I live on Maple St near Rogers Ave. Please warn your readers that people are stealing mail that is placed into blue mailboxes.I have collected dozens of pieces of mail that were strewn on the street - tax returns, bill payments, birthday cards, school transcripts, you name it.When I first noticed this in January, I would return the mail to the senders. That soon became overwhelming as the volume increased. I now send the mail back to the USPO Consumer Affairs Division.It started up again last (week) and I talked to a Federal enforcement agent who explained this is becoming rampant. These idiots are looking for "anything" - cash, Netflix CDs, identity theft, etc.I know this is happening with the blue mailbox on the corner of Rogers and Maple, as well as mailboxes on Clarkson and probably others in the neighborhood.Please warn people to only send mail inside the local post office building or hand it to a letter carrier.
Monday, April 22, 2013
Mail Thief on Maple
The Postman Only Rings Once, and soon not on Saturdays, but the Postal-Thief Rings Not At All. He slinks through nights, rifling through your belongings and identify. From a reader comes this warning:
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14 comments:
This is shocking to me. Who knew there even were mailboxes in PLG?
forgive my ignorance, but how do you steal from the mailbox, with that slanted slot? unless the mail is piled high, how does one get down in there to steal mail?
You suck it out with a "mail straw."
Seriously, I don't get how this is done either, but the fact that it occurs is really sad. What is the world coming to when you can't even mail a letter? It does explain why that Netflix disc I mailed back a while ago never got there, however.
Mail will still be delivered on Saturday for now: http://money.cnn.com/2013/04/10/news/saturday-mail-delivery/index.html
This is not new; I heard about it in another blog before I moved here. When I mail anything? I take it with me out of the neighborhood. I won't risk dropping it here.
Getting your mail stolen equals identity theft, possible impact on credit rating, bank account troubles. The list is endless.
OTOH I have lived here for 8 1/2 years and have used various mailboxes all over the neighborhood for that time (Here's for you, Snob: in addition to Rogers and Maple, there's a mailbox at Nostrand and Letters, as well as one at Ocean and Lincoln. There are probably others, but those are the ones on my usual routes). Once a Netflix disc I mailed back didn't arrive. That's it - so I wouldn't panic just yet.
And I'm not so sure mailboxes in other nabes are safer. When I have something really important to mail (like a tax return), I have always, my entire life, taken it to the PO.
Wow. I've heard rumors of this occurring throughout the city and am really disappointed to read that its happening in our 'hood. I've always used the mailboxes in and around our 'hood and thankfully never had a problem.
Snob- there's also a mailbox on Flatbush and Midwood :)
Ugh - Lefferts..dang you, autocorrect!
It's a federal offense and the USPS should be watching the boxes they know are being stolen from. However it's being done it can't be a feat performed quickly, it must take enough time to catch sight of the person or get them on camera. Again I'm left wondering why the laws aren't being enforced here. So frustrating.
here is a clue to how this kind of crime might be done:
https://liteblue.usps.gov/news/link/2012/08aug/news28s2.htm
Just read a great evidence-based article about ways to reduce crime. Some are out of our hands as community members--like decreasing guns, and raising the alcohol tax. Others--like street lighting (ahem, Lincoln Rd), removing lead, and mentorship--are things we could have an impact on. Trash removal even gets a shout-out, Q!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/04/22/lead-abatement-alcohol-taxes-and-10-other-ways-to-reduce-the-crime-rate-without-annoying-the-nra/
Add Maple St to the list of dangerously dimly lit streets. Unfortunately with landmarks restrictions improving lighting is not something we can do anything about. Landmarks doesn't allow lights to be installed over the door outside. They only allow gas lamps. Uh, and those do what exactly? The new historic repro street lights are cute and all but they do not do nearly enough to safely light the sidewalk. In addition to that situation being attractive to muggers and burglars, I had a hard fall one night as it was too dark to see a big bump in the sidewalk. And I wasn't even drunk. If it had been an elderly person who had the same fall there would have been broken bones and a trip to the ER.
Exterior lighting definately CAN be installed in Historic Districts; see p. 6 of this LPC booklet:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/lpc/downloads/pdf/pubs/App_Guide_Signage_Lighting%20_Fire_Escapes.pdf
Also, LPC most certainly does NOT only allow gas lights. All. or virtually all, of the exterior gas lights in the neighborhood were installed as part of a low cost deal offered by Brooklyn Union Gas in the early '70s, years before the 1979 PLG Historic District designation. When I bought my house in 1974 I was very disappointed to learn that I had missed out of the group purchase and I never had one installed.
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