U.S. Postal Service warns users against sending checks through the mail
- Thread starter hpman66
- Start date
Apparently it is the postal service in Pitttsburg that is warning 'us' of this. At least that's what I got from the link.... nowwho actually issued the warning must be buried way too far down for me to take the time to discover.
In 1983, I swore an oath to protect the sanctity of the mail and 40 years later, look what it's come to. GEEZ.
trebor44
Blackhawk
- Joined
- Dec 18, 2012
- Messages
- 912
- City & State/Province
- Idaho, East of Boisemento, or is it Boisangelos
And how many "news stories" have been done on TV in the past decades, showing or describing the check washing process so that the criminal bent folks get better educated. USPS recruits it's management material from the under the rocks!
ronto
Hunter
I'm not worried about it.
It is a "Red Herring" "Warning" to further Biden's plot to do away with using currency and get people used to using the electronic debit from their bank account. Once you have done that, the sanctity and security of your bank accounts are null and void. By allowing an individual business or person access to your bank account they have the power to clean out your balance. GEICO did this to my middle son one month when he was unemployed, he had no money to buy food or pay his other bills. (MOM and DAD found out (6'-2" and had lost weight down to about 110 pounds) and interceded with an infusion into his bank account. His mother's name was also on his account at that time.) When he contacted GEICO pointing what they had done, GEICO responded "essentially, "Tough sheet" we are not refunding the excess.
What do you mean by "excess"?
xtratoy
Hunter
contender
Ruger Guru
I agree with Sam,, it's another way to try & force us to go "electronic."
I mail checks.
I put them in a folded piece of paper, letter type, usually with a note to the receiver. I also tape the envelope, and drop it in my local post office directly.
I also do not keep too much money in that account to prevent excessive loss IF,, IF,, it were compromised. Always enough to cover my checks, and a little reserve.
Miss Penny has had her "electronic" methods of payment hacked twice. Luckily, she watches it closely, and used a CC, to where she was able to stop things & get a refund. Still a hassle.
Due to thieves NOT getting busted HARD,, doing SERIOUS jail time as a deterrent, they have found that scamming, check washing, fraud etc,, is easy to get away with things.
If the "system" would actually work, like it used to, we'd have a whole lot less problems.
I mail checks.
I put them in a folded piece of paper, letter type, usually with a note to the receiver. I also tape the envelope, and drop it in my local post office directly.
I also do not keep too much money in that account to prevent excessive loss IF,, IF,, it were compromised. Always enough to cover my checks, and a little reserve.
Miss Penny has had her "electronic" methods of payment hacked twice. Luckily, she watches it closely, and used a CC, to where she was able to stop things & get a refund. Still a hassle.
Due to thieves NOT getting busted HARD,, doing SERIOUS jail time as a deterrent, they have found that scamming, check washing, fraud etc,, is easy to get away with things.
If the "system" would actually work, like it used to, we'd have a whole lot less problems.
I haven't read the link but our local postal service has been pretty bad with lost and mis-delivered mail.
I've been working to switch every possible thing in my business and personal stuff to electronic payments.
Yes I know they can also be compromised but feel my odds are still a lot better there than with the post office.
We've only got a few vendors that can't be paid electronically now.
Major suppliers all get paid by EFTs, smaller by company credit card which then gets paid by EFT.
I've been working to switch every possible thing in my business and personal stuff to electronic payments.
Yes I know they can also be compromised but feel my odds are still a lot better there than with the post office.
We've only got a few vendors that can't be paid electronically now.
Major suppliers all get paid by EFTs, smaller by company credit card which then gets paid by EFT.
Our local post office has two large, I'd call the double sized drive through drop boxes.
Both labeled as 5:00 PM pickup or emptied. If I have stuff to mail I do it after work usually
go by there around 7-8PM. More than 50% of the time they are both so full the mail is
literally starting to fall out of the slot you drop it in.
Then it's park and go inside and toss it through a slot in the wall where for all I know
it lands in a big pile on the floor.
There's another smaller PO about 5 miles out of my travel direction and I'd guess
it to have the problem maybe 10-20% of the time.
Both labeled as 5:00 PM pickup or emptied. If I have stuff to mail I do it after work usually
go by there around 7-8PM. More than 50% of the time they are both so full the mail is
literally starting to fall out of the slot you drop it in.
Then it's park and go inside and toss it through a slot in the wall where for all I know
it lands in a big pile on the floor.
There's another smaller PO about 5 miles out of my travel direction and I'd guess
it to have the problem maybe 10-20% of the time.
DGW1949
Hawkeye
I read the link. It reads like a bunch of BS to me....Sorry guys, ya'll are welcome to use all of the electronic digit-swapping you want but in the mean time, I'll keep paying my bills by check just like I've done for over 50 years. In all that time, I can't recall a single mishap.....And BTW, I carry cash too. If everyone did that, retailers could drop prices by 3% or so on every 'face to face' transaction that's made.....Works for me.
DGW
DGW
I retired from the postal service in 2002 when I turned 55. I had 35 years, 4 months service which included my 4 years in the army before that which they gave me credit for. I retired on civil service. I was mostly a window clerk and remember selling first class stamps for 6 cents each back then. Boy have times changed. At any rate I mail my daughter, her husband, my granddaughter and her husband birthday cards every year with a new 100 dollar bill in them. Been doing it for years and never had one lost or stolen. Guess I just been lucky.
Your extremely lucky because we had to stop that here where I'm at almost 30 years ago because the kids would get the card, but without the money.
Bob Wright
Hawkeye
Ihave had one creditor, Exxon/Mobil, advise me not to mail checks to them for payment. And AT&T has told me that it is not a good way to pay my bills.
As to check washing, note that gel ink will not be washed off the document. I decided to destroy some some documents by soaking them in bleach water in the kitchen sink. I eft them in that bath for maybe an hour. At the end of that time, the only thing left on the documents was notes I had written using gel ink. Even psinted logos had been removed.
Bob Wright
As to check washing, note that gel ink will not be washed off the document. I decided to destroy some some documents by soaking them in bleach water in the kitchen sink. I eft them in that bath for maybe an hour. At the end of that time, the only thing left on the documents was notes I had written using gel ink. Even psinted logos had been removed.
Bob Wright
- Joined
- Apr 3, 2012
- Messages
- 10,870
It happened to my brother in law. He mailed his bills. Someone washed the checks and re wrote them.
I can’t believe they can’t go to whoever cashed the checks and figure out who passed them. Then prosecute to the fullest extent. I guess that’s not how it works now.
I can’t believe they can’t go to whoever cashed the checks and figure out who passed them. Then prosecute to the fullest extent. I guess that’s not how it works now.
wxl1
Bearcat
I am an oldie and I still write checks. I am less worried about theft of checks in the mail than all the people who bank by smart phone. How do they handle my check after they scanned and deposited check? Do they shred (I doubt they take the effort) or wad and toss in the trash?
- Joined
- Apr 3, 2012
- Messages
- 10,870
I don’t think the bank will cash the same check twice.
A lot of Theft crime is on the rise. When the AG's make it known that they won't even investigate or prosecute thefts of less than a given amount ( In Chicago it was $500 but may be higher now) they are telling the thieves to go right ahead, just be careful to steal , shoplift a lot of smaller amounts. There are a lot of businesses that are closing since they can't keep eating the losses. If they won't bother to stop or prosecute Check theft they shouldn't be surprised when it escalates.
RSIno1
Hunter
They don't want the system to work. There is no graft and corruption in enforcement of existing laws. The politicians justify their existence and make their money writing or shelving new rules and laws. Our Federal government needs no laws beyond what if in the US Constitution and Bill of Rights. Anything else is only to line their own pockets. The ONLY thing they should collect taxes for is the defense of our borders. State citizens should be the ones who set all the petty little laws and create the state they want to live in.
Dach Savage
Bearcat
I do the same but I use USPS Postal Money orders and I fill them out fully in ink. Dach.
I do a lot of electric banking and pay a number of bills this way but still like to sit down and write a check ...(originally I wrote 'right' for that) . put it in an envelope, sometimes with a cover letter and tape it shut and drop it off at the post office. Never had a problem with this.... I've actually only had a problem with sending money... cash or check via priority mail... twice it took the post office close to a month to deliver this.
I am a little past 86 years old and have been paying my bills with checks, through the USPS, since I was first married at 20 years old. Never lost a check in all that time.
jbenedetto2
Single-Sixer
Been using the UniBall Gel pen for years.
And you actually typed that.....boy are you screwed now.
Bob Wright
Hawkeye
What was that old John Wayne movie, with Harry Carey. where the girl asked him what a check was?
"Well, its sort of like a letter to my bank, I tell them to give a certain amount of money from my account........."
Checks came into vogue right after so many stores quit taking chickens, eggs, or butter as payment.
Bob Wright
- Joined
- Apr 3, 2012
- Messages
- 10,870
I ordered gel pens for the few checks I still write. They also said to bring your mail to the post office. Apparently arrow keys have been stolen from letter carriers. So the blue box on the corner is no longer secure.
My mail is delivered and picked up from my mailbox at the street near the entrance to my long driveway which is several hundred yards from my house. I used to put outgoing mail in the mailbox and put the flag up to alert the carrier to pick up. About 5 years ago a thief drove down the street before carrier arrived, saw the flag, removed the outgoing envelopes with paid bills with checks. Thief then used the routing number and account number on my checks to send an e-check for several thousand dollars to thief's prepaid debit card. I did not discover theft until I received notice of unpaid bill from vendor and monthly bank statement showing e-check. Bank refunded e-check after fraud investigation. Prepaid debit card account was zero and no recovery there. USPS investigated but never came up with anything. USPS refused to deliver mail to my front porch if I removed box at street. USPS suggested putting outgoing mail in mailbox but not putting flag up. I also check my online banking checking account more. So far so good. Black Dog
