Has the USPS Gone Postal?

PUBLISHED JUNE 27, 2023

Even as the nation’s focus of late is on Washington—with the finger-pointing over unethical or unlawful actions by past and current occupants of the Oval Office—there remains critically important work to be done in each branch of the government. One creation of the federal government, and arguably the most relevant to everyday life for most people, is the U.S. Postal Service.

Yet it also happens to be the most challenged enterprise. I write this with some concern about repercussions, but honestly: Can today’s mail service get any worse? As we write the check for postage on tens of thousands of issues each month, we’re reminded of the trust we place in the postal system. Let’s just say that if the system is as strong as its weakest link, we should all be mortified.

A significant problem on a national level is the internal theft of mail, with stolen checks being forged and cashed. One banking executive has informed us of longstanding concerns over widespread fraud associated with postal workers’ stealing checks from the mail and selling them on the black market.

Kansas City is not immune to that. On June 8, I went to the main post office at Union Station and talked with two executives because 20 payments in envelopes with the correct postage—placed into that facility’s mailbox on May 14—had yet to be cashed. It appeared that they had been lost in transit.

But not all: One check from that batch cleared Nebraska Furniture Mart. Another, however, had been crudely modified to the sum of $4,500 and cashed by a Johnson County resident and recent high school graduate, whose name I now have, but won’t publish.

I was notified of the forgery by our bank representative on June 9 and I quickly networked with the other bank (where the check was deposited) to obtain a copy of it. That was just the first in a series of inconveniences. In addition to late fees and accrued interest from mortgage companies and credit-card firms came ill will from vendors and valued contractors waiting on overdue payments. Going on two weeks after the fraud was uncovered, the money had yet to be refunded into our account.  

A Kansas City police detective walked me through the crime: For more than six months, a present or former postal system employee with a master key to open mail-collection boxes had been stealing checks. This person would then solicit folks through social media networks to help cash these checks, in exchange for about 20 percent of the face amount. Our first inclination was to pursue the kid who foolishly deposited the check into her bank account, and we still may do so through the Leawood Police Department, the jurisdiction where the forgery occurred.

Turns out, this bandit and his network of thieves had accrued well in excess of $600,000 of checks cashed over a period of at least six months.

I’ve been told that the post office changed the locks on the collection boxes in the Brookside and Waldo areas. The crimes then continued in the neighborhoods to the north and south. I understand stealing checks from the mail has been occurring for many years. It’s just a damn shame that an arm of our federal government is unable to prevent such activity in the first place, or to locate and prosecute those involved when it does occur.

At a time when homicides for a calendar have already set an all-time record, staffing at the Kansas City Police Department is down more than 300 officers. Understandably, violent crime takes precedence. But that doesn’t make it easier to accept this as just part of everyday life in Kansas City—especially after four of our work trucks were stolen by thieves over recent years.

The citizens of this city and the very funders of the postal system should be aware of this national trend and particularly of this matter in Kansas City. The banks sure as hell don’t deserve to bear the costs imposed by these crimes; neither do the victims.

I once met Fred Smith, the former CEO of Fed Ex, and asked him if he thought the postal system should be privatized. With a smile, he suggested that we couldn’t do much worse. In a time when we encounter postal rate increases multiple times each year and service becomes noticeably worse, I believe Americans are entitled to know why this government agency is so dysfunctional and what is being done to improve it.

The irony of this column is that, just a few minutes before penning this, I was informed from one of our lenders that an ACH payment we make each month had been debited from our bank account five times. Naturally, the problem will be resolved, but apparently there are flaws with online banking, as well. Still, as the American model of commerce evolves, we’ll see an evolution away from relying on the post office.

Maybe that’s a good thing. Until then, it seems that the least we can ask is that our mail be dependably delivered—without fear that any of us is about to become the victim of a crime.