Armed robberies of mail carriers, involving stolen mail and master mail keys, have cost customers hundreds of thousands of dollars. The growing problem was first highlighted in 2022.
KPRC Investigative reporter Amy Davis has repeatedly asked the U.S. Postal Service what it is doing to protect mail. Now, a new federal audit finally provides some answers.
The audit from the U.S. Postal Service Office of the Inspector General is 37 pages long, focusing on mail theft specifically in Houston and what the Postal Service is doing to stop it.
The short answer: local postal workers and managers aren’t doing much.
The Office of Inspector General (OIG) looked at the number of mail theft complaints in high-crime ZIP codes to determine which post offices to include in this audit.
These three Houston post offices were put to the test.
- Beechnut Post Office near South Kirkwood
- Debra Sue Schatz Post Office on Rogerdale Road
- T.W. House Post Office on West 19th Street
Key findings: Stolen arrow keys continue to be a problem
Davis noted that thieves are robbing mail carriers to obtain universal arrow keys, which can open every locked mailbox in an entire ZIP code.
The new electronic locks are supposed to replace these keys, but Albergo pointed out that there are 9 million of these arrow key locks, while the Postal Service has only committed to rolling out 49,000 electronic locks. That’s just 1%, and postal employees can’t even keep track of and properly install them.
Missing Mail Keys
- Total Missing Keys: The audit identified a total of 35 arrow keys that were reported as lost across three stations.
- Beechnut Station: 9 keys lost, with 8 not reported to the Postal Inspection Service (PIS) and 1 key not reported as recovered.
- Debora Sue Schatz Station: 1 key lost, which was not reported to the PIS.
- T W House Station: 25 keys lost, with 9 not reported to the PIS and 7 not reported as recovered.
- Reporting Delays: Management took between 8 and 201 days to report lost keys to the PIS. For example, at T W House Station, 9 of the 25 (36%) arrow keys listed as lost were not reported within the required 24 hours of the incident.
- Key Accountability Issues: There were additional issues with key accountability:
- Four damaged keys were sent back to the National Material Customer Service (NMCS) but not via Registered Mail, as required by policy.
- Seven additional arrow keys could not be verified in the RADAR system due to faded serial numbers, making it impossible to account for them.
New electronic arrow locks meant to help, not being installed
Related: Mail thieves caught on camera again
Postal management reported they had installed new electronic arrow locks and high-security collection boxes that were shipped to them in 2023 and 2024.
However, when OIG investigators showed up, they found about 20% of the locks still sitting in boxes, not even installed.
Three of the 21 high-security collection boxes were never installed. These are the new high-tech tools that are supposed to help crack down on the mail theft problem.
Postal Police Officers Association National President Frank Albergo expressed frustration over the findings.
“Unless you roll it out properly, it’s not going to work. And clearly, it’s not being rolled out properly,” Albergo said.
He further questioned accountability, stating, “So why isn’t the postal inspection service held accountable? Why isn’t the postal service held accountable? What is Congress doing? I mean, it’s really a disaster.”
KPRC 2 Investigates is also digging into what the report found about cluster mailboxes. You can check out the full report here.
