As the holiday shopping season kicks into high gear, the United States Postal Service says it’s stepping up its activities to keep a closer eye on all of the packages being delivered.
In South Florida, the problems range from simply stealing packages off of a property to armed robbers stealing the master keys for apartment complexes to gain access to all of the mailboxes.
“We’ve all seen it. We’ve had a pattern of our letter carriers being robbed for the key that opens up the mailboxes,” said Postal Inspecter Bladismir Rojo.
So, as carriers begin to load up each day with all of the packages bringing holiday cheer to your family, there will be armed federal postal inspectors in disguise riding with the carriers for the next few weeks. The undercover inspectors will be watching for anyone looking to make off with any deliveries.
“We are going to do that by taking some unprecedented steps that we have not done in the past. We are going to be out there marked--unmarked ---working with the local departments amongst ourselves and we are going to be monitoring whats going on with our letter carriers--whats going on with the mail service,” Rojo said. “Make no doubt about it, we are going to be out there.”
So what can you do to help protect yourself and your packages? Rojo said try to order things when you know you are going to be home, track your orders, and get your packages inside quickly once they are delivered.
The Postal Service said while they will be conducting the undercover operation, they still can’t be everywhere and urged the public to watch for anything that doesn’t look right.
