Anyone know how to report misuse of mailboxes? Updated: don't mess with USPS.

[politicat]

Last edited Fri Aug 29, 2014, 07:24 PM - Edit history (1)

I live in a community with a management company for the common areas, and we pay a monthly fee for water, trash, sewer and the pool etc. When we first moved in, the management company mailed (with stamps!) the statements, then switched to hanging them on our front door knobs. Until 3 months ago, when they started putting the statements, naked of postage, in the mailboxes.

Which I know to be illegal. Mailboxes are private, for the use of the letter carriers and the addressees, and even the cops can't open one without a warrant. Not to mention that I don't want the management company knowing what I get in the mail -- it's none of their business. And honestly, with 200 residences in the community, I know the post office can use the cash (and the delivery person can use the extra steps to walk up to the front doors instead of driving around and hitting the mailboxes.)

I've already given them the statutes and reminded them that this is illegal and carries heavy fines (and federal pen time, if egregious). I suppose my next step is to start reporting them to USPS.

Any idea? Is this a case of go into the local, or is there a place I can send photos to report?

Update: talked to local postmaster this afternoon, with pics and physical copy of statement. Our letter carrier noticed when it started at the end of June. Postmaster telephoned then and told them to knock it off, warned about the fine and federal crime aspect. ($500 per incident, up to 12 months in federal prison per incident. They're not playing.) They noticed again in July when they did it again; this time Postmaster paid a visit. Third time means it gets kicked to regional Inspector, who will probably file charges. We'll see what happens in a month. (I can't say I'd be annoyed if it killed the management company; we're unfortunately stuck with them.)

[Sherman A1]

1. Call the postal inspector

Should be available thru your local post office.

[TheBlackAdder]

8. Neighborhood kid took a package we mailed. Post Office referred us to local PD.

Luckily, what we had mailed was a defective baby food jar, noting of real value.

The kid's neighbor saw the kid open it and throw it in their bushes.

===

Wife called cops, since other stuff seemed to be missing over the past month.

PD did nothing, perhaps spoke to his parents.

[hlthe2b]

2. I can't imagine they legally have a key.... they surely shouldn't

I'd call the local post office and ask to speak to the senior supervisor...

If you can't find a local listing phone number and thus have to use the 800 number, then let them know you have a serious mail violation to report to the office of the postmaster general/postmaster inspector.

[politicat]

14. We have regular mail boxes, not the column type in the common area.

No keys, just a tight-fitting door. (Old neighborhood.)

[Spider Jerusalem]

3. Mailboxes are not in fact private, they are legally property of the US government

and under law are only for the use of postage-paid US mail.

On edit: you can file a complaint with the Postal Inspection Service here: https://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/contactus/filecomplaint.aspx

[Keefer]

26. Then they can pay for it.

The next time I need a mailbox, I'm sending the USPS the bill or I'm removing it. They can slide the mail under my door.

[TransitJohn]

33. How can it be the government's when I bought it and insalled it?

Dug the post hole, set the pole in cement and everything?

[Spider Jerusalem]

34. ...

Mailboxes are considered federal property, and federal law (Title 18, United States Code, Section 1705), makes it a crime to vandalize them (or to injure, deface or destroy any mail deposited in them). Violators can be fined up to $250,000, or imprisoned for up to three years, for each act of vandalism.

https://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/raddocs/tipvandl.htm

Federal property is any property owned, leased, or otherwise managed by the federal government. When a mailbox is put into use for the purposes of sending and receiving mail, it becomes federal property.

Read more : http://www.ehow.com/about_6329596_mail-tampering-according-federal-law.html

[TransitJohn]

36. So they just decide it's theirs.

If I were to remove it, I'm breaking the law even though I installed it? They should install one.

[Spider Jerusalem]

37. Nope.

A mailbox in use is considered to be leased to the Federal government for the purpose of receipt of mail through the USPS.

[TransitJohn]

38. What do they pay me for this lease?

It's a taking. If I were to remove it, would they put one up?

[Spider Jerusalem]

40. Nope.

You wouldn't get mail, either. They pay you by providing the service of postal delivery.

[TransitJohn]

41. The person who paid the postage paid for that.

I guess I donated my money and labor. Still, if I take it down would I be guilty of an offense? That would be pretty beyond the pale.

[Spider Jerusalem]

42. Nope, you could still receive mail.

Just via General Delivery at your local post office and not direct to your address.

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. Do you have a Board of any sort for your building?

I am thinking of how co-ops are managed.

One caveat.....retaliation from management.

Perhaps a talk with other residents to see how they feel about mail privacy would be in order, and keep you from being the obvious only one.

[politicat]

20. Not really.

The "board", such as it is, consists of about three households (including mine) trying to get the rest involved. Working class neighborhood, with multiple language barriers (Vietnamese, Spanish, Russian, Guatemalan, Tagalog, Hindi and I think Thai. I'm only quarter-fluent in two of those.) It's inexpensive multi-housing with things like yards and driveways in a not-inexpensive county. Many homeowners are in a don't rock the boat position.

The retaliation is a reality, which is why I'm willing to take point on this. I have the spoons, time and the skills to fight back if they try it, the money to move (we're planning to do so sometime in the next year, anyway) and not get hurt, and I like fights. (I'm a democrat. Please. Yes, I'll fight.)

[TeeYiYi]

5. I have a question*...

I live in a small community where everyone in town has a PO box. If I wanted to leave a note or a sympathy card for a neighbor, in their mailbox, I suspect that the post mistress would do that for me. ...*Am I mistaken in that assumption?

In other places that I've lived, the mailbox was at the end of the driveway. I'm pretty sure that people and church groups, within neighborhoods, hand deliver messages to other people's mailboxes all the time. Are you saying that a neighbor putting a card in your mailbox is against the law?

If it's not against the law to deliver a valentine straight to the mailbox of a neighbor, then I would guess that your management company may have asked the postal carrier to insert the statements as a favor...

If it IS against the law, that's good to know.

TYY

[Live and Learn]

7. It is illegal.

http://www.residential-mailboxes.net/mailbox-laws-and-regulations/law-for-residential-mail-box

[TeeYiYi]

12. Good to know and thanks for the link. ..nt

TYY

Edited to add: That was a good link with lots of helpful information. Thanks again!

[former9thward]

17. It is a law no one enforces and no one cares about it.

If you want to waste time reporting things go for it.

[politicat]

21. Depends where you are -- it looks like our postmaster does care & will follow up.

I don't mind being the squeaky wheel. I like the post office. I want to keep it. I want them getting paid. (And I really don't like our management company.)

[former9thward]

22. I have been putting political flyers in mailboxes forever.

No one cares. In fact most people like that so they don't get blown around and cause litter. Holder can come arrest me.

[MH1]

32. We have been told NOT to do that by our party leaders.

But of course, Dems are a minority where I live, so we would be hassled.

[csziggy]

27. I care and I do report it

The crap that has had postage paid to the Post Office to be delivered that shows up in my mailbox is bad enough. I don't want more crap put in there for free. I've complained about a local maid service that hangs flyers off the door of my mailbox, the telephone delivery people that drop their books at the foot of the post the mailbox is one, and to UPS when one of their drivers delivered a package in the mailbox.

I start by complaining to the company or organization responsible. If that fails, it goes to the Postmaster. They do follow up, I've heard about it later.

In fact, I would NOT have a mailbox on the street at all if I could get away with it. That box is not secure and nothing important is supposed to be mailed to the street address. But the state of Florida and the federal government insist on using the street address for some things, even though they have been provided multiple times with my secure PO Box (that has the street address on file with the Postmaster).

[former9thward]

28. And after you report it they roll their eyes.

I'l bet you would complain to the UPS for not putting a package in a secure location if it was stolen.

[csziggy]

29. No, the local postal inspectors have contacted the businesses

Who broke the law and gave them warnings.

Packages are not secure if put into my street mailbox. That box is not visible from anywhere on my property and anyone driving on our rural road can get things out of it. That is why I do not willingly get deliveries to that box. I pay for an oversized box at the closest post office and prefer to have all deliveries done there, even packages. I know they will be in a secure location and safe from pilferage and weather until I can pick them up.

Despite that, some companies will not use the PO Box for packages so I have to deal with the shipping companies and their erratic deliveries.

UPS and FedEx get regular calls from me if they are lazy about deliveries. The regular drivers are no problem - they always brings packages to the house and puts them on the carport. The substitute drivers have left packages on the street, at the front gate, at one or another of the several outbuildings on the farm, and once drop kicked the package out of the truck onto the driveway.

When I am paying for the service, I expect to get the service properly done. On the other hand, people that want to use my mailbox to deliver crap I don't want without paying for the privilege can get a visit from the postal inspector.

[former9thward]

30. Those prosecuted for violating the law. Zero.

I deliver election material in mailboxes. I await my chains...

[gvstn]

9. I'm fairly sure it is against the law to put anything in someone's mailbox.

No one enforces it but it technically is not allowed.

I, too, have mailbox at end of drive. Occasionally, I get something from the Civic Association in there which was hand delivered to the mailbox but they shouldn't do that. Most outside companies either tape or hang (in a bag) their advertisements on the outside of the mailbox when they hand deliver them.

When I lived in an apartment building that had a central mail area with all the little boxes, I can't remember why it came up but the mail carrier told me they aren't allowed to go back into your box and touch the mail that has already been delivered. She said that would be an invasion of your privacy.

I'm curious what the OP's management company said to her complaint? I would think they would just follow the law since they were called out on it. I can't see the upside of them continuing to do what they had started doing.

[TeeYiYi]

11. That's good to know...

...and I agree with it. (Don't 'tuch' the butt and don't 'tuch' my mailbox!)

TYY--->> Living in Mayberry, Utah, where laws and ordinances are ignored and twisted to the point of pretzel logic.

[politicat]

23. To quote: "that can't be true."

I borrowed a copy of the relevant federal code from my uni's law library and brought it in, along with the citation so zie could look it up zirself. Also documents from the post office's website.

Um... To put it as gently as I can, Teabagger brilliance at work. (Which I already knew; anyone so completely brainwashed as to have FauxNoos stickers, Romney stickers and RonPaul!! stickers on their late 70s rusting away pickup has other issues.)

Postmaster and regional Inspector General are now on the case. I'll watch for next month and put my web cam to work.

[politicat]

15. Yes, using mailboxes without postage is a federal crime.

In a small town... There may be some flexibility, or the post person may make you buy a stamp, cancel it and deliver it. In rural areas, again, maybe some flexibility, but still a technical crime. (Federal code title 18 section 1725, I think.)

The issue is that I'm not in a small town or a rural area and the people doing it are not individual citizens trying to be nice. They're people with a) actual power over me and my 200-odd neighbors, b) with whom we only have a professional relationship, and c) who have abused power before, by doing things like discarding mail (I used to mail my association fees via my bank's bill pay, until one of my neighbors found the unopened envelope, highly water damaged, in the bushes at the playground and brought it to me) and entering people's houses or sheds without any permission. (That is NOT allowed at all under our terms.) under no circumstances does anyone associated with the management need to know with whom I bank, have my mortgage, car loan, or what catalogs and magazines I subscribe to.

[GeorgeGist]

6. Who delivers your mail?

[politicat]

16. USPS.

We have regular, domed mailboxes.

[leftyladyfrommo]

10. You could call the Post Office.

I doubt that anyone is going to want to do anything about it.

A friend of mine had her mailbox blown up. No one was really interested. She is still complaining that the police haven't ever done anything - and that was two years ago. Yet, she waits. Hope springs eternal.

Really. They have more important stuff to worry about.

[politicat]

18. It's their revenue stream. Not much more important.

Yes, ours is piddly - 200 x $.49 is $98 a month, so $1176 a year. But our management company is part of a conglomerate with hundreds of similar communities. Times 500 communities across the nation -- that's starting to be real money. And thanks to the congress critters, every penny matters to the USPS.

I'm sorry about your neighbor's mailbox. That is not only annoying, it's terrible that nobody did anything about it.

[leftyladyfrommo]

31. We were having problems with stuff being stolen

out of mailboxes - mostly checks and credit cards that had been sent by mail.

A postal inspector did show up one time for that.

I'm afraid the only thing you can do is go out and buy an expensive locked mail box.

[TeeYiYi]

13. Call this number...

You may file a complaint by phone at (1-800-275-8777). https://www.usps.com/customer-service/customer-service.htm

TYY

[politicat]

19. Thanks!

I stopped at the post office this afternoon with pictures. Turns out, the management company got a call in June about this (letter carrier noticed), then a visit from the postmaster in July when they did it again, and now the regional inspector will get involved, probably filing charges. (Apparently, it's a $500 fine per instance, plus potential club fed time.)

To be juvenile... Ooo.... They're in truuuuuuble!

[Go Vols]

24. I have a mailbox similar to this at the end of the driveway

I get more crap in the bottom part as its illegal for anyone other than the mailman to put stuff in the top.

[politicat]

25. Yup. Grandparents had one of those.

It got hit by a snowplow.

Now looks more like this:



(Neither is allowed for us.)

[alphafemale]

35. A mailbox is technically federal property I think.

Mail Cops don't play.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

39. I'd personally inform them to cut it out

Now that you've spoken to the PM, and they are aware and have warned them....I'd get a real kick out of seeing their reaction when you tell them they better stop it. You can be very sweet about it. Hell, you're doing them a favor telling them to stop it.