Thieves stealing Sacramento mail with master keys in nationwide trend
SACRAMENTO - A string of stolen mail in Sacramento is leaving residents frustrated. With the holidays right around the corner, people want to make sure the deliveries they need make it to them.
U.S. Postal Service Inspector Matthew Norfleet said the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is seeing a nationwide trend of thieves getting their hands on the master keys, also commonly known as arrow keys. These keys open mailboxes that are zoned to the routes carriers walk.
People living on Baytree Place, a cul-de-sac near Fair Oaks Boulevard and Eastern Avenue in Sacramento, said their mail gets stolen so often that they practically know the thief's schedule.
"They started coming every two weeks and they usually come every Wednesday or Thursday night," said Sanjay, who lives in the cul-de-sac.
Sanjay's security cameras caught the thieves on camera. In the video, you can see a person in a hoodie hop out of a car with what appears to be a key to unlock the mailbox. In just moments, the mailboxes are open and the suspect begins pulling all of the mail out of the boxes.
Credit cards, checks and other deliveries sometimes never make it to the rightful people.
"Carriers are out there walking the streets and they are getting guns pointed in their faces and the keys are stolen off of them that way," said Norfleet.
The USPS said that 412 letter carriers were robbed while working in the fiscal year 2022, and 305 incidents were reported in the first half of this year.
"They have to at least do something," said Sanjay. "Change the locks or whatever can be done."
Norfleet said new keys are being developed for all postal locks but that alone is not enough.
"By the time they are done replacing all the locks, it is time to start replacing all the locks again," said Norfleet.
That is why he is telling people to pick up their mail as soon as they can, especially because most of the mail thefts happen in the middle of the night.
This may be an easy task for some but is harder for others.
"We have a neighbor who is older and has some illnesses and isn't able to check her mail every day," said Daniel, who lives in the cul-de-sac that constantly has mail stolen.
Daniel said he is going to avoid having things delivered there as much as possible during the holidays.
Norfleet said another option is having your mail delivered to a nearby postal office and he recommends doing a "vacation hold" on mail if you are planning to be out of town.
"You have to take care of your customers because we are reliant on our mail with them, and it's important mail," Sanjay said.
The USPS is also working to replace nearly 50,000 traditional keys with electronic locks nationwide, but there is no timeline yet when we will see this happen.
Postal inspectors are looking to catch and prosecute mail thieves, so if it's happened to you, report it to the USPS.