So there is some fuck stealing mail in my apartment building

[OrochiEddie]

Title says it all. Seems to happen more with USPS packages. I ordered a couple books on Amazon and they both were "confirmed delivered" but never arrived. Roomate just had the same thing happen with something he ordered online too.

Obviously I am not sure if it is someone in the building or the mailman is just scanning items and then stealing them. I filed a complaint with the P.O., but haven't heard back yet. I can't imagine I will get a good response because their response was "well its marked as delivered" as if that absconds him of all guilt.

Trying to weigh my options here and how to possibly catch the thief. All my brainstorming is coming up with somewhat nonsensical secret agent tracking device kind of stuff so I'm seeing if any of you have any suggestions.

Sadly our lobby doesn't have a camera which is how I figure this has been able to continue.

Any thoughts or suggestions? I have an old Amazon box that I could probably use as a means of "luring" any potential thief, but again not sure how that could work.

For the time being I'm just shipping everything to my parents and picking it up later. I'd obviously not want to have to do that for as long as I'm staying in this building.

 

[Fuzzytaco]

Are they being left at your door or in your mail box? If in a box and there are no visible signs of break in, it may be an enterprising postman.

 

[Azra113]

That's a good idea, use an old box, make sure it looks legit and stake it out ( put some random book in it so its not light). Though I don't know how your apartment lobby is. Mine has glass doors, so I could just post up across the street.

Another factor would be the location of your apartments mail boxes. In my building the boxes are in the lobby where the doorbells are but some buildings have the mail boxes behind the locked door. This could narrow down the culprit to a local resident or an outside vagrant.

Your area is also an important factor, I got a crack house down the strip and live next to a bar so there's always weirdos around the block.

You'd have to wake up early morning, leave it on the spot and stake it out for the rest of the day, to see who snatches it and confront the person.

Good luck !

 

[StevenK]

That's a good idea, use an old box, make sure it looks legit and stake it out ( put some random book in it so its not light). Though I don't know how your apartment lobby is. Mine has glass doors, so I could just post up across the street.

Another factor would be the location of your apartments mail boxes. In my building the boxes are in the lobby where the doorbells are but some buildings have the mail boxes behind the locked door. This could narrow down the culprit to a local resident or an outside vagrant.

Your area is also an important factor, I got a crack house down the strip and live next to a bar so there's always weirdos around the block.

You'd have to wake up early morning, leave it on the spot and stake it out for the rest of the day, to see who snatches it and confront the person.

Good luck !

Just to add some fun to it you could put some weird shit in the amazon bait box too. Like a fake ear and put a ransom note in with it. You'll be able to tell who stole the box just by looking at how people look at you the next day.

 

[OrochiEddie]

Are they being left at your door or in your mail box? If in a box and there are no visible signs of break in, it may be an enterprising postman.

The USPS packages are left by the mailbox. You have to have a key to get into the building to then get to the boxes (if that makes sense). So unless someone is able to break in it has to be either the mailman or a tenant.

I thought about staking out, but I tend to not be able to be home during the day. That's why my sci-fi addled mind went to "tracking device" and then I realized this is not a James Bond film.

 

[Fuzzytaco]

Perhaps some sort of fluorescent dust applied to the box and a UV flashlight to track fingerprints.

Edit: this is probably fairly unrealistic as well.

 

[shadowkn55]

Put a gps tracker in a box and mail it to yourself. See where it ends up after "delivery."

 

[Mac91]

Maybe go door to door with your roommate, asking people about this. The perp might be guilty and you will be able to tell from his body language. Spread the news around the building.

 

[lastcallhall]

Take a shit in a box and send it to yourself. They'll learn.

 

[ggallegos1]

Take a shit in a box and send it to yourself. They'll learn.

I hear there is a site where you can mail animal shit to someone, anything from dog to elephant. just get some for yourself and see who takes the bait.

 

[Poonman]

Send animal shit
WITH a GPS tracker in it
AND knock on his door with a video camera in hand and ask him how he liked your shit,
THEN upload it to youtube and put his full name, address (so others can send shit as well), and phone number in the video description

And if you really want his misery to go viral, order a singing telegram to his door when you confront him with a cute song about how he's a sneaky little shit thief or whatever.

 

[skate323k137]

The problem with Amazon is they mark packages "carrier leave if no response" which basically means throw the shit anywhere we don't care.

I had one box stolen because of this. After I talked with my mail carrier, she agreed to never leave anything out in the open at my complex. If I'm not home, it either goes to the apartment clubhouse or back to the post office and I can pick it up.

 

[OrochiEddie]

The problem with Amazon is they mark packages "carrier leave if no response" which basically means throw the shit anywhere we don't care.

I had one box stolen because of this. After I talked with my mail carrier, she agreed to never leave anything out in the open at my complex. If I'm not home, it either goes to the apartment clubhouse or back to the post office and I can pick it up.

That's what I am establishing with my mail carrier now, but I am letting this whole event just pass over without any action.

I'd love to get the police involved as this is theft and I want to get my items back or the money they are valued at.

Problem with a GPS tracker I figure is that if the person is just taking them into their apartment its just going to show the person is at my address, no? I wondered about putting in a cheap cellphone in the box and once I saw it had been taken try calling it.

Thanks for the suggestions so far though. I hope there is a fun justifying end to this.

 

[skate323k137]

I made amazon replace my shit even though it said delivered. It's their fault for putting "carrier - leave if no response"

They didn't argue at all, sent me new stuff immediately.

 

[OrochiEddie]

I made amazon replace my shit even though it said delivered. It's their fault for putting "carrier - leave if no response"

They didn't argue at all, sent me new stuff immediately.

I'll see what I can do, but this happened in January and I called it a wash. I decided to get revengeful after my roomate got 60 bucks worth of stuff stolen recently. Thanks for the suggestion. Where in the labyrinth of menus inside Amazon did you make that request?

 

[skate323k137]

If I remember right I did it on their live chat. It was about 4 days after the package was delivered, so I told them my PO had already investigated it, etc.

Start here

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201117310

Bottom left, "Contact Us", fill in item info, then live chat.

 

[OrochiEddie]

If I remember right I did it on their live chat. It was about 4 days after the package was delivered, so I told them my PO had already investigated it, etc.

Start here

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201117310

Bottom left, "Contact Us", fill in item info, then live chat.

Alright thanks I'll check it out.

 

[T.A.P.]

The woman delivering my mail refuses to get out of her car so I always have to drive into town to pick up my packages.

 

[lithy]

Send a bomb to yourself.

 

[BIG BEAR]

You guys ever think about purchasing a PO BOX? All your parcels will just be left at your local PO awaiting pickup....It's a meh idea....but...
BB

 

[Poonman]

Back in 2012 when I was painting a bridge, some scavenger hunters were able to find a tiny little container with a message using one of those GPS thingies....it was stuck to the underside of the bridges approach and the guy told me he was able to narrow down the location to around 30 feet or something.

Look into it to be sure, though.

 

[IcBlUsCrN]

the problem with alot of gps trackers is most dont work indoors and wont work in a closed box. You can get a iphone put find my iphone on it. Put a pay per minute sim card in it. open it up and remove the power switch and mail that. you will be able to track with wireless cell (even in the box) and gps accurately.

 

[Phyeir]

It's complicated but I was going to suggest maybe getting a wireless camera that can stream long enough distances to not lose connection inside the building. Leave it on and to record during the day, facing in a way so that when the package is opened, it captures video of whoever is stealing the packages. Just paint over any blinking lights and such so it's not obvious. But I'm sure that's complicated and more expense than it's worth.

 

[IcBlUsCrN]

It's complicated but I was going to suggest maybe getting a wireless camera that can stream long enough distances to not lose connection inside the building. Leave it on and to record during the day, facing in a way so that when the package is opened, it captures video of whoever is stealing the packages. Just paint over any blinking lights and such so it's not obvious. But I'm sure that's complicated and more expense than it's worth.

or in the same vain buy a ake video surveillance camera for like $15 put in the corner. the battery last a long time since its only 1 led light If it gets vandalized you got something to worry about if it doesn’t it may be a deterrent.

 

[NeoSneth]

I made amazon replace my shit even though it said delivered. It's their fault for putting "carrier - leave if no response"

They didn't argue at all, sent me new stuff immediately.

which makes you a terrible consumer. It's not amazon's fault you didn't specify hold if no response.
Customers are terrible.