USPS Coin Thief

NCIC http://numismaticcrimes.org/

Also send along the police report to NGC or PCGS or ... and they'll flag it in the database should say a dealer look it up planning to purchase it.

 

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To be fair, I never lost a coin myself either, and my one and only ~$10k TPG submission got back to me without problems.

 

Of course not ... they handle billions of packages a year and only a tiny fraction have problems.

But the bad guys target high value packages.

And unhappy people complain.

 

We live in a house in the country, down a dirt road. We live about .5 miles down the road, so mail is not delivered to our home. It is delivered to our mailbox beside the paved road. We haven't had any trouble getting our mail. However, there were times when the Postal Worker will leave an orange not telling me that a package that was sent to me would not fit into the box and that I would have to pick it up at the Post Office which is about 20 miles from our home. It got so frequent, that I contacted the Postmaster if I could have all my packages held at the post office. I signed a little form and I still get the orange note, but it cut the number of times I had to go to the post office.
A neighbor told us she had something stolen out of her mailbox. She opened a post office box for her mail and picks the mail up every Friday.

 

You've probably seen this one.


https://www.greysheet.com/news/story/coin-theft-suspects-caught-with-help-from-ngc-and-ncic

If the amounts are high enough and the thefts are consistent enough (in one location) the USPS will investigate. At least that's what an inspector told me.

 

This is the one that really got me. Stealing mail from official collection boxes, because a postal employee gave him a uniform and key.

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article272480565.html

 

Oops, that was the link to a different postal theft. So is this one:

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article267802192.html

This one might be relevant:

The Postal Service said also there were 38,500 thefts of mail from blue collection boxes in the 2022 fiscal year.

That really bothers me because collection boxes are my only real option. I don't have time to drive to the post office and wait in line.

 

"The theft issues have prompted the USPS to advise that Americans avoid depositing mail in blue collection boxes or leaving it in their own mailboxes for a carrier to pick up. Instead, the agency is now recommending that patrons come inside their local post office to securely send mail."

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-postal-service-warning-checks-mail-fraud-theft/

My local P.O. has mail slots indoors for letters and "flats" but they removed the hopper they used to have for small packages.

What if your relatively flat package fits in the mail slot for flats? Are they likely to accept that?

 

You'd think so, but years ago, this coin was stolen out of the mail on the way to PCGS, and to my knowledge it never reappeared. It was in a PCGS XF40 slab.

 

Jim,

We live in a similar situation … in the country, 3/8 mile down a gravel road from the main road where the PO boxes are. Turns out the about 0.5 mile you mentioned is critical. If the round trip is 1 mile or less, the road is in good shape with no hazards and your box meets USPS standards, the carrier is required to deliver oversized packages to your house. In the past, we’ve had problems with lazy carriers (mostly substitutes for the regular carrier) leaving orange slips for packages that would easily fit in our box and did not require a signature.

The problem stopped after we sent a couple of snail-mail letters to the local postmaster and cc’d the state USPS office of consumer affairs and the USPS consumer advocate in DC. We mailed the letters with tracking in a different zip code PO than ours.

It does help that we have a really large mailbox. And we minimize “dwell time” … put outgoing mail there just before delivery and visit the mailbox soon after delivery. Never leave mail overnight … most thefts are in the wee hours. After the theft before last, several of my neighbors put in locking mailboxes. Had no effect on the thieves. They just used a crowbar, which probably required 5 seconds. Neighbors had to replace their boxes. Ours wasn’t damaged … thieves could open it, see it was empty and move on.

I seldom mail coins via USPS these days … only if the recipient leaves no other choice. I have private insurance and use FedEx or UPS.

Cal

 

And the original poster hasn't been back for a week and the coin purchaser is on another forum, not this one. So all the above helpful comments are falling on deaf ears unfortunately.

 

I appreciate those that are attaching a newspaper report concerning the Postal Service, however, each one that I wanted to look at was blocked requiring me to sign-on with them. I have AD BLOCKER on for a reason, because I get all sort of emails and websites that want me to sign on with them, but the caveat is that I have to if I want to see the article. I appreciate efforts to notify the readers, but articles required to sign-on for free or for a fee just isn't worth the effort.
Just my opinion. Thanks for your information about the mailboxes and thefts.
I have two homes. We are currently living in her mother's home because she left it to us as well as 5 dogs are 3 cats. I have a problem with my VISA and the Mint. I can't have the Mint's packages delivered to our home in the country because the VISA has our mailing address with our home in town and I have had difficulty with my Credit Union changing the address. (I'm not sure if I'm saying this right.) Anyway, the since the Mint one change my address, the USPS Postal Carrier goes up two steps and throws the package on the porch. I understand that some people have a box with a lid that locks on their porch, but if the opening is wide enough to put the packages in, a thief and reach in it with his hand.
Anyway, if someone wants to steal your stuff, they will find a way to do it. I was an Internal Financial Officer with a East Carolina University for about 30 years and Professors and other Administrators that made $70K a year would steal little stuff, like stamps, personal use of a copier and some would buy a calculator about every year and sell it to a student. We even had an MD with our Medical School that was making $120,000 a year steal a copier for his church.
Sorry for my lengthy message. I like to hear stories of improprieties. Now that I'm retired, I miss hearing about things like this.

 

Wow, I cannot stress more emphatically how I despise hearing about these improprieties. I guess we differ like oil and water, Jim. I like to think people are actually good and honest. Hearing these stories does not ever fall into the category of 'liking' them.

Sad, very sad.