After the latest report of a postal worker who was assaulted and robbed of a post office key Tuesday in Medford, Massachusetts, you may be questioning how secure your mail is.
With the busy holiday shopping season approaching, there are some things you can do to make sure your packages and letters arrive safely at their destinations.
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The United States Postal Service is actively working to crack down on postal crimes. It's called Project Safe Delivery, a USPS initiative that started back in May to help combat the uptick in mail theft incidents and attacks on letter carriers. The goal is to protect postal employees and the security of our nation's mail and packages.
Since May, the USPS Inspection Service has made 109 arrests for robberies and more than 530 arrests for mail theft. The rise in incidents has prompted the postal service to increase rewards for information leading to arrests and convictions.
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It has also taken several steps to address postal crime nationwide. The postal service has installed over 10,000 high-security blue collection boxes nationwide, which make accessing the contents inside more difficult for criminals.
it has also developed a sophisticated system to identify, intercept and retain counterfeit or hijacked labels on packages.
The USPS is also switching out antiquated arrow keys for electronic locks — making it harder for criminals to get into secure mail receptacles and commit financial crimes.
These are some steps you can take to ensure your mail will not get into the hands of a thief:
- Don't let incoming or outgoing mail sit in your mailbox mail. Try to get your mail out every day.
- Drop off outgoing mail in a secure manner. That includes going inside your local post office, mailing items at your place of work, or even by handing them to a letter carrier.
- Try to be become involved in your community via neighborhood watches and local social media groups to spread awareness and share information.
- Sign up for informed delivery — that's a USPS service that allows you to preview your mail and packages scheduled to arrive soon. You can also set up package tracking notifications.
"People want to know 'Where's my package?' so they can go on our newsroom, track a package, find out exactly where it is in our system," said Mark Wahl, strategic communications specialist at USPS. "It's seamless, it's visible for all of our customers to see going through the system, when it's out the door for delivery, and when they can expect it."
And don't forget to keep an eye out for your letter carrier. If you see something that looks suspicious, or you see someone following your carrier, call 911.
If your mail stolen, customers are encouraged to report the incident as soon as possible by submitting an online complaint to the USPS Inspection Service.
