USPS advises against dropping mail into mailboxes after collection time, as Bethesda mail thefts persist

Having failed so far to stop thefts of checks from mailboxes in Bethesda and Chevy Chase this year, the United States Postal Service has begun placing warning stickers on mailboxes in the area. The mailbox pictured above at the corner of Maple Ridge Road and Old Georgetown Road, just south of Congregation Beth El, sports one of the labels on its flap.

I have not heard directly of any thefts of mail from this particular mailbox so far, but the sticker reads, "For the security of your mail, avoid putting mail in the collection box after the last posted pick-up time." Pick-up time for this mailbox is early, 11:00 AM. 

The sticker bears the logo of the United States Postal Inspection Service, and a contact phone number where mailbox tampering can be reported: 1-877-876-2455. It adds, "If you see someone tampering with the collection box, notify the U.S. Postal Inspection Service."

While the advice seems a bit open-ended if taken literally - there's a whole 24 hour period between collection times that is technically after the last posted pick-up time - a common sense interpretation would be to drop in your mail as close to the collection time as possible. 

Unspoken on the sticker is the matter of how the envelopes are being retrieved from the mailboxes. What time you mail your check is irrelevant if the thief possesses the "arrow key" that opens all the mailboxes in the area, as was the case in some cities. Other thieves use old-fashioned "fishing" methods. USPS has a new mailbox model designed to foil such tactics, but it, too, failed to stop the mysterious thefts in a New Jersey pilot test.