USPS plans to tighten security on blue mailboxes with so many robberies, thefts
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Time and time again, we have told you about missing mail – packages stolen, checks taken and sometimes forged and cashed.
It is still happening. But as CBS 2's Sabrina Franza reported Friday night, a possible solution has now been identified.
Many times, stolen mail comes out of a mail collection box because someone has access to the arrow key that gets them inside.
On Friday, the U.S. Postal Service announced a new way to get rid of the common lock – only it is not clear when exactly victims, such as the one who spoke with us for this story, might see some relief.
"It's a violation of your life," said Yves Malki. "If you can't trust the mail system; if you can't trust that your bills are paid properly and mailed properly - then were lost a society."
Malki sent two checks in the mail – the same thing he has been doing for 50 years. This time, they were stolen out of the blue mail collection box he dropped them into at the northeast corner of Broadway and Grace Street.
"There was a man at the bank trying to cash a check to a certain individual that they weren't familiar with; that they never saw before," Malki said.
One check went to Citibank, which caught the fraud and stopped it before it was cashed. The person ran off.
Soon after the second check was cashed at a currency exchange with a new name. They had taken Malki's name out – and in exchange, walked away with almost $2,984.78.
"That check - he washed off all of the writing, rewrote the check, took it to a currency exchange, cashed the check, and did get the cash," Malki said.
Because of the first alert, Malki stopped payment on the second check.
Meanwhile, we told Malki about the postal arrow keys we have been reporting on for years. The keys open mailboxes across a particular zone.
Franza: "They don't change the lock."
Malki: "They don't change the lock?"
Franza: "No."
Malki: "Even after the key stolen?"
Franza: "Correct."
Malki: "Well, that's ridiculous."
Now, the United States Post Office is changing its tone – reporting 412 letter carriers robbed on the job in 2022 – many times for arrow keys. There have already been 305 robberies of mail carriers just in 2023 so far.
The USPS is hoping to instill 12,000 high-security blue collection boxes in the next fiscal year to high-risk areas. It is not clear what those will look like.
The USPS also plans to install 49,000 locks to replace the arrow locks.
It is a dent in the total number of mailboxes across the country – USPS has 139,409 in total.
"Everybody I tell this story to says, 'Oh this happened to a friend of mine; this happened to me," Malki said. "So it's a very common thing, and it's very, very disturbing."
There was no word late Friday on how these measures will be installed. As for the electronic locks, the timeline we got was just "soon."
Meanwhile, it is important to note the changes to do not account for apartments buildings or private mailboxes that also use the arrow keys.
