Keep an eye on your mail, this season.

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DaveBonds

DaveBonds

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Amy just called me with an odd incident.

A woman called her, looking for someone she knew who has been missing for 3 weeks. She asked why a check was cancelled by us, written out to this person.

Our landlord called us and informed us a few weeks ago, that they hadn't received the rent. No biggie. Things get lost. She cancelled payment and sent another that they got.

Put it together with a pic she sent to Amy on her phone of the check cancellation stub. The crack head wrote his name over our landlord's name and tried to cash it.

Yeah. No prob. We'll just go ahead and give you money and not look into it.

lol...

Word to the wise;

Don't send anything out of your mailbox, over the holidays. Go to the post office and hand it to someone.

If you aren't home and you've got a trustworthy neighbor, have them sign for packages or bring them indoors for you.

I hope he likes wearing orange and hairy men with face tats on Christmas. I'm so tired of people messing with me this year. We've already spent 17k on attorneys dealing with idiots, this year.

Come on 2014... Hurry up. lol...
 
Cost me $ 300.00 last year. Got lazy and put Grandkids Christmas cash and cards in my mailbox instead of taking to post office.I know....never send cash in mail but never had a problem before.
 
Postal workers will take cash.

This was a check, but even so, just don't do it.

Red flags on mailboxes look like handouts to people who don't care about felony record.

I've heard of people vacuuming postal drop boxes too. Just take your time and hand it to a postal worker.

If it's important enough that you'll struggle replacing it, get signature confirmation and tracking. It's cheaper than you might think.
 
I live in rural area, mailbox sits along side the highway, at then end of 1/8 mile driveway. I never mail anything out of my mailbox. I drive by the post office on my way to work, so I put it in drop box. Even there I am leary, as I have seen the drop box so full that the mail is backed all they way up to the top and a person could reach in and grab a handful of mail.
 
Write checks that get mailed with a sharpie. The low life's cant wash it and it really stands out.
 
I never use my mailbox except to empty it and that is coming to an end soon.
 
DaveBonds said:
Postal workers will take cash.


I've heard of people vacuuming postal drop boxes too. Just take your time and hand it to a postal worker.
Click to expand...

Yep we will.....and gift cards as well. In my 20 year or so sentence with the USPS I seen several folks get cuffed and hauled away. This is why I ALWAYS tape the flaps shut of anything I mail. That and with them taped shut the chance of my piece of mail ending up ripped to shreds and in a body bag is greatly reduced.

I ran the AFCS

View attachment afcs.jpg

for the last few years I was there. It is the machine that cancels the stamps. This time of the year was always entertaining. Doctors, Lawyers, Contracting Firms...all well known for dropping off several hundred letters and not sealing one of them. Send out magnetic calendars....and the entire feed system for the AFCS is steel....


Went out to collect the mail one day. In the collection box I found a round cardboard tube with a rope tied to both ends, covered with two sided tape. Took it to the Inspection Service, they called it a fishing pole. Said they were alot of it. Drop it in the box, move it around with the two ropes and see what you can catch.....Thieves...real crafty bunch of folks.....
 
coffeedart67 said:
I live in rural area, mailbox sits along side the highway, at then end of 1/8 mile driveway. I never mail anything out of my mailbox. I drive by the post office on my way to work, so I put it in drop box. Even there I am leary, as I have seen the drop box so full that the mail is backed all they way up to the top and a person could reach in and grab a handful of mail.
Click to expand...

We are rural as well....will not have home delivery. Our boxes are at a school bus area. And there is this very old, half crazed woman that I have seen walking down the side of the road, going thru the mail boxes.....
 
There are some good people in the Postal Service too. I know a couple of Mailmen. Wish they were working my neighborhood. One guy is a gearhead that I went to metal shaping night school with.

He told me about the fishing poles, too. Using tape on flat cardstock or spray adhesive.

I've also heard from him the same thing that you're talkin about with people checking envelopes in the light for money orders. Tape is a good idea. Buy the envelopes with the opacity printing on the inside, too.

The more I think about it, the more I think this kid likely screwed up big time. I'm willing to bet we weren't the only one hit by him, if he's been missing for three weeks.

I think the woman who texted Amy was his mom, or something. She seemed concerned and was trying any point of contact at all to reach him. Said she wanted him to come home.

Unfortunately for this woman (wife or mom or whoever he lives with), he won't be if he shows up. We know who he is now, because of her text message, the investigator doesn't even need to go to the bank to get the transaction record with his two forms of ID to find out who he is. We're gonna get the transaction records, though. The stolen check cost me $30 to cancel, so that ties it to a personal loss enough to press charges, according to the investigator.

And now that there is a bead on him for a felony warrant, just for the mail fraud coming from us, alone, if he tries to go anywhere that records his ID, he's going to come up in the police system.

Tough rocks. I really don't have any remorse for thieves. I've had enough of my **** stolen to know that it's not something you should ever do and we were pillaged for a bit over 17k this year, in attorney costs, to put someone away.

Even from giant corporations, like Wal-Mart, stealing isn't a good thing. Another friend's mom worked for the Sam Walton shrink management agency.

They look for internal losses, even if it's customer based theft loss on the floor, they wage their losses against the gains, which eventually washes out on crippling employee wage increases and benefits, making it hard for them to get out of poverty/ government programs that make up for their horrible pay.

I'm going to make an example of this guy. Even if he defaults, I'm suing him. Any taxable dollar or asset this goon has will be mine for the next decade. People won't learn, unless you hold them to their responsibilities. I think the law goes too light on crooks these days.
 
DaveBonds said:
There are some good people in the Postal Service too. I know a couple of Mailmen. Wish they were working my neighborhood. One guy is a gearhead that I went to metal shaping night school with.

He told me about the fishing poles, too. Using tape on flat cardstock or spray adhesive.

I've also heard from him the same thing that you're talkin about with people checking envelopes in the light for money orders. Tape is a good idea. Buy the envelopes with the opacity printing on the inside, too.

The more I think about it, the more I think this kid likely screwed up big time. I'm willing to bet we weren't the only one hit by him, if he's been missing for three weeks.

I think the woman who texted Amy was his mom, or something. She seemed concerned and was trying any point of contact at all to reach him. Said she wanted him to come home.

Unfortunately for this woman (wife or mom or whoever he lives with), he won't be if he shows up. We know who he is now, because of her text message, the investigator doesn't even need to go to the bank to get the transaction record with his two forms of ID to find out who he is. We're gonna get the transaction records, though. The stolen check cost me $30 to cancel, so that ties it to a personal loss enough to press charges, according to the investigator.

And now that there is a bead on him for a felony warrant, just for the mail fraud coming from us, alone, if he tries to go anywhere that records his ID, he's going to come up in the police system.

Tough rocks. I really don't have any remorse for thieves. I've had enough of my **** stolen to know that it's not something you should ever do and we were pillaged for a bit over 17k this year, in attorney costs, to put someone away.

Even from giant corporations, like Wal-Mart, stealing isn't a good thing. Another friend's mom worked for the Sam Walton shrink management agency.

They look for internal losses, even if it's customer based theft loss on the floor, they wage their losses against the gains, which eventually washes out on crippling employee wage increases and benefits, making it hard for them to get out of poverty/ government programs that make up for their horrible pay.

I'm going to make an example of this guy. Even if he defaults, I'm suing him. Any taxable dollar or asset this goon has will be mine for the next decade. People won't learn, unless you hold them to their responsibilities. I think the law goes too light on crooks these days.
Click to expand...

Us Postal Employees are not all bad....just a select few. If my Personnel File is still there you would find several letters from customers about me helping them out. No matter how bad of a day I was having I just could not let an elderly person struggle with there packages. I would always make the time to help someone if I could.

Those pesky flaps......often times envelopes will sit for years. The constant changes in humidity will often slightly activate the glue.And then when someone goes to seal them the glue is pretty useless. Besides, who in their right mind would want to lick one of those things? One of our safety talks we were shown a video about someone who licked the flap of an envelope and cut there tongue on it. Apparently this flap had eggs of some sort on it as the person who cut them selves ended up with some sort of roach growing in there mouth....

I feel you are correct Sir about going after him .....as well as the fact that the powers that be are far to "soft" now-a-days. And not just when it comes to legal things like what you are experiencing.

Do what you feel you must to right a wrong. But I do have to ask, and please don't take this as some sort of slam or insult....but at what point is one throwing good money after bad? Long story as to why I am asking......just sort of curious......
 
I think I'm gonna tape it up and hand it off. Good call on the envelope thing. I know that it's a long shot to get salmonella or something, but I like the idea of keeping the flap adhesive from coming loose.

Yeah, the large chunk of change was not a fun game to play. The last thing we wanted to do was pay for a rich person's trip to Mexico. She was a damn good attorney, though, and one of very few with the decades of experience to deal with the mess we had on our hands.

I won't go into details here, not that it's trouble for me, but it's a respect thing kept out of the general public eye. There are a hand full of situations, if you can imagine, that call for that kind of pricey work in court. Top three in ugly human behavior. Unfortunately, anyone with a sound ethic would have spent it, too. It really was that bad, but I'm glad I did, to make things safe for my family. That's really all it boils down to.

When I look at things like this dumb kid stealing mail, after the crap I've seen this year, it makes me laugh, in contrast. I have that to thank for it.

This guy will show himself eventually. You can't get a job with a felony warrant that won't show itself to the cops. Unless he goes vigilante off the grid completely (doesn't strike me as one to be capable), or picks a fight with cold steel, the law will eventually catch up with him.

When I'm after something, or someone, I don't stop.
The dogs are off the chain and I'll do it as many times as I need to, when it comes to my family and friends. I don't gloss over ethics, no matter how difficult.
 
inkjunkie said:
Yep we will.....and gift cards as well. In my 20 year or so sentence with the USPS I seen several folks get cuffed and hauled away. This is why I ALWAYS tape the flaps shut of anything I mail. That and with them taped shut the chance of my piece of mail ending up ripped to shreds and in a body bag is greatly reduced.

I ran the AFCS

View attachment 1714677432

for the last few years I was there. It is the machine that cancels the stamps. This time of the year was always entertaining. Doctors, Lawyers, Contracting Firms...all well known for dropping off several hundred letters and not sealing one of them. Send out magnetic calendars....and the entire feed system for the AFCS is steel....


Went out to collect the mail one day. In the collection box I found a round cardboard tube with a rope tied to both ends, covered with two sided tape. Took it to the Inspection Service, they called it a fishing pole. Said they were alot of it. Drop it in the box, move it around with the two ropes and see what you can catch.....Thieves...real crafty bunch of folks.....
Click to expand...
That is a real good picture of the old "legacy mach"!
WE now have 13 NEW Afcs200 in our P&DC in Duluth Ga.
I'm an ET and work on them and the new FSS mach.
I always wonder why the P.O. doesn't do a better job of educating the public abt what NOT to put in an envelope.
I see 1,000's of keys, thumb drives, coins, anything hard in an envelope is going to be busted out of it by these machines!
Of course around Valentines day we got people sending sticks(!) through the mail!

signed: just another postal worker!

cudamike13
 
Had this happen not too long ago. Some crackheads went around to the apartment rent drop off box and used a stick with adhesive or of the like and took all checks out, including ours. The management didn't say a word about it.....only sent out late notices w/$50 late fees to everyone who dropped our checks in the box....that's how we found out. A month later we found a discrepancy on our online banking and called it.
They washed everyone's checks and were making their own. Thank goodness it was for only like $17 and some change. Had to cancel everything and get new accounts.
PIA!
 
Our box is 1/2 mile down the gravel road at the highway. Recently some pieces of shi# were all over the area stealing mail. Our box had a locking lower door but tin with weak little flap tab lock.

Probably took them 9 seconds with a #2 screwdriver to get in. So, I welded an angle iron exoskeleton all around it, the bottom door and top flap. The bottom door interfaces at the top lip with more angle iron where a massive lock connects the two. Then I built angle iron frame for them to sit on and set that in concrete.

They'll probably sledge hammer it but wont get in. It'll give me good reason to test out the .300 win-mag and a bucket of tannerite out there. Blow their *** to mars.
 
I haven't actually written a check or mailed a payment in around five years. I just pay everything online with Chase's billpay system. Fast, easy, much more secure than mailing checks and I've had much less trouble doing things via Chase than I've ever had with mailing checks.

Just a thought. :)
 
cudamike13 said:
That is a real good picture of the old "legacy mach"!
WE now have 13 NEW Afcs200 in our P&DC in Duluth Ga.
I'm an ET and work on them and the new FSS mach.
I always wonder why the P.O. doesn't do a better job of educating the public abt what NOT to put in an envelope.
I see 1,000's of keys, thumb drives, coins, anything hard in an envelope is going to be busted out of it by these machines!
Of course around Valentines day we got people sending sticks(!) through the mail!

signed: just another postal worker!

cudamike13
Click to expand...

Phoenix has the new machines as well. I was a Mail Handler, so if I were still there I would not be running the newer machine.
Could not agree more on educating the public. There are so many things that get mailed that just should not. I used to enjoy looking at peoples pictures. They would stick 15 or so in an envelope and drop it in the box. The letter would hit the sing/shing area and just get peeled open, pictures coming into the feeder one at a time.
Valentines Day.....nothing like mailing chocolate in an envelope. One year I was running one of the AFCs's. Came to a halt. Normally I would not bother the ET's to clear jams. I opened up a few lids, seen the problem, shut the lid and hit the call button. Captain Kirk came over and seen the blinking lights and went to investigate. Seen the problem, went and got a pair of latex gloves and went to work. It was a condom. We were shocked at how far that little bastard stretched out. It got caught on the fine cull gate and stretched all the way over to the indicia units. Thing was tighter than a guitar string....For those that don't know that has to be close to 15 feet.....
Suppose my record will probably stand forever. One Christmas I ran 40k an hour for three straight hours thru one of the old machines. Closest numbers to mine that year were by one of the best operators in our building....he was only at 31k for those three hours. The ET that was in charge of that machine and I did a lot of tweaking to it. Had Steve leave me the key to open the doors, turned the potentiometers up a ways, shut the door and ran the snot out of that machine....
Kinda sad in a way, in 06 our heaviest day in Phoenix was 4.6 million first class pieces of mail.....last year I think they hit 2.7 million.
 
jtolbert said:
I haven't actually written a check or mailed a payment in around five years. I just pay everything online with Chase's billpay system. Fast, easy, much more secure than mailing checks and I've had much less trouble doing things via Chase than I've ever had with mailing checks.

Just a thought. :)
Click to expand...

This is how I pay all my bills. In the 4 years that I have had my current checking account I have written a total of 8 checks.....I think 5 of them were to my friend/body guy......
 
People always accuse the mailman of doing stuff, (I know in this case your not) we do not have time to read your magazines, or look for money in your cards, I spend just enough time to make sure there is postage on it as I pick it up, then in to the bag it goes and on to the next box.
 
mailman2004 said:
People always accuse the mailman of doing stuff, (I know in this case your not) we do not have time to read your magazines, or look for money in your cards, I spend just enough time to make sure there is postage on it as I pick it up, then in to the bag it goes and on to the next box.
Click to expand...

I would not suspect you (guys), not ever, but they kept sending junk mail after the stop was put in and I got burglarized at the end of deployment because they could check my mail. Now I do not have a mail box infront of my house. Bad neighbors can still check other people's mail.
 
mailman2004 said:
People always accuse the mailman of doing stuff, (I know in this case your not) we do not have time to read your magazines, or look for money in your cards, I spend just enough time to make sure there is postage on it as I pick it up, then in to the bag it goes and on to the next box.
Click to expand...

Should be blaming us Mail Handlers. Ernie's first day on the job she observed her oji, on the job instructor, removing things from the culling belt they were on and stuffing them in his pockets. Next day same thing. Fast forward a few years and we all got to watch McFadden get cuffed & escorted. They had 60 or so separate images of him stealing stuff. Went to his place and found a crap load of gift cards. Then there was Butch, an AFCS operator. Anything that was opened up on his machine he would take a peek inside, if there was any cash he would take it. He was escorted after we left. Supervisors daughter, another mail handler, was caught with several dozen ss/welfare checks. The old dude, he was retired military brass. Remember the AOL floppies? When they busted him he had close to 5k of them at his place. The chick back in NJ, she was caught stealing TV's that were on the way back to customers from the Gold Star (?) repair center that was in Long Valley.
Being in the building can be a VERY boring job. Standing on a culling belt, looking for things that will not run thru a machine. Keep in mind that the mail is often 8" thick, so for the most part you just run your hands thru the crap, waiting to feel something that does not belong. Every now & then you will find something interesting.....one night we found a 18" long fish. Another night there was a package of vibrators that opened up. Then there was the 24" double headed d*ldo.....that I mailed to a buddy.....sorry for rambling...
 
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