Mailboxes at 435 Milan BROKEN INTO for the 4th time in the lat 6 months

The mailbox at 435 was broken into yet again. It seems to ALWAYS occur sometime Sunday evening, as we always notice the box open on Mondays.

This is getting out of hand. I reported it to the post office (went there in person), not sure if they are going to do anything about it. They said they've already replaced the lock and that the home owners association needs to hire security. It is pretty obvious that whoever broke into it pried it open versus using some master key as they are marks up and down the opening from some tool that must have been used. I took pictures with my cell phone and showed the postmaster.

If you live at 435 Milan Drive, DO NOT put any outgoing mail and please complain to the postoffice. I spoke to Leon.

Thank you -
MaryAnne

This is getting ridiculous. We have a real problem here in the complex that needs to be corrected. Many people are in jeopardy of being victims of identity theft and that just won't do. As MaryAnne stated, the post office has taken all the necessary actions on their end to stop the theft from their end by replacing the master lock and now it is our (by which I mean the Villagio community) turn to become proactive. We need to do something instead of just sitting back and letting this happen over and over again. Even if you don't live in the 435 Milan courtyard you could still be a victim in the future if this punk (or punks) moves on to another mailbox set in another courtyard. This issue needs to be raised to the BOD NOW and it may be best to front the money to get all of the mailboxes up to date instead of the antiquated boxes we have now. Just imagine if people outside the community found out about this vandalism and potential theft of mail/identity, it could really affect the community with respect to future buyers. Potential buyers could consider this community as not a safe place to live and may take their money elsewhere.

I urge anyone who hears, witnesses, etc vandalism/theft of the mailboxes to alert others (without putting yourself in harm’s way) and also to report it. If it wasn't for MaryAnne, the post office and the Villagio community would have not known about this incident. Folks are becoming too passive and think that they shouldn't do anything about it because either they think that it doesn't affected them or that someone else has already taken care of it. WRONG! It affects us all and if everyone had the same line of thinking when it comes to issues like this, nothing would ever get done and we might as well live in a third world country, which slowly I am believing that some of the people in this community want Villagio to become.


End of rant....for now.

Sarah
435 Milan Drive

I've sent an email to Veronica at Peachtree notifying her of the break-in and asking her for options we have for repairs and upgrades.

Is the mailbox door wide open now?

Can anyone living in the building place a note warning people about the break-in? Folks may want to monitor their accounts carefully.

First of all, thank you Tom. Second, the mailbox door is not wide open now. When the postperson came today, they locked it back up but proceeded to deliver mail. I have placed a note to warn the other residents of 435 Milan of the break-in.

Thanks Sarah! I'll keep everyone posted as soon as I hear back and when we have an update.

Peachtree responded to my request and will have a mailbox security expert come to Villagio and assess our mailboxes and make a recommendation on how we can secure the mailboxes further.

What constitutes a mailbox security expert is not clear to me but I'm sure they know more than me.

Thank you Tom for your assistance in this matter. Did Peachtree perhaps give you a timeline as to when this mailbox security expert will come out to assess our mailboxes and when we will hear the outcome of the assessment? I ask only because I believe that this issue is time critical and must be resolved as soon as possible, not weeks or months from now.

Thank you,

Sarah

Hi Sarah,

Peachtree did not give me a timeline but let me try and set your expectation level. This will not be sorted out in a matter of days. Even if this expert looks at our boxes within the next few days and comes up with a recommendation. He will need to present to the board. We'll have a bunch of questions, he may or may not know the answers. We may need to work on conjunction with the post office. We'll need to get a bid, preferably from at least 2 different sources and then we can make a decision. Then parts may need to be ordered, etc.

Perhaps we may be able to do other things to improve security in the mean time.

Is this vandalism happening only at 435? The boxes in my building have remained unmolested for at least 10 years.*

--ghp95134

(*now knocking on wood!)

It happened twice this year at 450 in feb and june .... one of my neighbours and I officially filed complaints with usps .... a local tv channel had also comeby with all their cameras and ask me for an interview on this subject while I was entering into our couryard in late july, which I politely refused .....

Hi Tom,

Just wondering what the status is regarding upgrading our mailboxes. Do you know if the mailbox expert has come to assess the mailboxes? Has the board been briefed? Just curious if anything has been resolved yet.

Thanks,

Sarah

Hi Sarah,

I wasn't able to attend last months meeting because I was traveling for work. Not sure what Peachtree presented or what the board decided.

Because of members availability and the holiday season we are trying to reschedule the next meeting. So I don't know when we will meet next.

As soon as I learn something, I'll post it here.


Take care,
Tom

I appreciate the efforts that our board is making. However, this is a growing problem that has not been resolved. I live at 445 and the mailboxes have been broken into a number of times of the past few years. I have contacted the local post office, The United States Postal Service, Peachtree and I have filed a criminal report with SJPD. This year alone the following has been stolen from my mailbox:

A debit card (resulting in $1200 of fraudulent charges)
Several bank statements
A new driver’s license
Merchandise delivery notices
Credit card bills
Merchandise ordered online
Medical insurance statements

I am now paying for two separate services to monitor identity theft. I have request paperless bank and credit card statements and I no longer order merchandise online. Additionally I no longer use the mailboxes for outgoing mail.

Is this a Peachtree issue or USPS? What can we do to make this a priority and bring resolution?

It's tough for me to place blame when the crooks are the ones really responsible. In your case the thieves had a master key, so there's not much anyone can do. I wish the USPS marshals would do more to try and catch the thieves.