A shrinking number of people wanting to work for the PO means lowering the hiring bar in terms of qualification & background checks... which inevitably leads to crap like this:
Oh Goody... The USPS is Now Dealing with "Inside Job" Theft Gangs
- Thread starter georged
- Start date
It's just another small example of our descent out of 1st world status...the signs are everywhere.
They did however claim to have apprehended the ringleader:
Postal suspect to be interrogated.
They did however claim to have apprehended the ringleader:
Postal suspect to be interrogated.
And no one getting our tax money seems to care. Especially the head cheese.
There is always theft when enough money is involved.
I recently had an $8000 package from Benchmade Knives "damaged" and repackaged... $2100 worth of knives were mysteriously missing. It clearly happened in their custody in Chicago as indicated by labelling and relabelling package weights. Will not be using USPS for anything valuable again. Yes the insurance covered it... But why am I paying them even more money for insurance, just so I don't lose what I ship to theft of their own employees? Well, I don't anymore.
In all the small towns of Missouri and other states working for the local post office is one of the best jobs only a high school degree is needed.
Not only is the pay good, the benefits and pension are top grade.
I can’t imagine a ring of postal employees stealing Amazon returns.
They’d get caught and lose that good job. Postal inspectors do not mess around.
When I was in Kansas City forty years ago KCKN was the stockyards and industrial section. You’d think those Jayhawkers would love those post office jobs.
Let’s see how this turns out.
Not only is the pay good, the benefits and pension are top grade.
I can’t imagine a ring of postal employees stealing Amazon returns.
They’d get caught and lose that good job. Postal inspectors do not mess around.
When I was in Kansas City forty years ago KCKN was the stockyards and industrial section. You’d think those Jayhawkers would love those post office jobs.
Let’s see how this turns out.
There’s no limit to stupidity, greed or short sightedness.
Frankly I’d be surprised if the USPS actually did anything even if the perps are proven to have been stealing.
Some years ago our carrier was repeatedly videotaped stealing items going to several different people. The evidence was presented to the USPS. He was reassigned to another route, not fired.
Frankly I’d be surprised if the USPS actually did anything even if the perps are proven to have been stealing.
Some years ago our carrier was repeatedly videotaped stealing items going to several different people. The evidence was presented to the USPS. He was reassigned to another route, not fired.
I would not be surprised. When I called to report my stolen items it was someone in an international call center, far removed from having a reason to care. They didn't seem to care either way about solving it, just focused on checking the box of filing an insurance claim so they could move on to the next call and collect their paycheck. It would probably cost more than the $2100 lost to complete an investigation at of that scale at a hub like Chicago. Business wise they just pay the insurance claim and save the money, and it happens again and again.
My forty years of experience has been the local post office employees have superiors who sometimes monitor them with binoculars and count their steps.
People will sell their first born to get a job at the local post office.
One vacancy might get a hundred applicants.
I can’t believe good jobs are so available in the Kaw River bottoms they’d have the slightest trouble hiring new help and locking thieves up in Leavenworth.
But we’ll see.
Briar Lee, I understand the small town life, I own a house I am retiring to in two years in a town of 700. There are three workers at the post office, they are known by all more than just by name. I'm sure I won't have these problems with my local post office. Kansas City like the OP and other cities have tens of thousands (or more) inhabitants and sometimes thousands of USPS employees. They have lost their ability to manage that size of work force. What happens when your local small town post office sends something off to a big city hub and your stuff gets stolen there instead? You are still in the same boat, regardless of how great your local postal workers are or that you went to high school with them. That is the USPS of today. Sorry to be so glum, but I've had several bad experiences with USPS over the years and it was never my local office.
True story time
All my great grandfathers rode for Mr Lincoln. Many of their fathers and even one old grandfather 65 years old were Yankee cavalry.
My grandmother’s father was 13 years old and wounded at the Battle of Sayler’s Creek a few days before Appomattox. As a loyal wounded soldier he obtained a Star Route as mail carrier.
In addition to his Star Route he had a drayage business employing several employees but he drove the mail route himself.
His oldest son John volunteered for WW1 and my grandmother said the war changed him.
One day in late 1919 the father was fording the Pomme De Terre with a gold shipment and the son robbed him of the gold, knowing his father would rather die, than be his Judas.
Had one of the postal inspectors not been a fellow Christian and understood the old man’s predicament they’d have sent him to prison for not naming the robber. As it was he was ruined, losing the mail route and his business, and most of his farm.
Uncle John went on to be the wealthiest man in Hickory County.
With his stolen gold he became a bootlegger, then owned gambling machines, and a pimp for the brothels and the girls that worked his speakeasies. After Prohibtion ended he corruptly obtained the license to sell booze, in the entire county.
And my grandmother would drop one rose on his grave because she said in 1952, one of his ladies of the evening grew tired of his wicked ways and rammed a broomstick up his ass while he slept. After he woke up they tried to remove it, and not wanting anyone to know she put him in the back seat of his brand new Cadillac and drove him to the Veteran’s Hosptal in Kansas City where he made up a story about sitting on a broom.
The operation to remove it was a success but he died suddenly in the waiting room waiting for his paramour to pick him up.
I could never tell if the moral of that story was never steal from the post office or don’t be mean to your girl, or maybe it was both.
In early December I sent a smallish package (insured for several thousand) via USPS registered mail as this is the PREFERRED and recommended method of delivery. Should have taken 3 days. It stopped moving through the system in Seattle hub...started the 'check on it process' with the local PO folks..a couple phone calls and a couple days later it was 'found' and moved along, getting delivered after 10 days. No problem with it, not damaged or opened. According to local PO folks, Seattle hub is notoriously understaffed. I had no worry that I was covered, but glad it wasn't rumbled, that it got there, and didn't have to go through the claims. It's a big system, with lots of parts and people (most good, some bad, like everywhere). Glad we have the system, frustrations and all.
It’s even in small commuties, my mail lady is the worst, you have scum all over, gone are the days of people careing. Lee you’re lucky to have good carriers, we don’t, Postmaster has been trying to fire her and can’t, I have pictures of her driving up to my front lawn to my steps in her Jeep, ruts galore, Civil Service you can’t do a damn thing.
When it absolutely positively has to be there... use FedEx or UPS. If I don't have to use USPS, I won't.
I don’t know the full details, so I’ll post this as “urban legend” rather than fact.
A few years back when there was a big rush to import whole leaf tobacco (tax free) before the legislation changed, I know of a guy who had a 20lb box stolen by the local courier. The postie was new, saw the package’s label, took the box and walked off the job. Even though the theft was caught on camera, the carrier refused to replace the stolen goods (they did refund the value) as the legislation’s cut off date passed during the process and they didn’t want to be liable for duties.
A few years back when there was a big rush to import whole leaf tobacco (tax free) before the legislation changed, I know of a guy who had a 20lb box stolen by the local courier. The postie was new, saw the package’s label, took the box and walked off the job. Even though the theft was caught on camera, the carrier refused to replace the stolen goods (they did refund the value) as the legislation’s cut off date passed during the process and they didn’t want to be liable for duties.