Free Republic

A San Gabriel Valley woman pleaded guilty to defrauding over $150 million from the U.S. Postal Service. Lijuan “Angela” Chen, 51, of Walnut, carried out the scheme by using counterfeit postage to ship tens of millions of packages, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. From November 2019 to May 2023, Chen and her accomplice, Chuanhua “Hugh” Hu, 51, owned and operated a package shipping business in the City of Industry.

… Across the country, residents and businesses have been reporting widespread slowdowns in mail and package delivery by the U.S. Postal Service. The delays have become so persistent that members of Congress have gotten involved, urging the Postal Service to drastically correct course and raising concern about what impact the disruptions could have on mail-in ballots in the upcoming election. The delays appear to largely stem from a new system the Postal Service began rolling out last fall that will eventually funnel all the nation’s letters and packages through a consolidated network of 60 regional distribution centers — similar to...

Our 15-year-old son Noah is a baseball player. Baseball gear today can be quite expensive. A new (and sometimes even used!) quality bat or glove alone can easily cost several hundred dollars. For many years now, we’ve used Christmas and Noah’s birthday to provide him with a new bat or glove based on what he most wants or needs. If it’s not gift-giving time and Noah wants an expensive baseball item, he typically either waits or uses his own money (maybe with a little help from us) to purchase the item. If it’s the latter, Noah will often look for...

Several neighborhoods in San Francisco and Oakland had the most postal worker robberies in California in 2023, according to data from the U.S. Postal Service. According to the data analyzed by ABC7, about 61% of the 145 reported postal robberies across the state last year happened in the Bay Area. Robberies of postal carriers and drivers have increased across the country in recent years. Thieves, often armed with guns or other weapons, have stolen mail carriers’ master keys to gain access to large groups of mailboxes. The robberies have become an increasing concern since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic...

The description of postmarks types starts with an assumption that a postal marking has both a postmark and cancel. The postmark is assumed to be a medium size circular date stamp with san serif lettering.

A paid a visit to the local Post Office today. At the counter, I was told that the branch had no postage stamps available for purchase. None, nada, zero. How is this possible?

When it comes to mailing letters, many people do it by dropping their envelopes in the United States Postal Service's blue collection bins placed in neighborhoods across America. However, the USPS is now warning would-be mailers that those blue boxes might not be the safest option. In a press release, the Postal Service explained that unfortunately, the collection bins have become very attractive to thieves looking to steal identities or checks, especially at specific times and on specific days. The agency stated, "The biggest variable enticing these criminals to steal are customers depositing mail into blue collection boxes after the...

According to FOIA’d emails, on Monday, November 2, 2020, only one day before a critically important presidential election, Michigan’s Democrat Attorney General was busy investigating a claim by a USPS whistleblower who worked at the Detroit USPS distribution center. MI Democrat AG Dana Nessel FOIA’d emails obtained by independent investigator Yehuda Miller and shared on Twitter, reveal a postal worker, who asked to remain anonymous, first told MI Rep. Ellissa Slotkin’s office that “thousands of ballots are sitting in the main Detroit postal service distribution center (references their warehouse).” The whistleblower mentioned that “there are boxes and boxes of ballots...

UPS fell short of Wall Street revenue estimates Tuesday, reporting drops in shipping volume, both internationally and domestically, in its fourth-quarter earnings report. The company also announced 12,000 layoffs as part of an effort to align resources in 2024. The workforce reductions will save the company about $1 billion in costs, CEO Carol Tomé said on a company earnings call. “2023 was a unique, and quite candidly, difficult and disappointing year. We experienced declines in volume, revenue and operating profits and all three of our business segments,” Tomé said. Shares of the package giant dipped 8% in early trading.

In January of 2023, a Florida federal district Court restored the right to keep and bear arms on United States Postal Service (USPS) property. The court ruled a statute banning the possession of guns on USPS property, dating from 1972, was unconstitutional under the Second Amendment. Currently, the ruling only applies to the individual case in Florida. The USPS has issued a statement aimed at employees, stating the USPS policy has not changed. From the USPS: A recent Florida district court decision is being misreported or may be misinterpreted as holding that the Postal Service’s ban on carrying firearms —...

CHICAGO — Prosecutors say a Lakeview man was found carrying 97 pieces of mail, a counterfeit U.S. Postal Service master key, and other items when Chicago police stopped him for a warrant investigation. Imer Resumovic, 37, is currently on probation for burglarizing a Walgreens in the 3600 block of North Broadway two years ago. CPD officers spotted him less than 100 yards from that store around 11:30 p.m. on January 12 and recognized him as someone with an outstanding warrant, according to his arrest report. As the cops patted him down, they allegedly found a forgery of an “arrow key”...

In Florida, U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle has ruled that the federal law prohibiting people from possessing firearms inside post offices is unconstitutional. The ruling is based on the 2022 Supreme Court ruling New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen recognized a person’s right to carry a handgun in public for self-defense.The case concerned Emmanuel Ayala, a U.S. Postal Service truck driver, who had a concealed weapons permit and held a Smith & Wesson 9mm handgun in a fanny pack for self-defense. When police tried to stop him, he ran and struggled with officers. While dismissing the...

Afederal judge has declared that a law banning Americans from possessing guns in postal offices is unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle in Florida ruled Friday that a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling from 2022 made the postal office gun ban illegal. As part of the decision, she dismissed part of an indictment charging postal worker Emmanuel Ayala with illegally possessing a gun in a federal building. She said the criminal charge violated Ayala’s 2nd Amendment rights. [link to judge's opinion included in article]

The holiday season came and went, and it appears the U.S. Postal Service did a good job. Yes, there were some reports of letter carriers getting swamped with packages here and there. And, yes, there were citizen complaints about delivery delays and mail theft. But on the whole, the USPS delivered in late 2023. There was no systemic crack-up as there was in December of 2020, when bad weather, sick mail workers and other factors slowed holiday cards and gifts for days and even weeks.

Anyone else having problems receiving USPS packages, or UPS/FedEx items? During the past few weeks I have had several mailed/shipped items take bizarre turns in routing which has created delays in receiving. I guess watching shipments is front and center these days.

With mail theft and postal carrier robberies up, law enforcement officials have made more than 600 arrests since May in a crackdown launched to address crime that includes carriers being accosted at gunpoint for their antiquated universal keys, the Postal Service announced Wednesday. Criminals are both stealing mail and targeting carriers' so-called “arrow keys” to get access to mailboxes. “We will continue to turn up the pressure and put potential perpetrators on notice: If you’re attacking postal employees, if you steal the mail or commit other postal crimes, postal inspectors will bring you to justice,” Chief Postal Inspector Gary Barksdale...

Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz has introduced a bill to shut down the Internet Covert Operations Program, a domestic surveillance operation run by the law enforcement arm of the U.S. Postal Service... ...“The Postal Service should be focused on delivering the mail on time and on budget, not running a covert surveillance program to monitor political behavior on social media,” Gaetz said in a statement... ... “As the dangers of government surveillance and targeting become ever the more clear, especially to conservatives, Congress must immediately abolish this program,” the congressman said at the time ..

Democrats’ deceptive talking point that universal mail-in voting is completely “safe” and “secure” is collapsing as postal theft becomes rampant throughout the country. Within the last week alone, CBS News Chicago released several articles detailing a series of incidents involving mail theft and crime throughout the Windy City. On July 31, for instance, the outlet reported blue drop-off mailboxes in Frankfort and Orland Park “were cut open by thieves,” with local law enforcement advising residents to “monitor their financial accounts or credit profiles for fraudulent activity.” On the same day, CBS News Chicago revealed it obtained data from the U.S....

Tony Vaughn’s favorite part about delivering mail is also what opens him up to danger when he’s on the job. “We’re out in the community, we’re part of the community. We take pride and sometimes personal ownership of these routes. We see kids grow up, and meet neighbors. And the neighbors look out for us,” Vaughn said. Right now, they could really use people looking out for them. After serving as a carrier for almost 40 years, Vaughn is now the president of the National Association of Letter Carriers’ local branch. He’s worried for his colleagues. “Letter carriers are getting...

“Progressives” are angling to build an illegal supermajority on the Postal Service governing board, destroying what’s left of election integrity—but only if Senate Republicans let them. Restoration News was the first to report on the latest front in election integrity: The battle for control of the U.S. Postal Service. Now that conflict is heating up. In May, the American Postal Workers Union (APWU) launched a new offensive to seize control of the USPS Board of Governors with the goal of transforming the $81 billion organization into the world’s biggest mail-in ballot collector. APWU protesters gathered outside the board’s quarterly meeting...