This is why people do not care to report or try to help

Mail addressed to our physical address gets deposited in a cluster box:

cluster-mailbox.jpg


...up on the highway, about 3/4 mi away. The contract mail carriers are sloppy, frequently getting mail in the wrong box. Many package deliveries disappear, either mis-delivered or stolen by the carriers. Also have a P.O. box, I try to have as much go there as possible. Some businesses still insist on a "physical" address, like that's going to prevent fraud. :rolleyes:
 

Lavinia said:
Yes, I often wonder why Americans don't have our system...and whether it was possible to steal their mail. Now I know. Mind you, their paper boys/girls just throw their papers on the lawn. Ours are actually pushed through the letter box.
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hollydolly said:
...it's a puzzle why letterboxes haven't replaced mailboxes, given the high theft level.....
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When the US was young and the young were moving west, mail delivery was an extreme challenge. As more people spread westward across open country, it became customary for post offices to erect rows of individual mail-boxes at the end of a country road so that people in the area could simply walk or ride a horse to the mailboxes instead of having to hitch a team to a rig and ride all the way into town.

Streets lined with individual mailboxes simply became a thing. Mailboxes attached to the front of the house prevented the boxes being vandalized or hit by a car, but doesn't prevent mail theft.

In a lot of areas, putting slots in people's doors would be like hanging out an invitation to your angry ex to set your livingroom on fire, an "I'll bet you can figure something out" message to thieves, and "Deposit snakes, bees, dynamite and etc., here" to vandals.

But the post office is going to have to come up with something. Mail theft has become pretty common. It's easy to get away with, takes just a few minutes, and apparently it pays off.
 
Lavinia said:
What a stupid law! In Britain everything ends up inside a persons house....so much more efficient and secure. Just requires a bit more legwork from the deliverers.
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exactly.... more leg work and more people will never happen the PREFER all homes to have some centralized mail box where the post person only goes there NOT door to door
 
Nathan said:
Mail addressed to our physical address gets deposited in a cluster box:

cluster-mailbox.jpg


...up on the highway, about 3/4 mi away. The contract mail carriers are sloppy, frequently getting mail in the wrong box. Many package deliveries disappear, either mis-delivered or stolen by the carriers. Also have a P.O. box, I try to have as much go there as possible. Some businesses still insist on a "physical" address, like that's going to prevent fraud. :rolleyes:
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Cluster-box thieves caught on camera...



 
Murrmurr said:
When the US was young and the young were moving west, mail delivery was an extreme challenge. As more people spread westward across open country, it became customary for post offices to erect rows of individual mail-boxes at the end of a country road so that people in the area could simply walk or ride a horse to the mailboxes instead of having to hitch a team to a rig and ride all the way into town.

Streets lined with individual mailboxes simply became a thing. Mailboxes attached to the front of the house prevented the boxes being vandalized or hit by a car, but doesn't prevent mail theft.

In a lot of areas, putting slots in people's doors would be like hanging out an invitation to your angry ex to set your livingroom on fire, an "I'll bet you can figure something out" message to thieves, and "Deposit snakes, bees, dynamite and etc., here" to vandals.

But the post office is going to have to come up with something. Mail theft has become pretty common. It's easy to get away with, takes just a few minutes, and apparently it pays off.
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why would all those things hapoen when they don't happen anywhere else..?.. ok there's been rare cases where people have thrown fireworks or poured petrol through a letterbox.. but it's not been random, it's usually an ongoing fued between the people known to each other, but as I say rare.. and anyway nowadays you can ( as I have ) letterboxes with back boxes on them that prevent anything like those things being thrown through.. and catching alight...
 
Jeni said:
someone told me I should PICK up the stolen mail and then go deliver it to those houses as the answer .......... wow
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Not good advice from a legal point of view... However I have done that with found mail, found either mistakenly delivered to me, or just on the ground. And only to neighbors, people I knew. It may not have been the right thing legally, but at least the neighbors got their mail. I never suspected any of it stolen. Not so sure what I would do with that.
 
hollydolly said:
why would all those things hapoen when they don't happen anywhere else..?.. ok there's been rare cases where people have thrown fireworks or poured petrol through a letterbox.. but it's not been random, it's usually an ongoing fued between the people known to each other, but as I say rare.. and anyway nowadays you can ( as I have ) letterboxes with back boxes on them that prevent anything like those things being thrown through.. and catching alight...
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I don't know. Americans are opportunistic?
 
Alligatorob said:
Not good advice from a legal point of view... However I have done that with found mail, found either mistakenly delivered to me, or just on the ground. And only to neighbors, people I knew. It may not have been the right thing legally, but at least the neighbors got their mail. I never suspected any of it stolen. Not so sure what I would do with that.
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The addresses seem to be quite a distance from me.... did not want to pickup items IF police or post office actually did an investigation the place it was found is important and i did not want to be accused of something holding stolen property
 
hollydolly said:
I didn't mean YOU making excuses , I mean America in general.... and letterboxes work all over the western world.. mailboxes don't... doesn't take a genius to work out what should be done..:sneaky:
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simple slots yes that would be fine
I had a mail opening slightly larger in wall by the front door of house i used to live. ... on the inside we had a door to open to get mail had a simple latch but we did not upgrade because it was a rental ..

one day i look over and see a hand reaching in stretching hoping to reach the door ....i walked over and stuck a sewing needle deep in the hand ... the scream and seeing a guy run away from house was worth it but immediately found a new lock and told landlord.

I do not understand the mentality of blame the victims ...
i have NO idea if these folks had a locked mailbox or a community lock box like pictured above.....
the bottom line is this guy STOLE things .... maybe they will not have their bills paid on time much of pieces looked like ads and nonsense who KNOWS what he kept for ID theft etc....

reminds me a nearby town sick of carts that are STOLEN from stores.................... they are now picking them up telling stores they need to come to a city building pick up their carts and pay a FINE of hundreds of dollars because the thief who stole them left them in public places.

Pay a huge fine for getting their own stolen property back.....
enough is enough we do not need to revamp anything just stop and punish the CRIMINALS
 
In a lot of areas, putting slots in people's doors would be like hanging out an invitation to your angry ex to set your livingroom on fire, an "I'll bet you can figure something out" message to thieves, and "Deposit snakes, bees, dynamite and etc., here" to vandals.
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Another scenario .... a bored dog waiting for the mail to come falling thru the mail slot ...lol
 
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