WEST SEATTLE CRIME WATCH: Mailbox break-in

| Crime | West Seattle news

One reader report received today, from Christopher:

I wanted to report some mail theft that occurred sometime around midday Monday 1/22. I live in a townhouse at the corner of Delridge Way SW and SW Edmunds Street; we have a joint, locking mailbox for our four units. We found that our mailbox has been pried open and our mail stolen. We have reported this to Seattle police department and the USPS Inspector General. I’m hoping to get this out to see if anyone else had their mail stolen as well, and encourage them to report it.

You can report mail theft to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service here.

West Seattle Mad Sci Guy January 24, 2024 (10:52 pm)

Regular mail size boxes. What value do they usually contain these days. 90% of my modern mail is junk. Package size lockers I get the appeal of breaking into. Mailboxes? You might get an Xfinity offer and some fliers.

liloki January 24, 2024 (11:47 pm)

right? The culprits are probably getting the same QFC deals the rest of us are. the length of effort is confusing lol
miws January 24, 2024 (11:57 pm)

WSMSG, Mail pieces with enough personal info to help people in committing identity theft. —Mike
JN January 25, 2024 (12:00 am)

W2’s & other tax documents, king county property assessment, documents, law/court docs, vehicle tabs, vehicle registration, tickets & tolls, voting docs…sure you can get emails/paperless, but some stuff that’s sensitive still goes through registered mail and could potentially have info to use towards identity theft.

JN January 25, 2024 (12:09 am)

https://www.usps.com/manage/informed-delivery.htmSign up for the usps free notifications. You get a daily am email that shows scans of the mail you’ll be getting that day. Good thing to have if your mailbox gets broken into, so you at least know what was taken.

Kt January 25, 2024 (5:19 am)

Thanks for sharing this. We signed up during the pandemic and it is nice to get an email every day letting you know what is coming in the mail.
Anne January 25, 2024 (7:26 am)

Thank you for posting that link. We’ve had USPS Informed Delivery for several years now-so helpful to know (see photos of) what mail should be coming daily. Easy to report it if it doesn’t arrive.
lakeunion January 25, 2024 (12:32 pm)

Informed Delivery is an EXCELLENT USPS service AND it is FREE ! For this service I will accept the latest 1st class mail rate increase .

Rico January 25, 2024 (8:35 am)

I live in Arbor Heights. Mail box theft is almost a daily thing for boxes that are not locked. I opened a PO box years ago for most things.

hman January 25, 2024 (12:14 pm)

Is anyone getting a error from USPS that the informed delivery service is not available in your area? I’m on California Ave sw. Thanks,

WSR January 25, 2024 (12:50 pm)

I just wanted to tag on here that my father-in-law had a high-dollar outgoing personal check (a bday gift) that was inside the blue USPS mailbox when it was stolen from the Alaska junction post office this past Thanksgiving. After the theft, the check itself was not cashed, and he didn’t think too much of it after putting a stop payment on the check. However, about a month later, money started coming out of his various bank accounts from fraudulent sources traced back to the stolen birthday check. It has been an absolute nightmare and will likely haunt him for quite sone time. In short, mail thieves know what they’re doing, and are playing a long game with stolen mail.

Seattlite January 25, 2024 (4:54 pm)

WSR…You are spot on with your comment. This is tax season and everyone needs to be cautious. These thieves are also stealing info off of sites where credit cards are used. I was a victim of credit card theft. However, my story ended well. My bank was a tremendous help to me.