“I wrote you a love letter, and I sent it snail mail. Love is forever, and that’s about how long it’ll take to get to you.”
― Jarod Kintz
This saga started on February 4, 2024 with five Valentines cards that I had carefully addressed, stamped and sealed with my old-fashioned wax seal. I handed them to the mailman directly. Two were on the way to my grandchildren, one to my youngest son and his wife, another to a friend who had recently lost her husband and one to my boyfriend. Two were handmade. Two had a five dollar bill inside. (I thought my grandchildren would have fun picking something out from “Meme”.) The cards were on their way to four different states. Three months later none of the cards have arrived.
A few weeks later, upon my morning walk through the neighborhood, I saw a woman leaning on the corner of her garage, partially hidden standing there on the side of her well groomed house and yard. Sizing me up, I presumed. Tiny, petite and dressed in a loud colorful shirt and leggings, she came toward me when I waved and shouted “Hello”. Lit cigarette between her fingers, we started a conversation. She was a tough, determined, and what I would call a strong-willed New Yorker with a raspy smokers voice. My assessment, she was a no bullshit woman a few years older than myself. Our conversation circled around local and national politics, a failing very ill neighbor of mutual concern and then synchronicity led us to the USPS. She volunteered that another neighbor had also mailed “a stack” of Valentine Cards—none of those cards made it to their destination either! What gives?
Still irritated by the lost and missing Valentine cards, I flagged down a mail truck a few days later. This time it was a contract postal worker—pretty rude actually and not the normal pleasant demeanor of the postal carrier I was used to. She claimed she knew nothing.
A couple weeks later—I had a conversation with another new or substitute mail carrier in the neighborhood. His name was Ricky. Very pleasant and somewhat enthusiastic, he assured me that my letters ‘were in the system’. He explained about the huge sorting machine as big as a football field—“Fine” I thought. I can’t say I believed him. Not about the mail sorter as big as a football field—but that my hopelessly lost Valentine Cards were still in the system. 🤔 I thanked him for his time and he motored on to the next mail box.
Fast forward a couple more weeks . . . it was my younger sister’s birthday—and my youngest sons a few days after hers. Certainly my VD card experience had me a bit troubled and concerned. My sister’s envelope had a gift card inside. Would it make it to Portland safely? I decided NOT to include a check in my son’s card—I let the bank send it instead. I ended up mailing both with a tracking numbers—for a cool $9.85 each! You can imagine by this timestamp, the USPS is not on the top of my list of beloved government services. Actually, I’m not sure any of them are. It’s not the majority of dedicated employees—it’s the policies and politics that have filtered down to local services—or lack there of. I have my theories—but I digress. A simple first class stamp is not enough apparently to make sure an envelope reaches the destination. But, this tale gets even better . . . .
What’s the bigger story? A postal employee relayed a story to me on that fateful morning run to my local Florida Post Office. She claimed in a conversation that morning that there had been three gun-point robberies on individual mail carriers the day before. Each location in a part of town that that shouldn’t have happened. We all know there are neighborhoods that are unfortunately more unsafe than others. But this was in the full light of day and what we call or assume are the “good neighborhoods”.
The masked-gun-pointing thieves demanded the “arrow” key and the carrier’s cell phone. The cell phone—so the police couldn’t be called on a 911 number and the arrow or master key to access all locked mail boxes. She said that they had been doing something called “whitewashing checks” or changing the Pay to the Order of or dollar amounts. WTF?
I posted this new information online in a substack on 3-29-24 as a question shortly after this very insightful conversation about this growing problem. Which btw, has been apparently under-the-radar for sometime now throughout the United States. It is a huge nationwide problem.
Please note the following comments.
KJ’s comment: Last year in Castle Shannon, PA (suburb outside of Pittsburgh), thieves somehow removed the tops off the blue drive-thru mailboxes at about 2 a.m. located at the Castle Shannon post office.
Not an out of the way area either. Lots of traffic and a house right across the street.
Took forever for the local news to report the theft. Once people found out, they were scrambling to stop payment on checks and closing bank accounts.
The thieves wanted to “wash” the checks and use them again.
Now, I only deposit mail in the interior of the post office during normal working hours.
TPTB don’t want us to use cash or checks.
Digital currency to track us…and cut us off if we “misbehave.”
L.M. wrote this: Wow. I have not heard about arrow keys being stolen around here (Southern California), but I do know that the post offices in the area lock the outside drop boxes down, when it is after hours. There is a place to drop your mail inside, but it has some sort of thing on it to prevent people from stealing the mail.
And, E. M. added this: A friend who’s husband is an artist mailed 50 packages of calendars early this year. Post Office said they lost them all. When the Post Office was shown the receipt’s from the transaction they said so and refused to take any responsibility. What’s up guys?
I responded to E. M. with the following: “A couple of years ago–I mailed another package. Priority Mail—freshly baked banana bread from Ft. Lauderdale, FL to Carlsbad, CA. Two-to-Three days, right? That’s why we pay an upcharge for this Priority service offered by the USPS and their expedited delivery of 2-3 days. Sadly, the banana bread sat somewhere because the tracking number never seemed to move beyond the Miami locale timeline. (It probably sat in Opa-Locka for three weeks!) I’m not sure it was ever delivered. If it was–it was way too late and moldy. I checked with the office assistant to Dr. Todd. She never remembers receiving it! I know it’s political. Even the workers will tell you that it’s not the same Postal Service it was even several years back. I say, “pre-CV19”
I continued my reply to E.M. “I’m sorry about your friend’s calendars! A total waste!! And to add insult to injury the reply from the Post Office where I mailed the freshly baked banana bread: “It’s not guaranteed.” 😡 What a beautiful back-door out for NO RESPONSIBILITY!
Another addition to my Substack request for comments came from “A.J.” He responded with his own story: I had a mailed check fished out of a street blue box in late 2019. Was cashed the next day after being washed and a new amount written on it. If for under about $2K, banks don’t do any investigation. Neither does P.O. Banks just use their “insurance” and pass that cost to their customers. Most police depts. do no work either for check fraud unless rises to a big felony amount and is part of a long running racket. I did all the gum shoe detective work gathering bank documents and video data to find out where, when and how. A bank manager told me the problem was everywhere but worse in poor neighborhoods.
About one year ago, the blue box fishing around me escalated so badly in even “good” neighborhoods many local P.O.s put warning tape and notes “Don’t use!” on its outdoor blue boxes for after hours service. And I got snail mail notices from USPS not to use their outdoor blue boxes when post offices are closed.
If you mail a check at a P.O. do it inside, never use street blue boxes, and use a gel pen which is a bit harder for thieves to wash. And watch your monthly bank statements like a hawk. I have no doubt this bankers gross lack of care is to make us use their credit and debit cards more and for us to rack up wire fees and credit interests payments.
The lack of care of the USPO is shocking. So sorry to learn about these gunpoint attacks on postal carriers.
S.P.H. insightful thought to A.J.’s story and our group discussion added: And to think, the USPS is handling thousands of vote by mail ballots. There is no chain of custody, no tracking, no guarantee.
Another friend in Washington state said mail robbers in the city of Tacoma had finally been arrested after months looting mailboxes with the said “Arrow key”. So. It seems that this is truly a nation-wide issue, yet I haven’t heard or read anything. More Crickets.
Why “all of a sudden” do we have such drastic problems with the United States Postal Service? Is it to drive the fear and persuade us that digital is safer? (This is only the corrupt illusion for the Deep State players. And they are ALWAYS preaching and trying to convince us it’s for our safety!) Oh Please, don’t make me laugh! Our non-traceable paper contents inside our envelopes are essentially private Vs. a totally trackable electronic hack or trace by the controlling powers, that comes with its own backdoor portals and continuous electronic digital tracking system to be used for social credits, food buying, travel privileges and access to your bank and money? No, you say, that can’t happen? Ask Dr. Mercola or John Eastman or the Canadian Truckers! Heard about any data breaches lately AT&T ??? So.
Are thugs being compensated in some underhanded way or hired by the DS? I ponder J.K.’s comment “where nobody saw anything.” Why? Are we be being set up for more election fraud as S.P.H. suggests?
This from a long retired postal worker and family of postal employees from Western New York State: Right you are. I’ve been retired many years now and back in my time there were things going on that weren’t right, but got swept under the rug. Under the Biden presidency, crime of all sorts is running rampant and no one cares. I am a Trump supporter. In spite of his personal quirks and his having to deal with Biden’s Dems., he had our country on the right track. There is no oversight within the different branches of our gov’t. Whether you do business on the computer or through the mail or by phone, you are open to hacking and thievery. Welcome to the 21st century where nothing and no one is safe. With AI coming into our lives more as time goes by, our situations could become worse. Life is a gamble, as the saying goes.
“You know something is wrong when the government declares opening someone else’s mail is a felony
but your internet activity is fair game for data collecting.”
― E.A. Bucchianeri
These accounts are the some of the most recent hold-ups of lost, missing, & delayed mail. I’ve seen or heard nothing in the news. It happened to me personally as well as all these others. But there are just more crickets. I guess the mail is a lower priority than the chaos spinning around us all—all of the time these days. Or is it just more distraction—hoping we won’t notice? I have had more than one conversation with a Postal Employee. . . . but . . . the facts above certainly document a huge and growing problem that not only effects us all, but potentially has far reaching consequences that I see as the tip of a very dark iceberg.
Just be aware . . .
Cathrine Silver, HC, AADP, is a Shaman, Certified Holistic Health Counselor, and intuitive in private practice in Lauderdale by the Sea, Florida. She works collaboratively with clients on their desires regarding disease through a process called biological decoding. She writes about relationships, spirituality, and loss and help others through theirs. Suffering through her own loss in 2005, Cathrine motivates and empowers others to be the heroes in their own lives, becoming fully responsible for their own happiness, joy and well-being.
Cathrine holds a degree in Speech Communication from the University of Washington, is a graduate of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and holds certifications in Reiki, Matrix Energetics, Hypnosis, Biological Decoding and Grief Counseling and is a Shamanic practitioner. She is the author of the book, Riding the Light Beam: How Any Woman Can Find the Hero Inside.
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Filed under: 2024, America, Americans, Banks, Food for Thought, Lifestyle, Living our truth, Mail Delivery Problems, Self-Empowerment, Theft of US Mail, Uncategorized, US Mail | Tagged: Arrow Keys, Blue Boxes, Lost or stolen Mail, Mail hold-ups, Problems with Mail, Problems with US Mail Delivery, Theft of US Mail, USPS | 2 Comments »
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