30 year retiree. That happened more often than you would wish. Mostly new carriers trying to get back on time or just flat lazy and wanting to get off early.
It is a federal offense but most of the time they just fire them unless they are stealing from the mail looking for checks and anything of value.
I saw and heard of many innovative ways for carriers to ditch mail they didn't want to deliver. One throwing circulars over a bridge into a river didn't count on the fisherman underneath the bridge bringing the soaked circulars back into the Post Office. Another depositing all the mail in a box to a vacant house because he didn't want to bother trying to figure out where it actually went.
I saw a video of one opening all the bright colored envelopes looking for birthday card cash. He would remove the cash and then just put the open envelope back in the mail bag. Got him fired for that too.
18 U.S. Code § 1703 - Delay or destruction of mail or newspapers
a)Whoever, being a Postal Service officer or employee, unlawfully secretes, destroys, detains, delays, or opens any letter, postal card, package, bag, or mail entrusted to him or which shall come into his possession, and which was intended to be conveyed by mail, or carried or delivered by any carrier or other employee of the Postal Service, or forwarded through or delivered from any post office or station thereof established by authority of the Postmaster General or the Postal Service, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.
(b)Whoever, being a Postal Service officer or employee, improperly detains, delays, or destroys any newspaper, or permits any other person to detain, delay, or destroy the same, or opens, or permits any other person to open, any mail or package of newspapers not directed to the office where he is employed; or
Whoever, without authority, opens, or destroys any mail or package of newspapers not directed to him, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.
The video is from April so I doubt it's election related, but this is definitely f'd up. No doubt these shenanigans will recur with ballots.
30 year retiree. That happened more often than you would wish. Mostly new carriers trying to get back on time or just flat lazy and wanting to get off early. It is a federal offense but most of the time they just fire them unless they are stealing from the mail looking for checks and anything of value.
I used to live in an apartment with a dumpster that I constantly saw full of ads and circulars LOL...i never saw the mailman dumping them though
Getting fired from a Federal job is almost impossible but here are LIMITATIONS to what you can get by with. THIS is THE one for a postal worker.
I saw and heard of many innovative ways for carriers to ditch mail they didn't want to deliver. One throwing circulars over a bridge into a river didn't count on the fisherman underneath the bridge bringing the soaked circulars back into the Post Office. Another depositing all the mail in a box to a vacant house because he didn't want to bother trying to figure out where it actually went.
I saw a video of one opening all the bright colored envelopes looking for birthday card cash. He would remove the cash and then just put the open envelope back in the mail bag. Got him fired for that too.
a)Whoever, being a Postal Service officer or employee, unlawfully secretes, destroys, detains, delays, or opens any letter, postal card, package, bag, or mail entrusted to him or which shall come into his possession, and which was intended to be conveyed by mail, or carried or delivered by any carrier or other employee of the Postal Service, or forwarded through or delivered from any post office or station thereof established by authority of the Postmaster General or the Postal Service, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.
(b)Whoever, being a Postal Service officer or employee, improperly detains, delays, or destroys any newspaper, or permits any other person to detain, delay, or destroy the same, or opens, or permits any other person to open, any mail or package of newspapers not directed to the office where he is employed; or Whoever, without authority, opens, or destroys any mail or package of newspapers not directed to him, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.
Tennessee does not use mail-in ballots, so this is OT