An Post silent on undelivered cash
AN Post has refused to reveal how much money it has been holding on to for decades resulting from cash it has found in undeliverable mail and currency that has fallen out of packages.
In response to queries from the Irish Mail on Sunday, a spokesperson for An Post confirmed that the organisation holds on to the money – forever if needs be – to return to customers should they come forward.
But the postal service is refusing to clarify if this money is held in a particular bank account, if interest is accrued from it, or how An Post may possibly benefit from it in the short or long term.
An Post has repeatedly discouraged people from sending money in the post, but it is estimated that thousands of euro are recovered every year from undeliverable mail.
Each week, around 45,000 items of ‘lost’ mail arrive at An Post’s returned letters centre in Limerick. At Christmas, the amount increases by 50%.
In the past, it was confirmed that €1,000 was found in one envelope alone, while currencies from across the world, predominantly Canadian, American and Australian dollars have also been recovered.
The semi-state body has adopted a secretive attitude when asked about where the money is kept – and how much is there.
A spokesperson for An Post told the MoS: ‘We put the money aside. It is there for perpetuity and all monies are carefully documented. It’s available whenever they become aware that money has been lost, even years on, and hopefully, we will be able to reunite them with whatever it is.
‘The key thing is not to send money through the post at all, under any circumstances.
‘We carefully document where it was found, how it was found and we have all those details, so that when someone comes back and says they may have lost money, our aim is to reunite people with their lost property,’ said a
‘We look after it very carefully’
spokesperson. In 2002, an employee was charged with stealing mail, after more than 11,000 undelivered letters were found at her home.
Cheques, postal orders, vouchers and cash were found in the recovered mail, a court heard.
Asked by the MoS what assurances An Post could give its customers, a spokesperson again urged people not to send cash in the post.
‘It is other people’s money, which they sent through the post, which they shouldn’t have done. But it is their property and we look after it very, very carefully. That has always been the case.
‘Opening letters is not something An Post does normally. We pride ourselves on our business of being a trusted intermediary. You trust us to deliver it unopened, and we trade on trust. In cases like this we have to open the envelopes,’ said the spokesperson.
Seventeen staff at Limerick’s undeliverable mail centre are the only people who are authorised to open envelopes and packages.