The Postal Inspection Service has made efforts to address mail theft but has been operating at less than 90 percent of full staffing in recent years. Image: Jennifer G. Lang/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffThe Postal Service’s efforts to combat the increase in mail theft is hampered by a lack of staff focusing on that issue, says an inspector general report that also called for more training of those who are focused on it.
The report said that complaints about stolen mail, such as checks that criminals alter and cash, jumped during the pandemic to nearly 300,000 over the 12 months ending in February 2021 from about 180,000 during the prior 12-month period. In many cases those were the result of theft or duplication of “arrow keys” used to open mailboxes. In five divisions auditors reviewed, there were more than 400 reported actual or attempted robberies of postal or contract employees during 2021-2022, about half of which involved arrow keys.
On the enforcement side, the report said that while the Postal Inspection Service has made efforts to address mail theft, that is just one of its responsibilities and it has been operating at less than 90 percent of full staffing in recent years. In a survey of inspectors who worked on such cases, four-tenths “reported a challenge in the availability of staff” to work on them.
While basic training for inspectors includes aspects of mail theft, those who solely worked those theft cases are not required to complete specialized training, it added.
The report also noted that the USPS has been rolling out more secure mail collection boxes and improving controls over the arrow keys. However, it said the agency does not have “deployment timelines with actionable milestones” and that controls over the keys are still inadequate. For example, it said that in a review of 16 delivery units, 10 were missing keys—a total of 28 percent of them.
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