New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
‘Missing’ mailboxes no conspiracy, just planned replacement
ORANGE — Missing outdoor mailboxes at the U.S. Post Office on Old Tavern Road have nothing to do with a political conspiracy, according to First Selectman Jim Zeoli.
Rather, they were removed so they can be replaced by more secure boxes after thefts were discovered, Zeoli said.
“With all the hate-mongering and craziness, they immediately jump to Trump,” he said of some communications from residents concerned about the missing boxes. “It’s just another sign of the times.”
Trump has been widely criticized for targeting the U.S. Postal Service for cuts. He has also acknowledged that he’s starved the postal service of money to make it harder to process an expect
ed surge of mail-in ballots in November’s election, The Associated Press reported.
“In an interview on Fox Business Network, Trump explicitly noted two funding provisions that Democrats are seeking in a relief package that has stalled on Capitol Hill,” the AP wrote. “Without the additional money, he said, the Postal Service won't have the resources to handle a flood of ballots from voters who are seeking to avoid polling places during the coronavirus pandemic.
“If we don’t make a deal, that means they don’t get the money,” Trump told host Maria Bartiromo, AP reported.
In the Zeoli-style, humorous Facebook post this week, Zeoli wrote in part:
“There has been much confusion and concern over the missing mailboxes at the Post Office in Orange. No it is not a Republican conspiracy, no they were not stolen in the night and no they were not moved just so you get some exercise.”
Zeoli said the mailboxes were taken away and will be replaced by more secure boxes, as is the case with the mailbox near Town Hall. He said there is a sign explaining this inside the post office, but no sign outside as he says there should have been.
“There has been a high amount of theft from the boxes and has created many hardships for people with paperwork, fraud to bank accounts and non-payments of peoples’ bills,” Zeoli wrote in a Facebook post this week.
Zeoli told the Register the box at Town Hall has been a target as well, and a recent victim was a town official.
Zeoli said the official dropped personal mail in the box at 8 a.m. and by about 10 a.m. someone was trying to pass a fraudulent check for more than $2,000 at People’s United Bank right down the street.
The bank caught the fraud attempt on time and the transaction was unsuccessful. But a fraudulent check for $600 was successfully cashed at another branch, Zeoli said.
Zeoli said he thinks the post office should have sealed or covered the outside mailboxes instead of removing them and put a sign on them informing of the new boxes to come. Instead, there is a sign posted inside the post office. The parking lot boxes that allowed users to drive up and mail envelopes have been a staple at the post office for decades.
But according to the postal service, removing blue mailboxes also “is a decades-old protocol.”
“The Postal Service’s regular review and removal of blue collection boxes began years ago,” the postal service’s news service says on the website the service spokeswoman shared a link to.
“Over the past 10 years, over 30,000 collection boxes have been removed from around the country, averaging 3,500 boxes per year,” according to the postal service. “This year, 1,463 collection boxes have been removed. In the last election year in 2016, nearly the same amount — 1,467 — were removed. No further boxes will be removed between now and the election.”
“In addition, we do provide loadin-load-out same-day service for blue collection boxes in order to install the newer high-security collection boxes on an as needed basis,” U.S. Postal Service Strategic Communications Specialist Amy Gibbs said in an email.
Police Chief Robert Gagne said the alleged thefts were reported.
“We have an open investigation on this, are collaborating with other agencies, and are following up on some leads. No arrests at this point in time,” Gagne said.
One Orange resident, who also contacted Zeoli, informed the Register of the missing boxes, and questioned whether their removal was political.
“Did the order come down directly from Washington? What’s the rationale? Voter suppression? A further attempt to harm the USPS?” the resident wrote.