Top Insider Warns About New People Joining US Postal Service - They're Not Here to Deliver the Mail
The theft of mail by staff members within the United States Postal Service is an increasingly severe problem — as some employees infiltrate the agency in order to steal items.
A report from the Inspector General of the U.S. Postal Service Office released in October revealed that some employees “brought personal belongings onto the workroom floor,” such as bags or heavy coats, “which were used to conceal stolen mail and packages.”
The office has seen a rapid increase in internal mail theft closed cases in recent years. There was an increase from 1,216 closed cases in fiscal year 2020 to 1,790 closed cases in fiscal year 2023.
“While most Postal Service employees work conscientiously to deliver the nation’s mail, there has been a small number who have stolen, delayed, or destroyed mail and packages,” the report said.
That small minority of employees swipes packages suspected to contain “credit cards, checks, cash, gift cards, narcotics, high value articles, and other sensitive items.”
Frank Albergo, the president of the Postal Police Officers Association, said in a November interview with KNSD of San Diego, “As bad as you think it is, it’s much worse!”
Albergo described that there is a certain group of Postal Service workers known as the pre-career employees, who earn less, do not work normal schedules, and have less benefits.
There is high turnover among those employees, who are more likely to steal than their counterparts with more permanent positions.
“They only work for a few months at the Postal Service,” Albergo said. “They’re literally only getting the job, so they can steal mail and quit! I mean it’s amazing!”
“You have criminal organizations, gangs, that are actually recruiting people to get a job in the Postal Service, so they can rob mail and drain bank accounts,” he likewise warned.
The report from the Office of the Inspector General identified some internal weaknesses that enable the mail theft problem.
The document recommended that senior Postal Service officials “develop and distribute nationwide policy that addresses personal belongings on the workroom floor,” as well as “develop periodic internal mail theft awareness training for all employees assigned to mail processing facilities.”
They could also restore dysfunctional security cameras to operational status and continually monitor the state of their functionality.
The problem of theft in the Postal Service is yet another relic of our low-trust society.
Historically, when people put their valuables or other belongings in the mail, they had a reasonable expectation that the item would arrive safely and on time.
But the thefts threaten to undo all of that trust.
A civilized nation cannot continue if her residents are nabbing each other’s mail for pocket change.
In other words, this problem needs to be addressed — and very swiftly stamped out.
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