Mail theft

Somebody gained access to our community mailboxes. A police report has been filed and we are reaching out to USPS. What are some cost effective deterrents?

How did they gain access? Steal a key? Break into the box? Before you select deterrents, you need to know what it is you're deterring.

Frankly, the most effective deterrent to mail theft has been the move to electronic mail, electronic banking, etc. No more raiding physical boxes to steal social security checks every month. If someone raids my physical mail box, they'll get a bunch of junk mail and an occasional birthday card. Removing the incentive for doing something is best deterrent you can have.

So the association should follow suit to the extent possible. I think that using my bank's bill pay system to pay assessments is the greatest thing since sliced bread - I don't forget, nothing gets lost in the mail, the amount is always correct (as long as I remember to update my bank's setup when the assessment amount changes), etc. Thanks to the pandemic, many states have seen the benefit of allowing associations to conduct business electronically. Check the most current version of your state's laws to see what they say, and then go electronic for the money handling functions at least.

RM9,
The best defense is to make sure the area is very well lite at night. We have not had any problem in Central Texas, but we install Solar lights at all 9 of our Cluster mailbox locations. If I remember correctly, it was less than 1,000 per location. It really makes a difference and makes getting your mail in the evening much safer and our owners very happy.

Cathy,
As someone who lived in Ca. for many years and reads the weekly paper in my last hometown this is a major thing in Ca. Every week when I read the Crime Blog I will see at least 10 mailbox break-ins. I am sure this has a lot to do with all of the State Assistance checks and WIC debit cards that the State of California mails out. They also have Federal debit cards that get mailed at certain times of the months. Bad guys know the schedule of the mailers and have no problem breaking into the mail. Crime is not scary because no one gets punished anymore.

Oddly enough, this popped up on my news feed:

West Sacramento community take stand to prevent thieves targeting their mail

Comment: since this involves a neighborhood watch program, I would be concerned about the dangers of a physical confrontation.

solar powered security cameras are $100 to $200, not $25K
installing apole for them to be placed on is maybe $300 to $1000 more depending on location.

if the key can be so easily duplicated, why not install a mini gate with lock around it.

Deterrents will depend on what type of boxes you have, how they're situated, and how access was gained.

We had 7 10-year-old cluster boxes located throughout our neighborhood. Each is near a street light. Street trees are kept trimmed so they don't block the light or lines of sight to the mailboxes.

Last year 2 of our mailboxes were broken into with some sort of pry bar in the outgoing mail slot.

Police were notified (no result that I'm aware of).

I spoke with our mail carrier, who said that the master lock is the responsibility of USPS but the rest of the box is the responsibility of the HOA. Since the master lock had been damaged, USPS sent their handyman out to replace the master locks. However, they strongly recommended that we upgrade to newer boxes because the newer ones don't have the same vulnerabilities as the old ones.

Then we filed an insurance claim and we received the entire replacement cost of both boxes, minus the deductible.

We replaced both boxes with the product that the vendor recommended by USPS suggested. We haven't had any problems since.

In our neighborhood, many homes have security systems/cameras, so several of our mailboxes are under surveillance by homeowners. This is very cost effective for the HOA (free). Having the surveillance may deter vandalism (especially if it is obvious or declared), but in my experience it does nothing to help catch the criminals because the police don't want to look at the footage.

I don't know whether Neighborhood Watch signs are an effective deterrent. We have those at all the entrances to our community, but we don't have an official Neighborhood Watch.

I think the biggest thing we have going for us is a very active community, often around the clock. We are a very diverse place, so we have older folks that sit on their porches all day, we have young people getting home really late, we have people walking their dogs really late or early, etc.--and everyone looks out for each other.