Community Chat

[deeva]

The crooks are now robbing letter carriers in Chicago and stealing their keys to the mailboxes in apartment buildings. So I wouldn't mail a check to anyone. 

[kitty60]

It's funny but all this hype about washing checks and lost checks is nothing new.  Years ago, and I mean like 50 or more this was the big hype to get every small business to purchase a "checkwiriter." :You would write the check to whomever and place it in the machine set at the correct amount and pull the lever and it would imprint the amount.  The salesmen would come out and show you how the checks could be washed and they would take a pencil, insert it in the envelope, roll the check and pull it out and perform their deed.  Apparently this has been rediscoverd.    If you are that concerned you could do a bank transfer but there will usually be a charge for that.  In all my years I have only had a few pieces of mail lost and never a check.  

Remember, mailing gift cards is no safer.  You can always stop payment on a check or recoup your money from the bank.  If a gift card is lost or stolen it is gone forever!  A friend mailed gift cards a couple of years ago to her entire family and they were lost and she then had to pay again to repurchase.

[Biftu]

---

@gidgetgh wrote:

---

@Biftu wrote:

I pay bills with checks and have sent gifts with checks through the mail my whole life and have never had a problem.  Sometimes I put my mail in the mail box at the end of my street and sometimes though the drive up mail box at the post office, I rarely go in.  I do not use gel pens either.  I don't worry or over react to stories.  Least of my concerns.

---

@Biftu - they closed all the drive up mailboxes at the post offices in my area.  So you have to park and go in. 

---

They haven't done that at my post office, thank goodness.  I can also use the mail box at the end of my street.  Hope they keep that one too.

[qualitygal]

When I and others do that they (we) take another piece of paper and fold 3 x's to put the check in, then put it in the envelope.  All is covered.  

[RedTop]

My checks are safety checks obtained thru my bank which cannot be "washed".  

Many of the problems described in this thread have not been made known to be an issue of concern in my local area of WV.  

[wilma]

I take all my mail inside the post office including bill payments, charity checks, and birthday checks. I started using gel pens recently. I've never had an issue. 

Most neighborhood blue boxes in my city are gone due to theft.  Postal delivery workers are being robbed of their keys here too. 

[Caffeina]

Get uniball 207 gel pens. They're known to be the best for protection against check washing.

[chrystaltree]

I do not send checks.  Not on years.  I pay my bills online.  When I gift money, I do it with Venmo.  If you must send your son a check, send it by FedEx  or UPS.  

[gidgetgh]

Again, I mail checks all the time. It's really not a big deal.  Are there occasional issues?  Yes, I'm sure there are, but I'm not sending a check by UPS.

[beckyb1012]

---

@gidgetgh wrote:

Again, I mail checks all the time. It's really not a big deal.  Are there occasional issues?  Yes, I'm sure there are, but I'm not sending a check by UPS.

---

I sent out a check in December 2021 for $200.00 and it never made it to its destination.  I assumed lost in the mail and did not bother to stop payment on the check for the $32.00 fee. 

In December of 2022 I added the $200.00 back into my register so I could stop allowing for it on my reconciling of my monthly statement.

Last Friday on December 1st 2023 I was moving my purse under my desk and also a box I keep under there.  I saw an envelope up against the side of the box and pulled it out.  It was my payment with the stamp on it ready to be put in the mail box on the lower level before I left the building.  Two years almost to the day sitting under my nose practically.  I had to take back all the vile thoughts I had of the Postal Service.