{"id":74826,"date":"2025-12-18T21:17:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T21:17:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/74826\/"},"modified":"2025-12-18T21:17:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T21:17:08","slug":"rep-meng-calls-out-usps-for-failure-to-combat-mail-theft-in-queens-qns-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/74826\/","title":{"rendered":"Rep. Meng calls out USPS for failure to combat mail theft in Queens \u2013 QNS"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t<img width=\"1200\" height=\"951\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Meng-Relay-Box-Photo-1.jpg\" class=\"crop-center wp-post-image\" alt=\"meng\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"  \/>\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>U.S. Rep. Grace Meng claims the United States Postal Service has failed to address mail theft in Queens despite postal officials agreeing to implement recommendations made by USPS\u2019s Office of Inspector General, which launched a federal probe into the issue last year and revealed mismanagement by the postal service.<\/p>\n<p>Photo courtesy of the Office of Congresswoman Grace Meng<\/p>\n<p>U.S. Rep. Grace Meng called out the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usps.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">United States Postal Service (USPS)<\/a> for failing to fully implement its plan to combat mail theft in <a href=\"https:\/\/qns.com\/neighborhoods\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Queens<\/a>, according to a news release from Meng\u2019s office. Postal officials agreed to implement recommendations suggested by the USPS <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uspsoig.gov\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Office of Inspector General<\/a> by the end of April 2025, but she claimed they have yet to do so.<\/p>\n<p>Meng <a href=\"https:\/\/meng.house.gov\/sites\/evo-subsites\/meng.house.gov\/files\/evo-media-document\/mail-theft-letter-to-postmaster-general.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">sent a letter<\/a> to David Steiner, postmaster and CEO of USPS, calling its inaction \u201cunacceptable\u201d and urging the remaining recommendations be implemented immediately. She emphasized that criminals are still stealing items such as residents\u2019 checks, credit cards, bank and personal information, medication and personal items.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEnough with the delays and broken promises \u2014 the postal service needs to act,\u201d Meng said. \u201cAs the agency drags its feet, many Queens residents continue to be victims of mail theft. It has to stop, and I will keep up the pressure on postal officials until all of the recommendations are put in place and mail theft declines in our borough.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As of press time, USPS has not responded to QNS\u2019 request for comment.\n<\/p>\n<p>Last year, the OIG launched the first ever federal probe into mail theft in Queens, at Meng\u2019s request, after she received complaints from constituents. Complaints were primarily about thieves stealing their mail from local green relay boxes \u2014 which are used to store mail and are often located next to blue collection boxes throughout Queens \u2014 so Meng urged the inspector\u2019s office to investigate.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The OIG is an independent entity within USPS that oversees the integrity and efficiency of the nation\u2019s postal system, ensuring the accountability and transparency of postal operations.<\/p>\n<p>According to the news release, the OIG\u2019s investigation revealed major mismanagement by USPS in addressing mail theft in Queens. The report, released in May 2024, made seven recommendations to improve the situation, the news release continued \u2014 all of which postal officials agreed to implement by the end of April 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>However, Meng noted that only four of the seven recommendations have been implemented. After missing the April deadline, Meng said USPS told her it needed more time to implement the three other recommendations. Earlier this year, USPS pushed the implementation date to Oct. 31, but it recently postponed one part of the plan to Feb. 28 and another part of the plan to March 31 of next year.<\/p>\n<p>The specific recommendations and their status are as follows:\n<\/p>\n<p>Implemented\n<\/p>\n<p>Added the functionality to the Collection Point Management System to differentiate between blue collection and high security collection boxes<br \/>\nDirected the vice president of delivery operations to update the CPMS to differentiate between blue collection and high security collection boxes in the New York 2 district<br \/>\nReiterated arrow key security policies and responsibilities to managers and supervisors in Queens<br \/>\nRequired the New York 2 district manager to confirm all arrow keys are added to the inventory in the Retail and Delivery Analytics and Reports system<\/p>\n<p>Not Implemented<\/p>\n<p>Develop and implement a plan, including a communication strategy and available staff, for the timely deployment and installation of mail theft initiatives nationwide<\/p>\n<p>New target implementation date: March 31, 2026<\/p>\n<p>Require the New York 2 district manager to establish procedures to complete annual safety inspections, remediate deficiencies and document the results for blue collection and green relay boxes<\/p>\n<p>New target implementation date: February 28, 2026<\/p>\n<p>Develop a process to define roles, responsibilities and frequency for inspecting green relay boxes, and to record and track the location and condition of green relay boxes<\/p>\n<p>Those who believe their mail has been stolen can report mail theft at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uspis.gov\/report\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">USPIS.gov\/Report<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"U.S. Rep. Grace Meng claims the United States Postal Service has failed to address mail theft in Queens&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":74827,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[310,37670,9,24,63,122,124,123,37671,8161],"class_list":{"0":"post-74826","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-queens","8":"tag-daily-newsletter","9":"tag-mail-theft","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-city","12":"tag-nyc","13":"tag-queens","14":"tag-queens-headlines","15":"tag-queens-news","16":"tag-rep-grace-meng","17":"tag-usps"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74826\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}