Postal workers are providing false delivery scans on packages, according to the
Washington Post. In an article on Thursday, the newspaper wrote, "across the country, postal workers mark packages still sitting in the post office as "delivered":
"Postal workers said in interviews that they have been pressured by their bosses to perform false scans increasingly over the past six months so that late packages appear to have been delivered - or are delayed because of issues at the delivery address - to ensure they don't count against the agency's delivery statistics."
The issue is gravely concerning to online sellers.
The next day, the
Wall Street Journal wrote about another issue of concern to sellers in an article titled, "U.S. Postal Service Benches Its Police Officers Before Election."
"The agency's unilateral order ended daily patrols meant to prevent robberies of blue collection boxes and mail vehicles, and has left letter carriers without escorts on unsafe routes in some of the nation's biggest cities, according to interviews with police officers and union representatives opposed to the change and a copy of the directive, titled "Postal Police Utilization," reviewed by The Wall Street Journal."
That change comes as reports of mail theft have skyrocketed, according to a recent
NBC News report. It cited Postal Inspection Service data showing mail theft reports soared by 600% over the past three years, from about 25,000 in 2017 to roughly 177,000 through Aug. 24 of this year.
However, the Postal Inspection Service also called its own data unreliable, telling NBC the numbers included "a significant number of reported customer complaints unrelated to mail theft, such as mailbox vandalism, mail delivery issues, and matters unrelated to the mail or Postal Service."
Less protection of packages as reports of mail theft grows, along with reports of fake delivery scans, add to sellers' postal concerns.
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Reports of False Postal Delivery Scans Worry Sellers