When it comes to protecting your private information, experts say it’s safer to bring your outgoing mail to the post office rather than mailing from home.
Choosing the right envelope or packaging material could make a difference in protecting your identity.
Lightly constructed envelopes can easily be read-through or damaged when mailing from home.
Hailey Granger, manager at a local UPS Store, says, “Anytime you have a package delivered to a location in which there’s a person responsible for it, overseeing the package from the time that it’s delivered to the time that it’s put into the hands of its responsible owner.””
According to postal service, the mail is still a very safe way to send packages.
United States Postal Inspector, Kendall McDaniel, says, “If you are worried about it, you can either hand your package directly to your letter carrier, take it to the post office, either hand it over the counter, or put it into the little receptacle at the post office.”
“This would be an example of a package that’s not sufficiently packaged,” Granger explains. “Again someone tried to reuse an Amazon box which is great except for the fact that the integrity of this box has been shot… there’s no packaging on the inside of this so any other box that may knock up against it it’s going to cost this box to compress whereas we have a box here– the integrity of the walls of this box are intact and it’s full on the inside.”
Granger adds, “This might also be an example of something that’s not properly packaged… it appears to be a grocery bag just wrapped up in some clothing.”
When mailing, you should use checks or money orders because they can be traced back to the bank if cashed.
McDaniel says, “Just make sure you’re using a thick enough envelope that people can’t see there’s a check in there. If you want to use a padded envelope that’s always a good idea it’s not 100% necessary… mainly just make sure they cannot see through the envelope… they cannot see that there’s a check or cash in there.”
If you are concerned about your home mailboxes getting broken into, call your local post office for details on getting a locked mailbox.