Robberies of letter carriers happen so often that some have been attacked during their first week on the job.
The crime wave against letter carriers has been a growing problem for over a year — with robberies tripling in the last three years.
Elise Foster, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers branch in Chicago, said the U.S. Postal Service hasn’t done enough to address it.
“Unfortunately, some of the carriers experienced this Day 3, Day 4 on the job,” she said Monday from her union’s headquarters in Bronzeville.
Criminals target letter carriers for their master keys that unlock mailboxes throughout a ZIP code. With those keys, they can steal mail, allowing them to wash and rewrite checks, or sell the keys to other criminals.