MailBoss I appreciate your product being on the market. As you can see my comment stated: "Informative SPAM in this case but still SPAM." Therefore it didn't bother me. ********************* I did go to your site and it did cause me to have somewhat of a brainstorm. What if a company designed a mailbox that would automatically unlock when the mail carrier vehicle approached? Say about 50 feet. Of course that would require a unlocking transmitter in all mail vehicles but with the progress of technology it should not be too far fetched. Water meters and power meters are read remotely now so someone probably already has something that would work. UPS had GPS in it's delivery trucks and the USPS may be considering GPS. Probably what the USPS needs is a unit that combines a GPS, scanner, camera and unlocking transmitter.

@Mipoco and @CapitolG I don't know what your definition of SPAM is but I am a real person who looks for stories of mail identity theft and leaves comments, with the username Mail Boss as FULL DISCLOSURE that yes, I am associated with a company. I happen to be very knowledgeable on mail-identity theft, since I spend a significant amount of time reading about it, talking to victims, and writing articles for magazines on the topic. Mail theft by postal employees is not uncommon, but there is not really anything you can do to prevent it. I agree with Mipoco that it seems to happen more often by contract employees and it is interesting that the USPS is not hiring vets as frequently anymore. CapitolG - you say you have a locking mailbox. The problem with MOST locking mailboxes is that they can be easily violated, and since you BELIEVE your mail is secure, you don't consider the possibility that mail thieves KNOW which "secure" mailboxes can be accessed. I suggest you try to reach into your "locking" mailbox (bin-hopper lock boxes easily allow you to reach your arm in) and see if it can be accessed. Another problem, though not likely in this case since you didn't mention it, is that most locking mailboxes can be pried open with a screwdriver in just ONE SECOND. More likely, you're right and in this case it is the USPS employee. Hope you make some headway with your claim, but based on what I see most often these complaints fall on deaf ears. -[a real person] at Mail Boss

I wonder if the theft rate by postal employees rose with the extermination of the military veteran/postal employee in favor of cheaper labor or even perhaps in favor of non veteran affirmative action employees?

Yep CapG www.mailboss.net shows that it is probably SPAM. Informative SPAM in this case but still SPAM.

Side note: I love SPAM barbecued with a good BBQ sauce such as Sonny's and onions served with mash potatoes and white bread. Oops, I just spammed SPAM.

CapitolG wrote: "I can't believe they even bothered to deliver the ripped open packages."

and earlier wrote:

"My wife used to get free samples in the mail. The ones that were food items, like granola bars, or something sweet, would get to our mail box without the product, and the packaging would be mangled. I'm glad this never happened with anything important. There's definitely a postal problem."

So you are saying that postal employees are thieves but they only steal the edible or almost worthless stuff? Doesn't make sense. So a check with a postal relative shows that "if it has a address on it then a postal employee is required to deliver it even if it is obvious that it has no contents".

Perhaps being conservative you simply cannot resist bashing a government employee while praising their corporation counterpart, FEDUP.

A Google search returns: About 115,000 results for: "postal employee steals mail". But then when you start digging some are contract workers. The types that the right wing conservatives want to see inherent the postal service.

Dig a little more and other interesting facts show up.

This is just my own opinion but when I was a child it seemed that most postal employees were veterans. But they are not employing many veterans any more. Contracting out is the thing now plus according to my quick search the USPS now avoids hiring vets.

Do we not have any postal employee posters on this board that will speak up?

The following showed up as the top return in my search for: "percent of usps workforce that are military veterans".

"In Fiscal Year 1999, the USPS workforce was 31.6 percent veterans; six years later, the share had dropped to 26.6 percent."

"The VA estimates that nearly 200,000 veterans are homeless on any given night and that 400,000 to one million veterans experience homelessness over the course of a year. You could say that one out of every three homeless men who is sleeping in a doorway, alley, or box, has served in the U.S. military."

http://www.apwu.org/dept/vp/magarts/vpma-07-6.htm

Does the victim have a locking mailbox? If not, don't be see quick to blame the USPS. It's highly possible that the medication was stolen by an opportunistic thief. Crooks target unlocked mailboxes mostly for sensitive documents used for identity theft, but they also steal prescription medications. To prevent mail identity theft, as well as to make sure you receive your prescriptions, you should use a high security locking mailbox like the Mail Boss that can't be fished by hand or easily pried open with a screwdriver.

richardcranium wrote: "If I suspected it could be something I could use, gift card, drugs, cash in a birthday card, I might not be so eager to see that the proper addressee receives their mail. Just sayin'."

Are you "Just sayin'" that you are a thief or would be if you worked for the post office?

CapitolG I'm glad that you get good FedUp service. FedUp had a problem finding me so left a $1500 Viewsonic monitor on the side of a road at a gate of a vacant lot one mile from my home. Needless to say some passerby pick it up. They NEVER get it right with us. UPS just as bad. Mailman only one that tries for us.

My letter carrier frequently puts one of my neighbors mail in my mailbox. If I suspected it could be something I could use, gift card, drugs, cash in a birthday card, I might not be so eager to see that the proper addressee receives their mail. Just sayin'.

Could have been the postal worker. They are known for taken things out of the mail. I had a birthday card sent to me with a giftcard in it. When it had not arrive after 3 wks I called my friend to see what happened. They told me it was returned back to them with an extra number in the address and the envelope had been opened and the gift card was gone. Just saying check with post office.

It had to be someone that knew this person