U.S.P.S. warning users against sending checks through the mail

[TC Talks]

Lovejoy's brilliance at work...

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - There is a new warning from the U.S. Postal Service: Do not send checks through the mail.

Americans wrote 3.4 billion checks last year, according to the Federal Reserve, and many of them end up in the U.S. Postal Service to pay bills for one thing or another.

Now, the post office is warning its users: Do not put checks in the mail. Why? Because more of them are getting stolen than ever.

"Unfortunately, this is something that can happen," says Caitlin Driscoll of the better business bureau.

The Postal Service reports that complaints of mail theft doubled in 2021, and banks report that check fraud jumped to 680,000 reports last year, up from 300,000 the year before.

So, who is stealing these checks?

It's not entirely clear; it could be workers at postal distribution centers who recognize a check in an envelope or, perhaps more likely, thieves who fish envelopes out of mailboxes.

[Matt]

Uh, this has nothing to do with the postmaster general...

[TC Talks]

Uh, this has nothing to do with the postmaster general...

If employees are stealing mail it sure does... He greatly reduced the Postal investigation staff to almost a crippling amount.

[teetoppz28]

Who the hell stills sends checks in the mail? What service/person/organization doesn't have an option of electronic payments?!?!? Hell, I haven't purchased a stamp in probably a decade!

[audiophile]

Who the hell stills sends checks in the mail? What service/person/organization doesn't have an option of electronic payments?!?!? Hell, I haven't purchased a stamp in probably a decade!

Obviously, you never have run a business.

[Turkeytop]

Who the hell stills sends checks in the mail? What service/person/organization doesn't have an option of electronic payments?!?!? Hell, I haven't purchased a stamp in probably a decade!

My monthly pension from my Union comes from the US. It has always been directly deposited into my $US account at my bank here in Canada. Earlier this month I got a letter telling me their bank can no longer do direct deposits into a Canadian bank. I will now be getting a cheque in the mail each month.

[teetoppz28]

Who the hell stills sends checks in the mail? What service/person/organization doesn't have an option of electronic payments?!?!? Hell, I haven't purchased a stamp in probably a decade!

Obviously, you never have run a business.

WTF does never have run a business have to do with it? If you run a business and can't figure out electronic forms of payments, you're losing money on the overhead of paying by paper check, and should really reconsider if you're that business savvy...

So, what businesses still REQUIRE paper checks be mailed to them for payment of services? Even my sprinkler guy, who's pushing 90 now, has a Venmo account he uses for payment.

[tigerwings]

I have an insurance bill I mail quarterly.

If I were to set electronic withdraw, they charge $3 a month.

Toledo Water gives me $1 credit each month for paperless billing and electronic withdraw.

[TC Talks]

Who the hell stills sends checks in the mail? What service/person/organization doesn't have an option of electronic payments?!?!? Hell, I haven't purchased a stamp in probably a decade!

My monthly pension from my Union comes from the US. It has always been directly deposited into my $US account at my bank here in Canada. Earlier this month I got a letter telling me their bank can no longer do direct deposits into a Canadian bank. I will now be getting a cheque in the mail each month.

You'll have to convert the checks over to cheques.

[audiophile]

Who the hell stills sends checks in the mail? What service/person/organization doesn't have an option of electronic payments?!?!? Hell, I haven't purchased a stamp in probably a decade!

Obviously, you never have run a business.

WTF does never have run a business have to do with it? If you run a business and can't figure out electronic forms of payments, you're losing money on the overhead of paying by paper check, and should really reconsider if you're that business savvy...

So, what businesses still REQUIRE paper checks be mailed to them for payment of services? Even my sprinkler guy, who's pushing 90 now, has a Venmo account he uses for payment.

A paper check only costs pennies, postage is relatively minor, but where you will get killed is paying employees in the accounting department for having multiple non-reconciling systems. This is advantage of paper check, the system old but has multiple checks-and-balances and is simple for the sender.

You also catch problems, like and AC unit stuck on, or leaky toilet, because the bill goes up, with a computer minding the store, it won't catch it.

In the recent past, on electronic systems, it paid everyone multiple times. The software vendors just blame each other, and you get to clean up the mess. Nevermind that the FEES keep going up.

Plus as TT has pointed out, we give people jobs working in their mail rooms. I don't see that as a bad thing.

[Ben Zonia]

I recommend mailing checks at the post office when possible, or putting them out close to the pick up time if you mail them from home.

Like audiophile pointed out, many small businesses require mailing of checks.

It might be wise to use electronic payment whenever possible.

I don't like automatic withdrawal, because it often allows cable, satellite, and cellular services to sneakily increase fees, sometimes incrementally every month, like the lobster in the pot. You might not notice for a while.

[Ben Zonia]

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - There is a new warning from the U.S. Postal Service: Do not send checks through the mail.

Americans wrote 3.4 billion checks last year, according to the Federal Reserve, and many of them end up in the U.S. Postal Service to pay bills for one thing or another.

Now, the post office is warning its users: Do not put checks in the mail.

Almost sounds like a Babylon Bee satire.

[Matt]

I recommend mailing checks at the post office when possible, or putting them out close to the pick up time if you mail them from home.

Like audiophile pointed out, many small businesses require mailing of checks.

It might be wise to use electronic payment whenever possible.

I don't like automatic withdrawal, because it often allows cable, satellite, and cellular services to sneakily increase fees, sometimes incrementally every month, like the lobster in the pot. You might not notice for a while.

You'd have to be a pretty stupid trumptard to NOT watch your account daily...









Oh...

[bmw]

This is advantage of paper check, the system old but has multiple checks-and-balances...

I see what you did there.

[Ben Zonia]

Just found out that there was a Post Office outside mailbox that was broken into around Memorial Day. It is still out of service. Asked to comment, a citizen was told by a Postmaster that he couldn't comment. You might consider mailing inside 24 hour lobbies. Another security measure is to take them to the window, and ask them to hand stamp it and put it in their inside outgoing container.