Thousands of US postal workers accused of stealing mail in new report

Criminals are infiltrating the United States Postal Service.

They’re punching clocks on the way in and robbing the USPS blind on the way out. Some are connected to organized crime and drug trafficking. But most are likely rank-and-file employees pocketing credit cards, checks, gift cards, medication, and other valuables.

Those are just a few takeaways from a newly published report from the USPS’s Office of the Inspector General.

You have criminal organizations, gangs, that are actually recruiting people to get a job in the postal service so they can rob mail and drain bank accounts. That’s literally what’s happening.

Frank Albergo, President, Postal Police Officers Association

Over the last four fiscal years, the United States Postal Inspection Service closed 5,961 cases of internal mail theft. The problem appears to be getting worse, as closed cases increased by 47% from FY2019 to FY2023.

NBC San Diego Investigates has been reporting on mail thefts since the beginning of this year. Victims across our area have told us they purposefully dropped off important mail inside post offices to try to prevent thefts. When those letters never reached their destination, they suspected an inside job. The new report appears to echo their fears.

Investigators say employees are bringing bags, backpacks, and big coats onto workroom floors inside mail processing facilities. Once inside, it’s a simple matter to make letters and packages disappear.

The USPS isn’t doing enough to prevent theft, alleges the OIG report,  which highlights several reasons why. It says there’s a shortage of supervisors at mail processing plants. The supervisors who are on the payroll aren’t properly or regularly trained on how to spot theft. Even more alarming, the OIG says it’s unclear how many of the USPS’s 18,619 surveillance cameras are monitored or are even functional.

“As bad as you think it is, it’s much worse! I mean it’s bad! Real bad,” Frank Albergo, the President of the Postal Police Officers Association told us.

Different kinds of postal workers

Albergo says the bulk of internal mail thefts can be blamed on what the postal service calls pre-career employees.

In 2010, the postal service created a two-tier workforce to cut costs. It began hiring temporary workers who make less, don’t get the same benefits, and don’t work regular schedules. They now make up about a fifth (17.9% in FY2023) of the workforce. 

These workers don’t stick around long. Audits consistently report “unacceptable” turnover rates. In FY2022, less than half (47.8%) of all pre-career employees were still on the job 360 days after they were hired.

“They only work for a few months at the postal service,” Albergo said. “They’re literally only getting the job so they can steal mail and quit! I mean it’s amazing!”

Postal workers don’t always act alone. In a report to Congress this year, the OIG said, “Postal employees have become prime targets for drug trafficking organizations.”

“You have criminal organizations, gangs, that are actually recruiting people to get a job in the postal service so they can rob mail and drain bank accounts,” Albergo said.

USPS rejects findings and some recommendations to prevent mail theft

The OIG recommended that the USPS create policies to limit personal belongings like jackets and bags on the workroom floor. But the USPS partially disagreed, saying that jackets are necessary in many unheated workrooms. It also says many facilities lack employee lockers to store belongings. Instead, it said it would create policies tailored to each facility.

The OIG also wanted the USPS to beef up mail theft awareness training for employees and supervisors. The USPS rejected that, stating that training already exists, but said it would send out refresher videos to employees.

“The simplest way to solve a problem is to deny it exists,” Albergo said. “So that’s part of it, they just don’t want to admit that the mail is unsafe right now.”

USPS management only fully agreed with one recommendation; to identify all broken surveillance cameras and come up with a plan to fix them by October 2025. But it said it’s just not feasible to continuously monitor or track surveillance camera failures.

“It’s sad to see what has happened,” Albergo said. “You give your life to the postal service, and then you see it’s under attack, and you see that the postal service really isn’t doing much to stop it.”

Albergo says the USPS should do away with the two-tier worker system and temp jobs. The postal workers union tried negotiating that during this year’s contract talks but didn’t succeed.

Albergo also believes the postal service needs to restore the size of its postal police force. He says he’s watched mail theft reports in general (internal and external) rise ever since the USPS ended postal police patrols and limited postal officers’ arrest rights in 2020. There used to be about 2,700 of those officers nationwide. Now, there are only about 350.

NBC San Diego Investigates asked the USPS and USPIS for comment about the report and for responses to Albergo’s claims. Both declined to comment beyond what was published within the OIG report.

Last week, the USPS published this video PSA aimed at its employees. The video discourages workers from committing crimes or colluding with criminals to steal the mail.

In our previous reporting, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service told us customers should report mail theft if they think they’ve been a victim. It told us:

They can contact their local post office or postal inspector by calling 877-876-2455 or at www.uspis.gov. They should document any missing mail or any pertinent information about the missing mail. 

By analyzing information from complaints, Postal Inspectors can determine if the problem is part of a larger mail theft investigation – the information provided directly from the community can assist Inspectors in identifying suspects.Customers can also sign up for Informed Delivery to obtain daily digest emails that preview the mail and packages scheduled to arrive soon.