USPS Carriers Keep Getting Robbed—What That Means for Your Mail
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The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) often stresses its commitment to the safety of our mail—and that’s essential, given how many of trust the agency with things like our prescriptions or bills. But the Postal Service’s ability to protect our mail may be more difficult given a number of alarming recent incidents, as more and more USPS carriers have reported being robbed. Read on to find out what these crimes mean for your mail.
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In the last month alone, there have been several reports detailing attacks on postal employees in different parts of the country.
A USPS carrier was robbed at gunpoint in North Hollywood on July 11, NBC Los Angeles reported. That same day, another Postal Service worker was attacked and robbed at a post office in San Francisco, according to CBS News.
Now, another new report is coming out of San Francisco. NBC Bay Area reported on Aug. 1 that a USPS mail carrier had been robbed just a few days earlier in the city’s Richmond area, which is described as a “normally-quiet San Francisco neighborhood.”
These are not just rare occurrences that have garnered unusual media attention. In a May 12 press release , the USPS confirmed that crime against postal workers has become a major issue.
“Incidents of letter carrier robberies are on the rise across the nation,” the Postal Service said. Over the course of the entire 2022 fiscal year, 412 letter carriers were robbed on the job, according to the agency. In comparison, 305 robberies had already been reported in the first half of the 2023 fiscal year.
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With most of these robberies, criminals are usually after one thing from USPS workers: their mail keys.
According to Albergo, the keys stolen from mail carriers, also known as arrow keys, can typically open up multiple mailboxes in a community.
“These arrow keys give access to collection boxes, apartment panels, relay boxes, cluster boxes. So instead of getting a few letters, they are actually getting tubs and satchels of mail,” he told News4.
In 2020, the Postal’s Service Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued a report that warned about the agency’s management controls over these keys.
“Specifically, the number of arrow keys in circulation is unknown, and local units did not adequately report lost, stolen, or broken keys or maintain key inventories,” the report stated. “Ineffective controls over arrow keys increase the risk that these items will be lost or stolen and not detected.”
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As mail carriers continue to get robbed across the U.S., the risk of your mail getting stolen is rising. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPSIS) told CBS MoneyWatch in June that mail theft has been increasing as part of a broader national trend of “increased crime patterns.”
The agency’s law enforcement branch said it received roughly 300,000 complaints about stolen mail in 2021, which was more than double what had been reported a year prior.
The USPS also confirmed the “increase in high volume mail theft” in its May press release. According to the agency, there were 38,500 incidents of mail being stolen from mail receptacles in the 2022 fiscal year, and more than 25,000 incidents in the first half of the 2023 fiscal year.
“As crime rises, so do the threats against our public servants,” Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said in a statement at the time. “The men and women of the Postal Service are walking our nation’s streets every day to fulfill our mission of delivering mail and packages to the American people. Every Postal employee deserves to work in safety and to be free from targeting by criminals seeking to access the public’s mail.”
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The USPS and the USPSIS are working to try to stop the rise of mail theft in its tracks. In May, the agency announced that it would be rolling out expanded crime prevention measures to “protect postal employees and the security of the national mail and packages.”
These new actions are being brought forth through their joint Project Safe Delivery initiative, which is focused on reducing letter carrier robberies and mail theft, according to the May 12 press release.
“We’re doubling down on our efforts to protect our Postal employees and the security of the mail. We are hardening targets—both physical and digital—to make them less desirable to thieves and working with our law enforcement partners to bring perpetrators to justice,” USPSIS Chief Gary Barksdale said in a statement.
A major part of these new measures is centered around the keys criminals are often after when attacking carriers.
“Criminals use Arrow and MAL keys to steal mail from secure mail receptacles to commit financial crimes, including altering checks to commit check fraud. To make Arrow Keys less valuable for criminals, the Postal Service will replace 49,000 antiquated arrow locks with electronic locks,” the agency explained.
See a Sticker on Your Mailbox? Don’t Touch It, USPS Says
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Your mailbox serves a very simple purpose: receiving mail and leaving outgoing mail for a carrier to pick up. Still, some of us enjoy sprucing up our mailboxes, adding personal flair, color, or even decals to help an otherwise standard mailbox stand out. But if you notice a paw print sticker on your mailbox that you didn’t add, don’t start peeling it off just yet—it’s likely part of a program run by the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to help keep carriers safe. Read on to find out what these stickers mean and why you shouldn’t remove them.
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In 2023, more than 5,800 Postal Service workers were attacked by dogs while delivering mail, up from 5,300 in 2022, according to a USPS press release.
Larger cities had the highest numbers of attacks, with Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, St. Louis, and Cleveland claiming the top five spots.
“Even though a customer’s dog is friendly to most people, it can always have a bad day,” said letter carrier Tara Snyder . “I know, from experience, even when a dog is in the house, customers need to make sure their door is secure so their dog can’t push it open and bite the letter carrier.”
To her point, the USPS writes that “all dogs can bite, even those perceived as nonaggressive.” In fact, many of the attacks that letter carriers report are by dogs whose owners told them, “My dog won’t bite.”
Such an attack can result in consequences for the homeowner, too. According to data from the Insurance Information Institute, the average cost per insurance claim for a dog bite is $64,555, the USPS states.
“When a postal employee suffers an injury, the owner could be responsible for medical bills, lost wages, uniform replacement costs, and pain and suffering for the employee,” they explain.
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To combat dog bites, the Postal Service shared tips on how pet owners can “support safe mail delivery.” These include keeping dogs inside the house or behind a fence, away from the door or in another room, or on a leash.
“Pet owners also should remind children not to take mail directly from a letter carrier as the dog may view the carrier as a threat to the child,” they state.
Mail carriers also follow protocol to keep them aware of areas where dogs might be present, and they’re equipped with scanners to remind them of possible dog hazards, as well as dog warning cards that are added during mail sorting.
In 2020, the USPS added another preventive measure: the PAWS Program . First introduced in Pennsylvania, the program uses mailbox stickers to keep carriers safe.
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The PAWS Program uses color-coded stickers affixed to mailboxes to inform mail carriers about dogs in the area. An orange sticker with a black paw print tells carriers that there is a dog at this home, while a yellow sticker with a black paw print tells them there is a dog at the next house.
Citizens are informed ahead of time that the stickers may appear on their mailboxes. In a notice sent to Lakewood, Ohio, residents, the Postal Service wrote, “Carriers will soon be placing a paw sticker on mailboxes to indicate that a dog or dogs live in the area —yellow indicates dog nearby/orange indicates dog at residence. The sticker will act as a reminder to the carrier that they should proceed with caution, especially when delivering packages to the door.”
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Removing these stickers may do more harm than good, as your mail service can be halted if your carrier feels unsafe. Not only does this affect the home of the dog owner, but it also applies to the entire neighborhood, the USPS said in a previous press release . Service isn’t restored in these instances “until the aggressive dog is properly restrained.”
At the end of the day, these stickers are put in place to “reduce the risk of dog bites and attacks that occur while delivering mail,” which is just another reason you should leave the sticker on your mailbox.
“We all love our dogs,” Kimberly Tilley , acting postmaster for Winston-Salem, told WGHP. “We love our animals, but we … have to take responsibility to protect the carrier and the people around us as well from our animals.”
Tilley added that dog bites are more common than you think, and they can be traumatic for carriers. “Once a carrier has been bit, it sets some fear in them long term for the rest of their life,” she told the outlet.
However, although these stickers are strongly recommended, if you object to having a sticker placed on your mailbox, you can opt out , Kyle Stevens , Southwest Carrier Annex station manager in South Dakota, told KELO in 2021. To do so, the first step would be to contact your local post office.
This story has been updated to include additional entries, fact-checking, and copy-editing.
