Hearing Wrap Up: Congress Must Help USPS Address Mail Theft and Crime

WASHINGTON—Yesterday, the Subcommittee on Government Operations held a hearing titled “An Update on Mail Theft and Crime.” During the hearing, members examined the pervasiveness of mail crimes, especially theft, and examined ways Congress can support the United States Postal Service (USPS) in addressing serious mail crimes and supporting mail carriers. Members also analyzed new, developing technology and procedures that will make mail theft more difficult and less frequent.

Key Takeaways:

Delivery delays, stolen and fraudulent mail, and safety challenges in major cities all reduce USPS’s ability to effectively make important daily deliveries to Americans across the country.

• Julius Rothstein, Deputy Inspector General at the USPS Office of the Inspector General, criminal groups, stated in his opening testimony that “In another case, our special agents uncovered a large digital marketplace that sold stolen checks, which also included U.S. Treasury checks. This led to a joint federal and local law enforcement investigation North Carolina, and we found a postal employee and co- conspirators had stolen checks and sold them on this digital marketplace, costing victims close to $24 million.”

• Brian Renfroe, President of the National Association of Letter Carriers, testified in his opening statement that “When I started as a letter carrier in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, 21 years ago, violent crime was rare. Unfortunately, that’s no longer the reality, as we’ve heard earlier in this hearing. Since 2022, five letter carriers have been murdered while doing their jobs. Thousands of other postal employees have been violently attacked nearly every single day, I learned of another heartbreaking attack against one of our members. And we refuse to accept that this is a new normal. It’s dangerous for us. It’s dangerous for the American people. It’s dangerous for the mail.”

• Frank Albergo, President of the Postal Police Officers Association, testified in his opening statement that “We are not talking about abstract policy failures. We are talking about a measurable collapse in institutional responsibility happening in real time with real victims. In 2010, there were just over 2,200 high volume mail theft attacks. By 2023, that number skyrocketed to over 49,000—a 2,000 percent explosion. And yet, throughout this period, the inspection service denied there was a crisis, suppressed internal data, and removed its own uniformed police from the streets. This isn’t about lost birthday cards anymore; we’ve entered an era of organized postal crime. Earlier this year, the FBI warned Americans not to mail checks—a public vote of ‘no confidence’ from one federal agency to another, and at a time when law enforcement agencies across the country were expanding uniform patrols, the inspection service did the opposite. In 2020 it benched its own federal police force.”

New, developing technology, procedures, and partnerships will make mail theft more difficult, which will make future deliveries safer and more efficient.

• Brendan Donohue, Inspector in Charge at the United States Postal Inspection Service, testified that “To counter these attacks against our postal employees and to protect our delivery network, we launched Project Safe Delivery, which includes our National Strategy to combat mail theft and letter carrier robberies. Since Project Safe Delivery was launched on May 12, 2023, and in fulfillment of our strategy, we have installed more than 23,000 high security blue collection boxes nationwide, with an additional 16,000 blue collection and relay boxes to be installed shortly; replaced more than 42,000 antiquated arrow locks with electronic locks, with an additional 55,000 to be installed shortly.”
• Julius Rothstein, testified in his opening statement, “Given the volume and complexity of [mail theft] cases, we must leverage cutting edge technology and data analytics that allow us to efficiently focus our limited resources. One example is a powerful data tool that we developed in collaboration with financial services industry and also the US Department of Treasury. It helps us pinpoint exactly where in the postal system stolen checks and credit cards go missing. This tool has proven to be invaluable in allowing us to proactively identify mail theft. To date, this tool has identified around two $50 million in stolen financial instruments, leading us to open 75 investigations and obtaining more than 35 indictments.”
• Anthony Holloway, Chief of Police at the St. Petersburg, Florida Police Department, testified that “In July of 2023, [the partnership between the St. Petersburg Police Department and the USPS] expanded when the United States Postal Inspection Service Tampa Division invited the St. Petersburg Police Department to join a new-formed Financial Crime Task Force to combat the surge of check fraud linked to stolen mail… Prior to this task force, the officers could only take a report number, but we could not investigate those crimes. Now, due to the joining this task force, these officers can continue to investigate these crimes, bringing closure not only to the residents, but also to the business owners into the city of St. Petersburg, and also allow and let these suspects know that we will follow them no matter where they enter.”

Congress must respond to constituent concerns and evaluate solutions to mail theft and fraud, support mail carriers, and aid the Postal Service’s goal of becoming financially self-sufficient.

Member Highlights:

Subcommittee Chairman Pete Sessions (R-Texas) inquired about the implementation of “notices of delivery” to improve USPS investigations and transparency between the USPS and the American people. 

Subcommittee Chairman Sessions: “Mr. Rothstein or Mr. Donohue, do you have an understanding about, maybe, the success that might be turned about, and I’m going to use the wrong term, but there was a term, maybe ‘notice of delivery’? I have had that in my mail where they notify you of the delivery. Do you perceive that you could use that as a tool… Does that help you in your investigative duties, proactively? Or, can you discuss that viewpoint that I think I’ve had about, maybe, ‘this is an important way to help you solve crimes’?” 

Mr. Rothstein: “Yes, Chairman, I believe that I and Mr. Donohue talked about the informed delivery system. And again, it’s one way that any postal customer can sign up for the Postal Services informed delivery system that will give them an email, to their email of choice, of the letters—and now even packages—that are slated to be delivered to that address. So that customer, that postal customer who’s expecting a credit card or expecting a check, will have an actual image of that envelope and that mail that is supposed to be delivered for them. And again, this goes into being a good consumer. If you don’t if you don’t receive it, you’re given notice that, well, sometimes delays happen. Give it a couple if you don’t receive it within three days. I always say, give the O[ffice] of I[nspector] G[eneral] a call, right? Because, again, if it was on the mailman’s part, that is primarily our responsibility to investigate the internal employees, if they’re involved. Go to our hotline, file a complaint, give our OIG a call, and we do use data for that.”

Rep. Gary Palmer (R-Ala.) requested information on where most mail theft crimes occur and what Americans can do to better secure their mail.

Rep. Palmer: “Where do most of these crimes occur? Do they occur at individuals’ post office box at the street? I think theft at collection boxes has gone down quite a bit. Are they interdicting the postal delivery officer and route? Where do most of the thefts occur?”

Mr. Donohue: “It involves the Postal Service in terms of that financial crime, the theft of PII, personal identifying information, or financial instrument that can occur anywhere along the process in which mail is being sent or received. And so, in some cases, that is at the street level, and when it’s at the collection box. In some cases, it’s when it’s at a person’s mailbox at their house that’s unsecured. In other cases, unfortunately, there are a very small number of individuals that work for the Postal Service who commit crime and take advantage of their position and steal mail from there, which Mr. Rothstein spoke to earlier. So, we see it all along the process where there is potential for theft.”

Rep. Palmer: “What should people be doing to secure their personal identification information against mail theft?”

Mr. Donohue: “So, there are a number of things that individuals can do to secure their personal identifying information against mail theft. First, [we suggest] that individuals, when they receive their mail, that they pick it up as soon as possible when it’s delivered to their mailbox. We encourage customers to sign up for informed delivery that gives them a preview of mail that’s coming to their house, so they can identify what mail is going to come to their house, and they can be on the lookout for it and get it. We also encourage individuals, if they’re going to send mail, to mail in the most secure way possible. They can bring it into the post office. They can hand it to their letter carrier, who will take it from them. Or, if they work in a place of business, they can have it picked up there. Those are just some of the tips that we provide to the public on how to safely and securely send their mail.”

Click here to watch the hearing.