Scams enveloping US Postal Service and NY

READERS: In last Thursday’s

column, I wrote about two scams.

One was about prisoners gaming the system so they would be eligible for benefits once they were released — and the second was about people who make counterfeit US postage stamps.

Both of the items about scams got a big response. I’d like to share a couple of e-mails with you today, followed by a short comment by me. On the postage scam story:

John: I’ve been in business 47 years. I purchase stamps from dealers all over the world for postage — at a discount of up to 50 percent.

For a couple years, I purchased Priority Mail stamps off eBay from a seller with [the highest rating].

I wondered if it were possible they could be fake.

So I sent one to the postal inspector in Virginia. Sure enough, it was a fake.

They told me to turn in some $7,000 in stamps I had. I did.

Months later, the same seller was still selling [his fake stamps on eBay]. I contacted the postal inspector about why he hadn’t done anything. Why? Too much trouble to trace the source, the postal inspector said.

Why is he still on eBay? How hard is it to tell eBay to shut it down? [The inspector] was busy and they would get to it in the future.

Over the next couple years, I’d call as I still saw the same type of listings on the online marketplace.

I never saw [that] they had pursued it. So for being honest, I gave up thousands in postage and they did nothing. John Woodfield

Mr. Woodfield: Yep, I understand. As you know from my last column, I offered to take postal inspectors a few miles into another borough of New York City to bag some counterfeiters and they were too busy to bother.

So those fake stamps are still being sold and the US Postal Service is still losing billions.

And, by the way, postal officials argue that the mail isn’t subsidized by the US taxpayers.

According to a report done by Robert Shapiro, former US Under Secretary of Commerce for Economic Affairs, the USPS actually gets $18 billion a year in subsidies — although most of the handouts are hidden ones buried in its massive budget.

One subsidy is the Postal Service’s ability to borrow more than $15 billion a year at a just 1.2 percent interest rate. That saves the USPS about $500 million a year in interest payments by not having to borrow elsewhere at market rates.

So taxpayers do subsidize the Postal Service.

And since the USPS is losing many billions of dollars a year, those “loans” may never be paid back and might have to become a gift from taxpayers — another potential subsidy. On prison scams:

John: Do you think there would be less of this kind of scamming if prisoners could get jobs when they were released?

It is almost impossible for prisoners to find work after they are released.

Maybe there would be less scam- ming of disability benefits if we offered prisoners job training while they were in prison and help finding a job when they’re released. Madeleine Fortin Ms. Fortin: I think there would still be a lot of scamming. These people are in prison because of a proclivity to break the law and cut corners. I can’t say I would do anything different if I found myself in that position. A medical scam won’t stop simpply because prisoners think that maybe they can get a job once out. But I also agree with your point. People automatically learn bad things in jail — like pulling scams on Social Security. It would be nice if they could also learn a trade or further their education so they can qualify for work once they get out. That would be in everyone’s best interest. John: If you want a sequel to your prison scam story, check on the number of cases inmates bring under 42 USC Section 1983 — deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities. Complete scam for most plaintiffs, and the lawyers that handle these cases submit their bills to the court if they get a verdict of even $1.

The Corporation Counsel handles it for city jails; the New York Attorney General oversees the state prisons.

Under the guise of unconstitutional denial of medical care, inmates sue for anything — from unsatisfactory erections to toenail fungus.

The city very quietly settles most of these cases. The state fought them all (at least in the late 1990s when I was with the AG’s office. Not sure about now).

Millions of taxpayer dollars wasted. J. Barry

Mr. Barry: I’ll put it on my list of things to look at. I will probably get to it in a year or two.

Unless China is screwing with the US, the Trump administration could have a major victory in trade talks between the two countries.

President Trump often looks like he’s out of control, and often he is. In this case, that act might work.

The market rose sharply on Monday — the Dow Jones industrial average added 298 points, to close at 25,013 — on news that the two countries are making headway in negotiations.