Comments on: Stop Mail Theft Once and For All

By: Jak Martin

Jak Martin — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 19:35:03 +0000

Your points are well taken though tougher than they need to be. As a former rural mail carrier, I hated locking safety boxes. When one is delivering mail to 500 to 800 boxes it’s easy to drop the mail in the wrong box and discover it at the next box. At which point one goes back and retrieves the mis-delivered mail and corrects the mistake. ( No Harm Done ) With a locking mailbox you have to wait until the locking mailbox holder discovers the mistake and puts the mail out to be correctly delivered. And it’s easy to say don’t make mistakes with the mail but the last person that I know of that didn’t make a mistake died about 2000 years ago! Check out my blog for more I D Theft and mail theft ideas.

By: Harold Hankins

Harold Hankins — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 18:00:18 +0000

Handing mail to postal workers doesn’t do much good here in Van Nuys, CA. Most mail theft here is done by USPS employees. For instance, of 4156 First Class & Priority Mail packages we mailed in Nov 2009, 1667 were stolen by postal workers. These are bins of mail picked up by a USPS truck. We had similar problems in Sept and Oct 2009.
Recently almost half of the 200 packages we mailed that day were stolen. The USPS Postmaster and Inspector General answer is “You didn’t give those packages to us”.

By: Kelly

Kelly — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 18:09:34 +0000

Just be aware that the USPS doesn’t always hold your mail!
When we were away for a week they delivered it twice.
I had a friends checking in anyway for the cats, so she checked and sure there was mail.

I prefer to not send or receive anything important by mail.
If I’m forced to, I mail it from the post office, and I watch for the mail truck if I know something is arriving soon, and head out to get as soon as I can.
.-= Kelly´s last blog ..changing rooms: girls to boys/boys to girls =-.

By: Monroe on a Budget

Monroe on a Budget — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 14:29:54 +0000

I live in a newer neighborhood where the post office has insisted we use “condo mailboxes.”

Every block or so, there is a post with a series of locked mail boxes and the post office loads them up. There also are two boxes at each station where small packages can be placed – so if there is a package for you, the package box key will be in your locked mailbox.

We weren’t a big fan of that arrangement, but it does prevent mail theft. ThOure mail does not arrive the same time every day so you can’t time your errands around the delivery.

I’m assuming it also saves time for the mail carrier to do it that way.
.-= Monroe on a Budget´s last blog ..Angel Food Ministries announces Thanksgiving box =-.

By: paul

paul — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 20:26:05 +0000

I would agree it’s remarkably easy to get them to hold your mail for you, do it online with some info that most anyone could get. The full on most secure method other than not getting mail is to have it in a PO box.

By: ontheroadto1m

ontheroadto1m — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 20:19:49 +0000

I’ve been away from home for almost two months and didn’t contact the USPS about holding my mail, so I guess I’m a prime candidate for mail theft. Still, I wouldn’t put too much trust on this service. I’m still picking up letters for a couple who used to be my neighbours, who were assured by the USPS they’d have all incoming mail forwarded to their new address. This was more than 5 months ago…

If anybody has had their mail held during a holiday, I’d be interested in hearing about their experience -I may change my mind and try next year.

Great post!
.-= ontheroadto1m´s last blog ..Getting Twitter Followers: What Works and What Doesn’t =-.

By: paul

paul — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 03:38:27 +0000

Those are great tips as well I’ve converted to mostly paperless then use doPDF as a printer driver that lets me print any receipt direct to a .PDF

By: B Simple

B Simple — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 01:52:01 +0000

I have the post office hold my mail when I go on vacation as well. I also have been reducing the amount of mail that I receive. Instead of receiving paper statements, I receive almost all of my bills online as well as bank statements. This has reduced the amount of mail that I receive and helps prevent mail from being stolen.
.-= B Simple´s last blog ..Simple Personal Financial Tips – Educational Savings =-.

By: Jim @ The Cost of Living

Jim @ The Cost of Living — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 01:08:53 +0000

Great tips! It's also a good idea to reduce the amount of junk mail that you get in the first place by opting out of receiving pre-approved offers from credit card companies. And make sure to invest in a quality paper shredder for any that you do receive! .-= Jim @ The Cost of Living´s last blog ..What Motivates Employees? =-.

By: matt

matt — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 01:04:55 +0000

Great post. I have one of those huge, locking mailboxes and I absolutely love it. It’s big enough that if I go on vacation, I can let it accumulate for a couple weeks without worry. Highly recommend one of these. They also double as a bomb shelter for small animals.
.-= matt´s last blog ..Stoner stache =-.