Mail Thief

It was a Friday evening just before Valentine’s Day 2018.  I was visiting my neighbors, Jane and Gene, when a knock came at their door.  There were 2 security people from the Post Office (with guns) and they were holding 5 of the 12 Valentines that Jane had mailed that morning.

It seems that one of the part-time mail carriers had opened Jane’s valentines.   Jane had stickers for her grandchildren so the thickness of the RED envelopes (the RED indicates it’s a card) probably made the thief hopeful that there was money, a gift card, or a check inside.  (The gift cards can be used in pawn shops to get cash.)

Now for the next part of the story: 
My friend, Norma, who lives in our development about a mile away, arrived to her home that same afternoon to see about 9 police/security cars and a man on the ground with handcuffs on. 

It seems that this guy had been a suspect so the Post Office “bugged” a letter.  When it was opened, it set off an alarm.  When they approached his mail truck, he had a lap full of gift cards.

Jane had added tape when she sealed her envelopes and you could see where her tape had been opened and had replacement tape placed on top.  This guy was even prepared with scotch tape!

I saw our regular mail lady the next day.  She said this guy had quite a jail record and had been in rehab.  This last time, he bragged that he had completed rehab and was “dry.”  She said he had always seemed to have sob stories as to why he needed money and she had given him money at times.  She always wondered why he kept getting hired back

In the past my mail lady had mailed checks that were stolen and “washed” – meaning they changed the amount and who the checks were to.  She says that registered (or certified?) was a safer bet but even that is handled by people along the way PLUS, it costs over $20 bucks to send a letter!  

She also pointed out that we sometimes go to main mail boxes to mail things because we think it will be safer.  However, those boxes are picked up by human mail carriers.  Think about it, the guy who stole the things from the individual boxes here also had a key to all the main boxes.

It’s a shame to feel unsafe mailing something through the United States Post Office, isn’t it?