Theft through the mail

This is a rant & warning.

Rant:

I live in an apartment building and it is one of the view who still gets mail delivery through a slot in the door. Today I received my mail while I was finishing up in the bathroom. A minute or two passed and I walked out (bathroom is right by front door), bent down to pick up the mail and as I was doing so one more envelope was put through the slot. I looked through the peep hole in our door and saw the mail lady quickly walking away. I picked up the envelope and it was a Christmas card from my grandparents that had been opened. It was cleanly opened as if the saliva had dried on the sticky part but you could see that a sticker that was used to seal it as well was forcefully peeled off. Inside was supposed to be a $200 giftcard. The mail lady was long gone in the minute or so it took me to realise what the mail piece was, who it was from and what was missing from it.

I've called Canada Post and they basically don't care. They claim it most likely just came open in sorting but the issue I have with that is how cleanly the envelope was opened. If it had been opened in the middle of its journey to me then the opened part of it would most definitely be folded, bent, and creased but it was as if it had just been opened.

So I called the police and they came out and did a report. Called Canada Post and confirmed with them about my complaint and confirmed with my grandparents what they had sent but at this point there isn't anything further they can do which I understand. The main reason I reported it to the police was because I know this isn't the first time whoever did it had done it and it won't be the last time either.

So please please PLEASE unless absolutely necessary do not send cash or giftcards through the mail. Send a e-transfer, a cheque or a money order, especially around holidays. Please also spread this warning to friends and family. I have always practiced not sending things like that through the mail but I know my family never listened in the past but I'm hoping now they will.

Unfortunately the giftcard cannot be cancelled or reported as stolen to Walmart because my grandmother is not sure which one she sent to me as she bought several in the same amount at the same time.

Wow. I just read through this. Thank you for sharing! I cant trust canada post now. I also had same experiences where i was expecting something in mail and was informed by my friend that it was sent and it never got to me. Same with a mail that i sent out through Canada Post, I sent it off and it never got sent to my friend! I asked my friend if they have received it and got a response that it was never received! :(

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Originally Posted by ladymonkey

Wow. I just read through this. Thank you for sharing! I cant trust canada post now. I also had same experiences where i was expecting something in mail and was informed by my friend that it was sent and it never got to me. Same with a mail that i sent out through Canada Post, I sent it off and it never got sent to my friend! I asked my friend if they have received it and got a response that it was never received! :(

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I've had a few trades go missing (I've done over 1000+) but only once was it with a high value GC. That person who I traded with now only does e-transfers, and I think it is much safer to do that way.

I was always neutral about CP and all the complaints I've seen but after today I was just absolutely disgusted. My super and I posted a notice around the building and she said that others have had issues with this specific mail lady and that she doesn't just deliver the mail but she hangs out in our laundry room as well for quite awhile every day. She also notified me that someone has tried during the day to break into the machines. This may not be realted whatsoever but we will soon know as there are going to be cameras installed in there.

My biggest thing was hoping that if it had happened to someone else in my building or in the area to report it so that it can be investigated. The police don't look too much into it if its only one occurance.

That's awful Purple! :( I mailed two to three gift cards in a padded envelope for Christmas this year. I decided to send it Xpress Post (includes tracking), and paid a little extra for insurance and a required signature. It cost more than regular mail. It's sad when others steal mail. I wonder if you're building will install more security cameras?

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Originally Posted by toban

That's awful Purple! :( I mailed two to three gift cards in a padded envelope for Christmas this year. I decided to send it Xpress Post (includes tracking), and paid a little extra for insurance and a required signature. It cost more than regular mail. It's sad when others steal mail. I wonder if you're building will install more security cameras?

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We already have several cameras but the one we most definitely need now is the laundry room which she said is just a matter of time before it is installed.

I just don't understand two things. 1. Why would you risk your job over $200? Although it is probably more as whoever has stolen from others too, but why risk it? 2. How could you steal from people over the holidays who may be counting on that money/giftcard in order to feed their family? To buy gifts for their kids? To make it through? You never know what its for.

The thought that comes to mind: whoever is stealing the cards is likely using the opportunity to get free things for self or friends without spending any of their own money.

Good thing you filed a report about the card loss as it was a high value card.

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Originally Posted by Ciel

The thought that comes to mind: whoever is stealing the cards is likely using the opportunity to get free things for self or friends without spending any of their own money.

Good thing you filed a report about the card loss as it was a high value card.

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Thats along the lines of what I was thinking. I'm unemployed. They work for CP. Who do you think needs the GC's more?!

PurpleBunny.....that is just awful! :rant: In this day and age, where there are cameras everywhere, you'd think that Canada Post would be able to secure their deliveries. This is a huge loss for you and your grandparents. So, so sorry that you don't get your Christmas present. Insert expletives.

Wow....That is just awfull and low...Some people...

That's rotten that both you and your Grandparents get screwed because of someone in that position. I sent out a GC to this month and never thought about someone in the system taking it. I just hope it gets there.

Disgusting! May Karma be with this evil thief!

Once I got my Credit Card and the PIN for the CC at the exact same time in 2 envelopes.

They are supposed to mail it at different times , 1 week apart atleast.

imagine if someone had got my CC and PIN at the same time.

You just had to call a 1-800 number for automatically activating the card.

As someone who has suffered several thefts by a CP letter carrier, I've been very reluctant to send anything of significant value through the mail. I'm so sorry this has happened to you. Hopefully, an investigation brings an answer. It did for me, but only after 2 neighbours reported theft as welll and the postal union quit covering for the thief. I am so shocked that this is still happening.

Wow. Is she your usual postie? I`d patiently wait for her the next time she pops by.

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Originally Posted by tjthemanto

Once I got my Credit Card and the PIN for the CC at the exact same time in 2 envelopes.

They are supposed to mail it at different times , 1 week apart atleast.

imagine if someone had got my CC and PIN at the same time.

You just had to call a 1-800 number for automatically activating the card.

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I've heard of this happening. Very scarey!

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Originally Posted by sueshe

As someone who has suffered several thefts by a CP letter carrier, I've been very reluctant to send anything of significant value through the mail. I'm so sorry this has happened to you. Hopefully, an investigation brings an answer. It did for me, but only after 2 neighbours reported theft as welll and the postal union quit covering for the thief. I am so shocked that this is still happening.

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Yeah see thats my problem, unless someone else reports a similar issue to CP and/or the police there isn't anything anyone will do about it.

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Originally Posted by Candini

Wow. Is she your usual postie? I`d patiently wait for her the next time she pops by.

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She is our usual. DH and I thought the exact same thing, the only issue is that then she might get vindictive and other regular lettermail might not show up.

Hopefully if it is your mail lady doing this that she gets caught soon. Sorry to hear about your GC loss.

That is sad. Having worked as a courier for several years I know I had to pay to be finger printed with an extensive background check because it's federal. They do their best to keep things secure. Seeing people get fired over the years, you would be surprised at the stupid things people do and risk their job. Theft was something the union would not back people on. I have not received an raok that was sent from someone on sc as well as my sample source package and other samples. Who knows what else. They do watch and if that person gets caught they will be out the door. Crazy as it is my background check to do psw work was a joke compared to handling parcels. I guess mail is more important than our sick, elderly and children.

wow, PB that was not only aggravating for you and despicable of her if it is in fact her stealing things from the mail. Thinking if only your Gramma had written the number of the card down somewhere to either track or cancel it, then you'd have more proof or answers. I know the frustration of repeatedly asking my mother for years to stop placing cash in the kids b'day cards, but she never listened. I sure hope other tenants band together with you and get to the bottom of this activity.

This is awful, especially this time of the year! it is great that you reported it, hopefully if it is your mail woman and she tries this on someone else they will take the time to report opened mail as well, so that then CP might realize there is a common denominator. Canada post is supposed to put opened mail in a plastic bag or something if they notice the letter has been opened aren't they?

I had something similar but different happen with Canada Post before. My brother collects guns and loves to go shooting, which is a pretty expensive hobby but he loves it. He orders a lot of guns from across Canada and usually he has to fill out a ton of paperwork to transfer the guns and receive them (often times it takes weeks for guns to arrive since he is waiting on paperwork, etc). Well we weren't home one day when one of his expensive guns/gun parts (I believe it was worth $800) was supposed to be delivered to the house so they left one of those pieces of paper for us to go down and pick up the parcel at the post office the next day. Which was fine since we were used to this. But when he went down to pick up the parcel they told him that they accidentally gave his parcel to someone else. If this was any other parcel it wouldn't have been as worrying, but when it is a gun that you had to fill out a ton of paperwork for it is pretty scary knowing someone just took it home with them. The post office ended up calling up the person they accidentally gave it to and after a couple hours they got it back from that person. But I really have no idea why this person took what was clearly a gun addressed to someone else home with them, and they didn't open the box (thank god) so they probably were well aware that it was not actually their package to open.

There is definitely something wrong with Canada Post if a situation like that can happen. The last time I went into Canada post to get postage on an envelope for an MIR the woman tried charging me $4.00 for a stamp, the same one who accidentally gave my brother's parcel away to someone else. It took me forever to explain to her that she screwed up on the stamp thing and I had to argue with her until she finally realized she rang in the stamp 4 times.

TL;DR: I hate Canada Post.

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Originally Posted by walkonby

wow, PB that was not only aggravating for you and despicable of her if it is in fact her stealing things from the mail. Thinking if only your Gramma had written the number of the card down somewhere to either track or cancel it, then you'd have more proof or answers. I know the frustration of repeatedly asking my mother for years to stop placing cash in the kids b'day cards, but she never listened. I sure hope other tenants band together with you and get to the bottom of this activity.

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I felt so bad when it happened because I didn't want to point blame (even though everyone I explain it to except CP and Police agree with me that I'm probably right in my assumption) and I know that a lot of letter carriers are very hard workers like someone I knew ;) But it was just so low and shocking.

But thats with any job right? One employee is an idiot and doesn't act professional for the company and suddenly everyone who works there is associated with the one or few idiots.

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Originally Posted by jamesfranco

This is awful, especially this time of the year! it is great that you reported it, hopefully if it is your mail woman and she tries this on someone else they will take the time to report opened mail as well, so that then CP might realize there is a common denominator. Canada post is supposed to put opened mail in a plastic bag or something if they notice the letter has been opened aren't they?

I had something similar but different happen with Canada Post before. My brother collects guns and loves to go shooting, which is a pretty expensive hobby but he loves it. He orders a lot of guns from across Canada and usually he has to fill out a ton of paperwork to transfer the guns and receive them (often times it takes weeks for guns to arrive since he is waiting on paperwork, etc). Well we weren't home one day when one of his expensive guns/gun parts (I believe it was worth $800) was supposed to be delivered to the house so they left one of those pieces of paper for us to go down and pick up the parcel at the post office the next day. Which was fine since we were used to this. But when he went down to pick up the parcel they told him that they accidentally gave his parcel to someone else. If this was any other parcel it wouldn't have been as worrying, but when it is a gun that you had to fill out a ton of paperwork for it is pretty scary knowing someone just took it home with them. The post office ended up calling up the person they accidentally gave it to and after a couple hours they got it back from that person. But I really have no idea why this person took what was clearly a gun addressed to someone else home with them, and they didn't open the box (thank god) so they probably were well aware that it was not actually their package to open.

There is definitely something wrong with Canada Post if a situation like that can happen. The last time I went into Canada post to get postage on an envelope for an MIR the woman tried charging me $4.00 for a stamp, the same one who accidentally gave my brother's parcel away to someone else. It took me forever to explain to her that she screwed up on the stamp thing and I had to argue with her until she finally realized she rang in the stamp 4 times.

TL;DR: I hate Canada Post.

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That's what I thought happened with open mail, especially if the envelope looked like it was torn and had been wet or through some similar chewed state.

The gun parcel delivered to the wrong person-that's quite serious. If some of Ontario's ministries can have mailing envelopes boldfaced with text that contents are for addressee only and not to be forwarded, shouldn't gun sellers get a similar label for their parcels/mailers of products they sell to someone else?

If by chance, your grandma kept the receipts..she can ask the other recipients for the #s on theirs.. the # can be tracked via the company it is for..they can tell where the card is used. When SDM sold me 3 cards that had zero balance when I went to use them.. they were able to see which store and time they were used. The stores have cameras that show who used them. Its not impossible to find out. It just takes time and persistence.

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Originally Posted by PurpleBunny89

I've heard of this happening. Very scarey!



Yeah see thats my problem, unless someone else reports a similar issue to CP and/or the police there isn't anything anyone will do about it.



She is our usual. DH and I thought the exact same thing, the only issue is that then she might get vindictive and other regular lettermail might not show up.

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Maybe try a different approach. Wait for the mail lady and ask for her help (almost like you are in panic mode, not sure what to do, sad, upset, etc. Oh I am so glad I caught you today, kind of thing, I don't know what to do. Let her know that somewhere along the lines your envelope from your grandma with the much needed GC came open in the mail and you are really hoping the somehow it happened to be in the bottom of her bag at the end of her route and she didn't know who it belonged to.

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Originally Posted by momgoneawol

Maybe try a different approach. Wait for the mail lady and ask for her help (almost like you are in panic mode, not sure what to do, sad, upset, etc. Oh I am so glad I caught you today, kind of thing, I don't know what to do. Let her know that somewhere along the lines your envelope from your grandma with the much needed GC came open in the mail and you are really hoping the somehow it happened to be in the bottom of her bag at the end of her route and she didn't know who it belonged to.

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Love this idea, I will do it on Monday if I can catch her. Its hard to act though when there is a more than likely chance she took it in the first place.

Give it a try, nothing more to lose really. Depending on the mail lady's reactions to you asking about the card, You can always throw into the conversation that if walmart does recover the lost card they could track it to who purchased it, or that you can use the card number your grandma wrote down before she mailed it to see where it ends up and who uses it fraudulently. Best of luck, keep us updated.

I'm dying to know, did you catch up to the mail lady?

Good luck PurpleBunny89!!!!

Sorry guys for not updating.

We didn't get mail delivery for almost a week of actually delivery days. Very odd especially since there were a lot of items expected to arrive. Other things have gone missing since like websaver coupons. I know they are missing because they were ordered the same day for both my mother and I and she got hers long ago.

I didn't confront the mail lady about it because it took so long to actually get mail delivery again and by the time we did I wasn't home the first few times and after awhile it just seemed to far gone to play dumb and ask her if she knew anything about it.

Good news is though that we managed to get the card number for the Walmart one and eliminate the PC card to two possibilities (My sister lost hers so we don't know what her number was). My grandmother was the one handling the "cancellation" but she is old and not of the wisest mind and thinks that going into a store and speaking to a teenager at customer service will solve the problem. No one ever got back to her regards to cancelling the cards despite her giving all the info. Its frusterating from my point but she is one of those who is stuck in her ways that no matter what is the right way to do things.

As well the original envelope was mailed off to a CP "investigator" as well as the receipts from the purchase of the cards and a million questions answered in regards to the whole situation. CP claims they are looking into it. I have not heard back since they requested for me to mail the envelope to them.

OH and of course right after I told everyone in my family to NOT send GC's/cash in the mail my MIL goes ahead and sends it a week later. Both cash and a GC. Made me smack my head.

I would still approach her and if mail goes missing afterwards go back to CP and tell them what happened.