Grinches make mailing holiday cards challenging at South MS post offices this year
It won’t be so convenient to pull up and drop off holiday cards at some post offices in South Mississippi this year: The Grinch has already been there.
The blue drop boxes were removed outside the Moss Point Post Office and covered with white cases in Ocean Springs and other locations to prevent anyone from depositing mail.
In late October, someone broke the lock on the boxes outside Moss Point Post Office and opened the back doors of the boxes, said Corey Richardson, manager of customer services.
Similar thefts happened in Pascagoula and Gulfport, he said.
The Moss Point Post Office is a block off the main street in town, so few people may have seen anyone breaking into the boxes.
Ocean Springs Post Office is right along busy U.S. 90, where thousands of cars pass each day and night. Yet three drop boxes were damaged by those looking for money or checks.
Problem is nationwide
The Postal Service in May reported an increase in thefts from mailboxes and the blue collection boxes. USPS reported 38,500 incidents in fiscal year 2022. The problem is growing this year, with 25,000 incidents in the first half of the year.
Since May, more than 10,000 high-security blue boxes have been installed in high-security risk areas, and the Postal Service said in October it anticipates installing several thousand more boxes in the near future.
It’s not just boxes the thieves are targeting. Mail carriers and those who deliver packages also are being hit.
Postmaster General and CEO Louis DeJoy said, “Every Postal employee deserves to work in safety and to be free from targeting by criminals seeking to access the public’s mail.”
Rewards increase for info
Breaking into post office boxes and robbing letter carriers are federal offenses, and the USPS in August increased the amount of reward money for information leading to the arrest or conviction of a person who takes part in mail crime. The reward is $150,000 for robbery or assault of a postal employee and $100,000 for information about the burglary of a post office or theft of mail.
To prevent the theft of mail, the USPS suggests depositing outgoing mail inside your local post office and not letting incoming or outgoing mail sit in your home or business mailbox.