Among Friends

[OKPrincess]

This past Monday, DH and I paid one year in advance rent on a post office box for packages. It cost $96.

Last week was the final straw for misdelivered packages.

We never mail anything from home and receive small amounts of mail.

Good luck. 

[grandma r]

Contact the police and postmaster.

The thief has committed a federal offense by stealing your mail.  The lowlife who altered your checks committed theft and fraud.

Do you or any of your neighbors have security cameras?

[Annabellethecat66]

Oh!  The stories/problems I've had with the US Post Office!  Ugh!

I no longer send birthday cards with gift cards in them.  They've been stolen over and over (I finally now have to pay EXTRA to put them in a larger post office envelope and registered for a $25 gift card!  Does that make sense?  It's happened everywhere so I don't think it's one specific mail carrier or place.  (Are there really that many thieves out there?  Obviously, there are!).

Listen to this!  Probably 2 years ago now.  I had sitting on my front porch a huge box next to the front door.  I live in a development of 1 acre lots where the entire neighborhood have dead end streets (no one driving through).  The driveway is 200 ft long!  The house front is wide open so anyone stealing something wouldn't be missed!

So, this box sat on my front porch for probably 2 months because I had to try to find someone to move it to the yard.  It was a QVC fountain but was in an unmarked cardboard box.  It had sat out in the wind and rain over and over.  The box would have disintegrated if someone had grabbed it (I would have thought).  I was wrong.

I finally found someone (a friend) who was coming on (say a Wednesday to move it).  I came home on Tuesday afternoon and the huge box was gone!  I called the friend.  She said she hadn't been there.  I went to my neighbors, they hadn't seen anything suspicious.  I called UPS and the local post office and even FedEX (thinking someone had accidentally picked it up for a return).  I called QVC, nope......

In other words.....someone had managed to carry that box/fountain to their truck (it wouldn't have fit in any kind of car) and steal it!  I looked in the trash thinking the cardboard would have fallen apart and they'd have put the cardboard in the trash....nothing in there!

To this day I have no idea what in the @#$% happened to that huge box/fountain, but it disappeared!

I've had things stolen from my mailbox (which is quite large).  Unfortunately the mail people have shoved huge boxes in it so I had to call the 800 number to have THEM send someone out to get IT out!  This has happened several times!

Here's what I finally did (it sometimes works out, not always).  A friend bought me a big/long Tuff Stuff/tupperware box with an attached lid.  It sits at the top of my driveway near the garage door.  There is a sign on it that says, "Please put the packages in this box".  Beside the garage door I nailed another sign that says, "Please put packages in the box to the left".  Inside of the door of the mail box I have a sign that says, "Please put the packages in the large box at the top of my driveway". 

Phew!  You'd think that I'd have it all covered!  Not necessarily!  Today there were several of the plastic packages shoved into my mailbox with my mail.  That's OK, I managed to pull them out!  Obviously, some mail people can't read!

I understand the US Mail is struggling.  They now have to deliver large boxes whereas the UPS people used to do it.  I've seen my mail carrier's little truck so full there was barely room for him!  I'm sorry about that but it's not my problem!

I've tried everything I could to ensure that the packages and mail arrive SAFELY to me.  I don't know how much more I can do (suggestions appreciated).

I do get quite a few packages from my friends/QVC/my family.  That's why I've gone to so much trouble.

However, I cannot do anything other than spend way more money that I'd like to in order to send a birthday card with a gift card to family and friends.  

I love to send cards and gift cards to people!  It gives me pleasure and they know how much I am thinking of them.

I feel cheesy when I have to call and say, "Did you get the card and gift card I sent?"  Then I hold my breath....I never know.

How pathetic is that?  We can no longer be sure anything we do these days is or will be safe!  Don't get me started with checking baggage (and it's safety).

QVC is wonderful.  When I haven't received something, I've called them and they've never questioned but have sent a replacement.  Luckily, it hasn't happened a lot (maybe over the years 8 or so times).

I feel your pain!  I think these things are happening because no one gets punished for breaking the law.

I just saw on (I think it was FOX cable), not sure where a famous basketball player's wife caught with the RING video two thieves trying to steal or rob her.  She's on camera/voice telling the thieves, (paraphrasing), "What are you doing?  I see you.  You'd better get out of here."

It happens everywhere no matter where you live or who you are.  

[BirkiLady]

@barb40  I would speak to the Postmaster about the mail being left with the newspaper under your mailbox (in the newspaper slot). Sounds like a mistake on the carriers part, but it should be addressed. In incliment weather it could have been an issue and/or your mail may have blown away OR been stolen (as seems to have been the case with your bills).

As far as the QVC package being left in your mailbox, my carrier usually leaves my packages in the box if they fit. That's why I have a large USPS mailbox! If it saves the carrier some time (they are working on a very tight schedule), I'm delighted to help make their lives a little easier. Plus, walking to the mailbox is something I'm going to do anyway so who cares if I'm going to return with mail and a package? I'm still getting the exercise which is so good for me at the same time each day.

YES, notify the Police immediately. They need to be aware of anything suspecious in your neighborhood. That's how they are able to set up their patrol routes. Your information may be added to others of similar complaints which may result in solving a series of petty crimes. The petty crimes turn into serious crimes or even felonies over time. The Police are helping you and your community! They will educate the grocer about the proper check cashing procedures ASAP. That never should have happened.

[viva923]

the latest word I have heard from postal employees is. They are not paid enough to deliver to front door of house.

my mail man who do to talk to almost daily said. He will not ever deliver anything to front door of anyone house. if it is to big, he puts a note in mailbox and the client has to pick it up at postal office. He said he is not paid enough to deliver to front door.

who knows what to believe anymore. is this laziness on postal employees or is this really true not being paid enough.

please let the police know about the checks being stolen out of mail box. they will investigate and see if the place where the checks were cashed at has a recording camera system to see if they find the crooks on the camera system.

[Venezia]

Good luck getting anywhere with any postmaster.  I just had another incident with a subbing carrier.  The nitwit left a package on my doorstep and left my letters on top of the package instead of in my mailbox.  On a wet, windy day.

It's a good thing I came home, when I did.  I saw the letters blown all across my front field (I'm rural).  I found three and have to assume that's all there were.  I called the local post office and was told they would "speak to her about it".  Tried to contact the head of the post office, because this is just another in recent issues.  No way could I even get through to a person!  Clearly, they've taken that option off the menu.

And the last issue that I reported via their email/feedback went nowhere.  Nothing except an automated response, then a survey asking me how satisfied I was with their response!

I'd call the police period.  It's theft and fraud, a federal crime.

(ETA:  I never put anything in our mailbox for the carrier to pick up.  Never have.  It's literally a red flag to some crook that there's something there to steal.)

[barb40]

Thanks Everyone, so much, for all your replies!  The checks were cashed at Meijers...when we talked to the manager, he said they do not request a driver's license.  One check was done electronically,  and total was changed.  The other check was made to water company,  obviously erased and changed to Meijers.  (I write in pen!)  Both checks together total under $100...it's the principal of the thing.  I will never put any outgoing mail in my mailbox again to be picked up.  Never had a problem in the 20 years I've lived here.  Annoying.  And ...packages are usually left on the front porch.  

[proudlyfromNJ]

Never had a problem with the mail. If there is a package, he brings it to the door with the mail and hands it to me.

[software]

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@2blonde wrote:

@barb40  Not that this would help a lot, but that grocery store should never have cashed those checks without them showing a matching ID.  My store makes people show their driver's license before they will cash a check or accept one for payment.  At the least, they should check to see the store card shows a name that matches the one on the check.

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The thief gets a relative to do it, someone he knows well who works there.

If the employee gets caught, they get fired but they don't always get caught

[Mz iMac]

@Annabellethecat66

"I've tried everything I could to ensure that the packages and mail arrive SAFELY to me.  I don't know how much more I can do (suggestions appreciated)."

Purchase a security camera.  One that shows videos in color & is of HD quality.

"I think these things are happening because no one gets punished for breaking the law."

The culprits are not punished because no one calls the police.  

As was previously reported, stealing mail is a FEDERAL crime.