Postal inspectors target 'volume' mail theft, offer free security upgrades to apartment complexes

PHOENIX - Mail theft is causing a big problem for some residents around the Valley.

“It’s stressful, it really is stressful,” said Alyssa Clay, who tells ABC15 her mail was stolen twice in the past six months.

Clay said she has a typical mailbox and has come home to find it propped open and said someone even stole a food stamp card before.

Postal inspectors target these thieves and are also dealing with criminals who target apartment complexes and homeowner’s associations.

According to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service website, Phoenix and Tucson are two of the few areas dealing with a distinct problem: ‘volume,’ or bulk, mail theft.

“Anything they think might have been mailed, they’re looking for,” said Postal Inspector Patricia Armstrong.

Armstrong said ‘volume’ mail theft refers to a thief who breaks into a mailbox with multiple boxes, such as the ones at apartment complexes and in many Valley neighborhoods.

“These boxes were designed probably in the 1970s when no one was thinking about stealing anyone else’s mail,” Armstrong said.

Armstrong noted thieves are often looking for bills, checks or other personal identifiers. She also noted the Postal Inspection Service has greatly improved security on mail boxes around the Valley, and has taken aim to protect residents of an apartment complex.

Armstrong said a reinforced ‘retrofit’ is offered to apartment complexes for free, to help improve the security on the mail boxes.

“It makes it impossible for the mail thieves to pop open an entire panel of these boxes,” she said.

Officials said there are other steps you can do to prevent someone from stealing your mail, such as picking it up everyday and not letting in sit in the box. If you do have your mail stolen, Armstrong said you should cancel any checks you may have sent out and should report the stolen mail.

For more information or to report mail theft, visit the Postal Service Inspection website .