do mailmen steal?

[luscious]

I received a package that was torn and not only that but the plastic wrapping was also torn and the case was crushed but .... the blu-ray was still there ... so I wonder if my mailman was trying to steal it but when he realized it was blu-ray didn't bother to. I can't remember if this has happened more than once with the mail but if it has, it's been very rare.

[Batman1980]

My guess is it just got battered during transit...not sure if mailmen steal or not. I know if I were one I most certainly wouldn't, would both cost me my job and time in jail.

[Clark Kent]

I have heard of mailmen reading magazines that they are supposed to deliver and holding them for a couple of days. There probably are packages "lost" that end up in a Postal employee's hands.

[jstutman]

The amount they make, plus there federal retirement plus the jailtime, I doubt they will want to steal...especially BD's or DVD's...they make enough to buy 2-3 of them in just one hour.

[rdodolak]

I'd also guess that the package was damaged while being processed through the system. However, like the rest of society the USPS isn't immune to people who steal within their ranks. I recall several news stories from the past that have mentioned mail carriers keeping mail or magazines. One carrier had decades worth of magazines piled from floor to ceiling all over the house. Another had kept so much mail the carrier had rented a storage unit to store some of the accumulated mail.

Here are a few reports of alleged theft:

http://www3.whdh.com/news/articles/local/BO105973/
http://blog.al.com/breaking/2008/01/...r_charged.html
http://www.theprogressortimes.com/ne...rticleID=11579
http://www.uspsoig.gov/press_release...d_Prochnow.pdf

[icyteddy]

I remember reading a news article that involve a few postal employees stealing Netflix dvds. People reported their missing dvds to Netflix and they tracked it to the postal office. It happen over a few months span until they were eventually caught by the police.

[phlydude]

My wife's uncle's neighbor was caught stealing at the Orlando mail station at the airport - word has it that he was stealing cash and accumulated hundreds of thousands over the years. He was finally caught but they could never locate the money...he served a little over 2 years in Levenworth.

[digitalbabe]

This is a very broad question. Anyone that handles media, gifts,deliveries, etc may be tempted to steal, but so is anyone, depending on their work ethic. I work for a major media distributor, and theft is an issue, though scanners and other methods are in place.

In private life, our own business (not the company I work for), had 100's of packages go missing about 10 years ago, and they were in fact getting stolen. We had to contact the post master and go through a whole rigamaroll, but that was before electronic delivery confirmation. Given the amount of mail that is sent via UPS, USPS, Fedex, etc, a small % of packages is bound to get damaged or stolen/lost. But the majority of people are honest. All we can do is insure, add tracking, etc, but some packages will still fly out into the black hole

[Galley]

I used to work for the BMG Record Club in the distribution center. The only way you could get CDs out of the building was if you yourself were a member, and you just happened to come across your own order and slipped in a few extra discs. I saw one of my orders once. The odds of that happening are very high since we were processing tens of thousands of orders per day.

[Ashamed Pegasus]

Originally Posted by luscious

I received a package that was torn and not only that but the plastic wrapping was also torn and the case was crushed but .... the blu-ray was still there ... so I wonder if my mailman was trying to steal it but when he realized it was blu-ray didn't bother to. I can't remember if this has happened more than once with the mail but if it has, it's been very rare.

It was probably stuck in a conveyor belt or something that tore the package and cellophane...

[Living Near Shamu]

I've heard of packages getting lost even when sent through UPS.