.

[@patcummings2276]

in 1976, the start of the US, we could decorate the red fire hydrants to celebrate. I had one in front of my house in Houston, painted it like a little man with a blue collar and arms

[@Bacopa68]

I am from Houston and I swear everyone painted hydrants to look like Continental Army soldiers. Every single one in the burbs was decorated. But not in Jersey Village, because that was a police state and still is.

[@arc00ta]

Water towers are common in areas where you have town water instead of wells, they pump water up to the tower and then if the power goes out it can gravity feed the water supply until it runs out. It also makes a sort of water buffer for high usage times, like say half the town comes home and wants a shower at 7PM it helps maintain the pressure without having to run a bunch of pumps.

[@bradparnell614]

The mailboxes are different depending on your neighborhood. You can have those boxes on the posts next to the the road or a little box on your house, usually right next to your front door. Most where I live have the latter, but in the house I grew up in we had the former. The postman, or mailman, as we more commonly refer to them (postman is more old fashioned but still very recognized) would park at the end of the street and walk up and down putting the mail in the boxes on the front of your house. For the ones on the street they have these cars with no doors and a right hand drive like you'd see in Britain and they just go driving slowly down the street inserting the mail to each box.

[@TeacherTonya74]

Water towers are real and prevalent in smaller towns. The yellow school buses have different rules than other buses. You must stop when the yellow ones stop if you are next to or behind the bus, on either side of the road. (Unless there is a median). You do not have to stop for regular, city-run buses unless you are directly behind it.

[@scottdean2199]

School busses were originally painted yellow to be easily visible. They are usually the same color as road warning signs for the same reason.

[@nyneeveanya8861]

Mail boxes are prevalent in rural settings so the postman doesn’t have to get out of his vehicle. Yes, everyone and their dog can access it. This is another reason why many people have gone to direct deposit of checks. It goes to the bank and not to the mailbox. You can have your medicines delivered but not if they are narcotics, neither will they deliver diabetic needles.I am home bound and have all my meds delivered. If for some reason I need a narcotic for pain I must get it at the pharmacy. Luckily I haven’t needed any in about five years since my last surgery. Also being rural you may accidentally get your neighbors mail and you can just pop it in their box as you go by.

[@kevingouldrup9265]

In New England a proper stone wall is where it is at! Picket fences? Perhaps an iron fence.

[@jimgreen5788]

Beesleys, in case your curiosity is driving you up the wall, the water tower for a city called Elkhart (EL-cart) is located in Indiana. In order to qualify for riding the school bus, you have to live at least a minimum distance away from the school. Picket fences used to be made with wood, but now it's switched to plastic, which saves on the number of trees taken down. The mesh fences are called cyclone fences. What you have to receive your mail depends upon the type of home you have. It could be a slot, a mailbox on the outside wall, or a slot out by the street, depending upon whether it's a walking route, or a driving one. Fire extinguishers are red in many places, but there are just as many which are yellow. Yes, we are patriotic, but there are also many businesses, usually of a local, state or national variety, which are mandated to fly the flag every business day, which makes up a significant percentage of the flags.

[@delbert372]

Yep, all of these are just common everyday things here, and have been for many decades. I’m all for getting rid of the billboards, plenty of other ways to advertise.

[@kimberlygabaldon3260]

The school busses here are painted yellow for safety. Yellow stands out more than other color, (except for fire engine red, which is for firetrucks). It is also the color on traffic lights between green and red, which signals "prepare to stop." So it probably makes people automatically more cautious.

[@michaelschemlab]

It’s a felony to steal another person’s mail

[@skipd9164]

Home delivery of U.S. mail started during civil war. People would swamp the local post office for letters from soldiers and other information. So they decided to deliver mail daily to help people and stop daily trips to post office. Fire hydrants are different colors to define the type. Regular is red and high pressure I believe are yellow. There are also different types made for frost or no frost areas. There are hydrants that allow water to be taken from lakes and streams and need to be pumped only.

[@PgPgDn]

About the yellow school buses, if you look on the side, you will see 3 black lines the length of the boss. The bottom line is the actual floor height. The second (middle line) is the seat height and the top line is the height of the seat backs.

[@Adiscretefirm]

Fire hydrant bases are often painted red, but not always. Most places have red, yellow, green, or blue caps depending on how high the flow rate should be.

[@kellishostall2583]

Converting buses into living spaces is very popular here. Some people buy cross country buses (Greyhound etc ) but a lot of people buy skoolies (school buses). It is illegal to keep them yellow..they have to change the color of them if they are going to take them on the road. 😊

[@corm7538]

Yep, we in the US love our Stars & Stripes aka The American Flag. In Gastonia, North Carolina, which is around 20 miles West of Charlotte, the largest city in North Carolina, the town of Gastonia has laid calm to the largest flying American flag, the flag is 114 feet (35 meters) wide by 65 feet (20 meters) tall, totaling 7,410 square feet (688 square meters), that's just over 6 times the square feet of the house I live in...

[@anndeecosita3586]

I have seen billboards in other countries besides the USA. In the USA they aren’t always ads. My friend wishes his wife a happy birthday on one every year. Sometimes they congratulate sports teams, graduates and such

[@lizbrown6943]

Post WW2 housing booms mail was delivered to mailbox on front of house or garage. Carriers walking to each house on strict schedule was a cause of 'going postal.' Also theft of rose with rate of crime. A community box was added when a number of box numbers reside.

[@BryanShoemake]

The three black stripes on a school bus have a meaning. The bottom strip is a indicator of where the floor is. The middle strip is a indicator of the bottom of the seat and the top strip is the top of the seat.

[@jessicaely2521]

The city has mailmen walking, because the houses are close together. Out in the suburbs or country they have the trucks. I have a friend where their mailbox is on a rope. Her driveway is long, steep, and windy. You have to drive 1 mile (1.6 km) to get to her front door. When there's a snow storm or an ice storm she can't get out of her driveway. A mailbox on a pully system is how she gets her mail during these times. The city has the city streets plowed and/or salted. The city doesn't plow and/or salt private driveways.

[@wesalker3479]

Good fences make for good neighbors. They're also efficient ways to keep the wildlife from eating the landscaping. . . . .

[@JazzMaster01]

I work at a water treatment plant. We push water from the plant, through the pipes underground, and it fills the water towers, the towers then push water to the homes across the city. The reason why the water goes to the towers first and then houses, is to have extra storage so that way if the plant malfunctions and we can't supply water for a time, then civilians can still use water thanks to the extra storage provided by the water tanks we fill up.

[@mattx449]

I believe the fire hydrants are painted red and made very visible so people don’t accidentally block them when parking their cars. That hinders the fire fighters. The hydrant is usually connected to the fire truck which has multiple hoses. If there’s a car between the hydrant and the truck it makes connecting them more difficult

[@sadiekincaid5310]

One thing he did not touch on about mailboxes is that the mailbox itself belongs to United States Postal Service. If damaged you have to replace your own mailbox with your own money even though you don't technically own your mailbox. There are some funny shaped mailboxes in the US and one of the mailboxes I saw was shaped and painted like a salmon.

[@ZedrikVonKatmahl]

Technically you own your mailbox but the USPS has sole jurisdiction over using it for mail from or to you It's weird legal stuff

[@sadiekincaid5310]

@@ZedrikVonKatmahl if you look at your mailbox itself it says property of the United States Postal Service. You don't own the mailbox. You own the support it sits on and the land it sits on but not the box itself. Only USPS are allowed to put mail that is being delivered to you in the Mailbox. You can put out going mail but UPS, FedEx, or any other companies that deliver mail are not allowed to put anything in the mailbox even if that's where you specified for them to put it.

[@ZedrikVonKatmahl]

@@sadiekincaid5310 My mailbox says no such thing I own my mailbox, by setting my mailbox for use, the US government and I have a contractual agreement (similar to a lease) that the US government will treat it as federal jurisdiction, but it's still my mailbox

[@williamhogge5549]

In NYC when its super hot in the summer they used to open a few hydrants up for kids to play in... Before hydrants were fireplugs, Also a short stout man might be described as a fireplug.

[@judyburlette6523]

A red fire hydrant is red so the firemen can find them in the snow! They do turn them on to check if they work in the summer. Then, let kids play in the water.🥰 My sister is on one of the special Ed yellow busses she loves it! She says it's the best job she has ever had

[@shawnmiller4781]

Actually the colors on the caps usually will vary depending on the max flow rate of that hydrant can provide. The engineer on the fire truck then knows how much and how quickly he can get water

[@KevinBenecke]

A lot of time the water company turns of fire hydrants to flush the sediment out of the lines as well.

[@FEARNoMore]

We have a yellow fire hydrant next door.

[@thomasbeauchamp3781]

As several have said, stealing mail is a federal offense. It is possible to get lockable mailboxes where the mailman slides the mail into a slot and the owner can use a key to retrieve it.

[@oduinn7948]

Usually schools won't use school buses for field trips (unless it's somewhere _very_ local) and instead will rent out a charter bus.

[@LGW27]

Mailboxes in the U. S.: The mailboxes on posts - I've mostly seen them in rural areas or sparsely populated areas. Mailboxes on wall outside front door are seen everywhere. At apartment buildings or complexes, you'll sometimes find a set of rows of mailboxes. Usually, you'll see units of locked metal file-like boxes which can be either outside or in a common area. I have never seen a mail slot on a door, but they probably exist. Theft is a common issue, especially packages.

[@HRConsultant_Jeff]

Years ago they had a contest in Minnesota where people painted their fire hydrants to look like Snoopy (Charlie Brown's Dog). Other cities have had similar contests with fire hydrants. The design gives you a lot of freedom to make them look like many different things.

[@melaniemaurer8617]

Our city did that too. We could paint anything. My sister painted one to look like a princess. That was a long time ago.

[@Blondie42]

My hometown did something similar. Where hydrants were painted to look like little people. No one in particular though.

[@HRConsultant_Jeff]

@@melaniemaurer8617 The one in front of my house was painted yellow (like the school bus). We always tried to sit on it, but it was a little uncomfortable as it had a knob on top.

[@alexshkoditch4593]

School buses are always yellow, but fire hydrants do not have a standard color. I see yellow hydrants more often around here. My house (modest, suburban ranch style) has an alarm system with motion detectors. A mail slot in the door could trigger the sensors and set off the alarm.

[@jchrisj200]

I believe that the yellow and black paint is exclusive to school busses in the US and ONLY school busses can use it. When I was in the Boy Scouts our troop bought an old School bus and the first thing we had to do is repaint it to remove the yellow and black paint. Some mail routes have mailboxes on the house or a mail slot in the door or the side of the house but a lot have mailboxes at the street to allow for driving routes. On my street the mail truck stops at each box to deliver the mail - and the mail trucks are right hand drive so the driver is right next to the box. Sealing mail is a federal felony in the US by the way.

[@Chelle23464]

For the mail deal many have mentioned the steep penalties, but really there is little reason to steal mail anymore. Fire hydrants pretty much have the similar shapes but can have other colors. In neighboring town they use silver and green.

[@btnhstillfire]

Ya all they will get is junk mail and bills lmao

[@Chelle23464]

@@btnhstillfire that’s my point too. I get maybe 2 items that are junk mail and neither are worth stealing. I don’t even get bills by mail anymore. Email, text alerts and banking apps allows people to go paperless.

[@yourenotthere]

We have a bus line (like an airline, but buses) over here called "Grayhound" with a grayhound dog in the logo. Here in East Texas (at least, maybe other places) we had a slang term for School buses: "yellow dog", as in "We're gonna yellow dog it to the ball game." which would mean the team was being transported on a school bus rather than, say, a chartered bus like the ones Grayhound drives.

[@Boog8302]

There is actually a color code system for fire hydrants in America. Some communities actually follow it, though most just paint the hydrant a solid color. The color code actually tells firefighters the GPM (Gallons Per Minute) or pressure output of the hydrants.

[@BlufLeather2892]

"Even educated fleas do it ", he may just be referring to an old Cole Porter song, I choose to believe he is reminding us of Tank Girl, an unsung bada** of American lore.

[@devilquill]

Some people here in the States have mailboxes where the mail slides down into a locked compartment. Regarding school busses, in America they are closer to orange than yellow.

[@toomanyopinions8353]

You can get locking mailboxes. In the previous place I lived, there was a door on the box where you could put letters in, but it was a one way door since the letters would only slide down into the compartment when you close it. Thus, you could not reach in and get stuff through that door. There was a lower door below it that was locked, that if I wanted the mail I would have to go out there with my mail key and unlock the box.

[@LaShumbraBatesAuDHD]

I grew up in Chicago, and most mailboxes that I knew of, had mail slots on the door, or at least on the outside wall near the front door. The mail carriers would park at the end of the block and walk that block with either a big mail bag or a rolling cart, and walk door to door. Some people had a mailbox at the sidewalk. Many times the ones at the sidewalk had locks. I live in the suburbs, a fairly rural one, and our mailboxes are a bank of mailboxes at the 3nd of the block, and they all lock.

[@stevennelson9504]

You can buy locking mail boxes, but most people do not have them. In many towns mail is delivered to the door, but the Post Office is no longer adding new routes with door service. New routes have either individual rural mail boxes by the road or a cluster mail box station for several homes in the area.

[@sgfx]

8:20 Mailboxes in the United States are protected by federal law, and anyone who is not a resident or a postal worker should not open them. Unauthorized access to a mailbox can result in serious consequences, including legal trouble. Additionally, stealing mail from a mailbox is considered a federal crime that carries significant penalties. also not all mailboxes look like his photo. Some are in cased in a brick piller or other decor, and some are fun, like in the shape of a tractor, or other items. we also use door slots and mailboxes on our porches, depending on the local post office. The reason we use the roadside boxes so often is that in many places our mail trucks just drive up to deliver the mail . And the mailman (person) does not have to walk or get out, this makes for faster delivery and better for them during bad weather.

[@johncagnettajr344]

In the city NY Boston Pittsburgh--- the mail box is attached to the house at the front door at the front door. Some house have mail slot in the door. But in the burbs we use mailbox’s at the end of the driveway. The postman drives a vehicle with the steering wheel on the right side so the can deliver from the vehicle.

[@moosecat]

Water towers are a way for municipalities to stock up on water, just like reservoirs. Unlike reservoirs, since the water towers are usually among the tallest structures in a town, and/or built on higher ground, water towers can continue to supply water due to gravity, which is important if there's a massive power outage. For that reason, many older buildings in cities (like New York City) had water towers built on the roof.

[@tuzzday]

A long time ago I was a substitute rural letter carrier. It was in a the rule area and was 43 miles. We drove right hand drive postal vehicles and the boxes were by the street so you didn't get out of the vehicle. We truly were like a traveling mail office i.e. selling stamps, money orders etc...The house I have now does have a slot for the mail on the house (not the door) but we have a mailbox on the side. The slot is just to small for all the "junk" mail you get.

[@rapunz3l630]

We live next to a school and had issues with school kids stealing our mail out of our mailbox and breaking our post in half so we installed a new box with a steel post set in concrete and the mailbox has an inner door that locks with a slit at the top. It allows the mail carrier to open the door and place the mail inside through a slot and the we use a key to open the inner door to get out our mail. Many people in the states avoid the letter box in the front door because it makes the home more susceptible to intruders and also unsecure. There have been times when people in the past have poured gasoline or thrown incendiary devices through the letter box.

[@scrambler69-xk3kv]

Good luck finding your type of fire connection in the winter when it is iced over or covered with snow.

[@jennm3321]

Mailboxes generally aren't locked, but if you receive a lot of packages or checks in the mail for example, you can always invest in a lock box for more security. As far as fire hydrants go, here's a fun fact. Many people don't realize that they are also marked by blue reflective "box dots" on the road so that firemen can find them quickly.

[@skipd9164]

My city of 100k in MASS has their own water system. We have 4 reservoirs with 3 large water tanks that fill after getting treated in our water treatment plant. There are 200psi water mains that run through our city as part of MASS water resource administration MWRA. MWRA is the main source of treated water for most of MASS. Lynn takes pride in our water and sewer system

[@joyleff790]

LIving in a small US town of approx. 300 people, we don't have home delivery. UPS and FED-EX deliver but to get our regular mail, we have a locked box in the post office. However, those who live out of town have those mailboxes and some have a mile or more drive to the main road, where their mailbox is, often in a group with others, for delivery convenience.

[@sidkemp4672]

Fences - notes from an American. The white picket fence is not for rich people. It is for the middle class in small towns and suburbs. So a storekeeper or bank manager might want a house with a white picket fence. These houses have a small to medium-sized lawn, and perhaps some shrubs and a flower garden. They will generally not have vegetable gardens - that is rather rare. And what he called mesh fences we usually call chain link fences. The proper term for a "post person" or "mail person" is letter carrier (for the delivery folks) or postal worker. The mailboxes by the street allow letter carriers to drive in small trucks and hand out the mail without leaving the truck. And the steering wheel is on the right side (like the cars you guys drive) so he can reach over and load the box. And, in many locals, the letter carrier will pick up mail from your street-side mailbox, as well.

[@julielifejusthappens1232]

In the town it's self the house may have a bail box on the house by the door. However outside of town the mailboxes are on poles or bricks on the road. The fire hydrants are different colors in different places. usually red or yellow but here in South Carolina they are BLUE!

[@xxWonderTwimsxx]

the picket fences are almost extinct at this point. even in suburbs. most house have a 6ft privacy fence made of plastic that can be white/black or made of wood that is just a brown color unless its painted

[@markmccollough1017]

As far as the mailboxes, I've spent 20+ years living in cities and 20+ years living in rural areas and it's a very different mail experience depending on where you live. In the city I always had mail delivered either on a box attached directly to the house or in a mail slot, or in grouped mailboxes inside the front entry of an apartment building. Out in the country it was always delivered to a mailbox at the road because the carriers need to cover so much area. Right now I live in a small town with no delivery and you need to get a mailbox at the Post Office and go pick up all your mail.