When the federal agency charged with protecting your mail denies that mail theft is a crisis — despite mountains of data showing otherwise — something is deeply wrong.
In 2010, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) reported just 2,251 high-volume mail theft attacks . These attacks involved criminals stealing massive quantities of mail from blue collection boxes, neighborhood cluster box units, apartment panels, and postal delivery vehicles.
By 2023, that number had exploded to 49,156 — a staggering 2,083% increase. In a single month, more high-volume attacks were recorded than in entire years just a decade earlier.
Confronted with this surge in postal crime, USPIS had a choice: respond with urgency — or deny the crisis altogether. USPIS chose denial.
