Sometimes it is the Mailman...

It's extremely rare, but sometimes it is the mailman who is stealing the Netflix envelopes, according to this story on 9News.com.

During a two-month period last year, hundreds of DVDs intended for Netflix customers in Lyons, Colorado never arrived at their destinations. Investigators say the problem stopped after postal inspectors caught two postal workers red handed.

Andrew Rivas, spokesperson for the U.S. Postal Inspectors office in Denver told 9News, "at the time we were receiving these complaints it was among the largest reported losses in the United States from Netflix."

There are thousands of postal workers and more than a million of DVD's being mailed by Netflix each day, but I've only heard of a few cases that involved a postal worker. The story reports that it was easy to find the theives since the thefts were limited to a single zip code.

Don't miss the video coverage of the story.

Thanks to Phill for sending this in.

Comments

[CfF]

How did you find this story?

hello? - at thr bottom of the post.
"Thanks to Phill for sending this in."

[CtF]

"hello? - at thr bottom of the post."

I want something more than 'Phil'.

[E. Craig Crawford]

"The story reports that it was easy to find the (two) theives since the thefts were limited to a single zip code."

Their names were probably "Dumb" & "Dumber." :-)

[Chris Coyier]

I've always thought that would be a serious temptation for mail workers. Although.... if they just want to watch a bunch of movies, they could just sign up for Netflix. It's a little less illegal that way.

[Morgan]

It's obvious that Mike and a group of Netflix shills (rhymes with 'Phill') orchestrated this whole thing. They paid off these postal workers to take the fall and then used their inside guy at the news station to publicize the postal service's failure.

It's just a clever trick to cover up the fact that Netflix throttles every customer in Lyons, Colorado.

Sure, the USPS workers were stealing DVDS, that's what they want you to believe. I'm not buying it for a second.

[Mike K]

This story, like many on the site, are sent in by readers.

- Mike K

[PlungeBob]

Maybe that is what is going on...my local postman may have
scored with me...

...for the record, I decided to try the multiple disk in one
envelope this week.

The discussion of this tactic lead me to check my envelopes
and indeed I found that some of them were going back to
Timbuktu (sp?).

So, I stuffed three disks into the one going to my local, proper, D.C.

They were sent back Tuesday, and as of this morning,
Friday, they are not being acknowledged as received.

Is this Netflix "payback" or did they forward the disks
to where they "belong" ....the other side of the country?

Anyway, I am tired of this and have lowered my membership to a
still-lighter level. Shills rejoice.

Cheers!

[Tim]

"Postal inspectors wouldn't comment on the status of Durante's case, saying it was still under investigation."

The two women caught are postal employees. They'll probably keep their jobs, maybe get a raise.

[Matt]

PlungeBob - I've often sent back 2 DVD's in one envelope, but a couple of weeks ago I tried to mail back 3 discs in one envelope. NetFlix STILL hasn't received them (I reported them as missing a while ago).

I won't be doing that again.

I have mailed 3 per envelope for months now, without any problems. Sometimes I just do 2 per envelope. Rarely do I send just 1 in an envelope. Why? Because I want to use LOCAL envelopes to minimize their throttling ways. The more I stuff in each envelope, the more they have to send from other cities to drain my stash. I just sent back 2 yesterday, and the lying pricks are pretending not to have them yet so they can throttle me some more. The solution: return everything in 5-15 min.

[PlungeBob]

Matt and Anonymous,

Thank you for the data, even if it was a tad confusing.

I may try it again, but I am not sure.

(I do not believe that it was the mailman, really)

"Thank you for the data, even if it was a tad confusing."

Nothing confusing, PlungeBob. Netflix is just more likely to throttle people who return 2+ movies per envelope. They're already the type of people who get flagged for throttling. We come to expect an extra day or two for them to admit our returns back (even though USPS most often delivers them over-night). They pretend I sent DVDs to a far away city, even though I look at every envelope and shred the ones to other cities.

Also, you may be putting the movies in your mail box to return them. I never do that. I always drop them at the box INSIDE the Main post office. (At least INSIDE my local post office.) I started doing this after a return to Nicheflix never arrived. That was dropped at a box outside the post office. None have disappeared since I started returning INSIDE the Main Post Office.

I have never lost a DVD with Netflix. USPS lost one from Blockbuster on its way to me, and one going back to Nicheflix. I do think postal workers are stealing them, but they do it infrequently so it does not raise any flags. Also, they occasionally deliver mail to the wrong house. (Same address, different street - very common.) Those people may cut open the envelope and watch the movie if it interests them, then mail it back when they finish. I've never had someone bring a DVD back that was delivered to them by mistake, but I'm sure it's happened. Luckily, most people are honest enough to at least return the movie to Netflix...

" Those people may cut open the envelope and watch the movie if it interests them, then mail it back when they finish."

I wish my neighbors were so considerate. One day, the day I was expecting my paycheck, I got NO mail at all even though my neighbors got theirs. No one tried to cash in my paycheck. I can only assume that one of my neighbors got my mail, and instead of returning it to me, or the post office, threw it out in the trash because he/she was just too damn lazy.

"I want something more than 'Phil'."

How about: "Deep Throat, Jr."?

Your mom gave me "deep throat" last night.

...and then you woke up.

"Your mom gave me "deep throat" last night."

That was a lame attempt at trying to jump in with others who truly are funny here. Stop trying to keep up with the big boys, Junior.

I seriously doubt there is any singificant theft by postal employees. This kind of thing is much easier to track than most realize. there are much more valuable things to steal in the mail, and since it is a federal crime and a felon and often prosecuted, postal worker are very unlikly to take DVDs.

[Robert Moore, OK]

I have been told by a postman about his fellow posties taking dvds home to watch and returning them after done.

I doubt it Robert. It is about the dumbest way to yak a high risk a high probability felony conviction

"I have been told by a postman about his fellow posties taking dvds home to watch and returning them after done."

Balogny! How many would risk loosing that high paying postal job, benefits & perks just for a $20 netflix subscription?! Not to mention "theft of mail" is a felony.

Its like any other profession - its made up of human beings. There are bad apples in everything. You just don't hear about garbagemen, librarians, fast food workers, etc. because that's not "news". You only here about it when policemen, doctors, letter carriers, politicians, etc. screw up. Which leads one to think the professions have a higher rate of corruption when they don't!

I want something more than 'Phil'.

Why? There's a legitamate link to a news story. Do you think Mike made a fake news station, hired actors, filmed it and crated a fake news web site to post it on?

Also, this does happen. Does it happen a lot? Nope, but there have been several busts involving mail carriers deciding to keep DVDs over the years.

So ease up. It's just one story about one guy. I'm not Mike but I'm pretty sure that's where the implications stops.

[Phill]

In case you're wondering, I saw this story linked on fark.com, and thought it would be of interest here. Wow, sometimes you guys scare me. It's no wonder I just lurk.

[Jake]

I wonder how many of the stolen DVD's were scratched, cracked or generally unplayable?

[-lc-]

I am virtually positive someone along my delivery route was taking my blockbuster DVD's after my first two months of being with them. I'd end up not getting about 1 a week, or one would never make it back to Blockbuster. I was worried they would blame me so I ended up canceling!

Blockbuster prints right on the envelope what's in there which is a crazy thing to do - why not print the value of packages right on them tempt
thieves even more! Sheesh.

"I am virtually positive someone along my delivery route was taking my blockbuster DVD's..."

And yet no one is commenting on the possibility that this is probably throttling....hmmm...interesting.

I agree that it seems strange to print the title on the outside, that's why there are bar codes.

[-lc-]

Um, throttling still means the DVD eventually shows up. I never got some DVDs that were queued as "sent" and they never were returned to Blockbuster. Someone was intercepting them.

I think they should use plain (security) envelopes but heck they can't resist advertising.

[js]

Actually, most of my Netflix envelopes say return to nearest Netflix shipping facility. Postal employees don't even look at the address any more. This makes it so that Netflix can print one envelope per facility and not worry about which one it is going back to. Postal regulations still require the address to be on there though.

Netflix does have theft problems with postal employees. A while back there were many thousands of titles being pilfered from the Flushing, NY postal facility until a group of people were led away in handcuffs. Theft isn't about how good a job you would loose, it is about whether you think you will be caught. Most people don't think they will be caught, hence the shear number of speeding tickets given out each year.

Netflix's method of throttling is simple. Anybody that is non-profitable due to large amounts of shipments is sent to the end of any processing queues. This includes who gets the 100 (or 1000) copies of the title in your local facility versus who gets them from somewhere farthur away. And now that they put a barcode on each envelope they know what order to open things in too. If your envelope arrives on a heavy mail day like Monday then they may not get to yours until the following day. Keep in mind that they will probably only open what they can ship out the same day, lest profitable customers see that Netflix didn't ship them the next thing in the queue the same day they got something back.

"A while back there were many thousands of titles being pilfered from the Flushing, NY postal facility until a group of people were led away in handcuffs. Theft isn't about how good a job you would loose, it is about whether you think you will be caught."

How many were career employees of the PO and how many were casual workers. Casuals (who work 90 day terms - renewing if needed) do not enjoy the benefits of the career employees. You see a big influx of casuals around the holidays & as mail handlers, mail sorters and clerks.

[js]

As I remember it, there were several managers and other carreer employees nabbed as it was a substantial amount of DVDs. I believe they were selling the DVDs rather than just keeping them. It has been a while now so I don't remember the specifics. Netflix cut off a lot of customers before the guilty were caught.

"Netflix does have theft problems with postal employees. A while back there were many thousands of titles being pilfered from the Flushing, NY postal facility until a group of people were led away in handcuffs."

figures a netflix fanboy would come along to futher buttress the post office BS with a falsified story on the flushingg thefts

The big theft at the "flaushing facility" was at the NETFLIX FLUSHING facilty not the US post office Flushing facility.

Postal workers are not going to risk 30 years in Jail over a few DVDs!

A netflix employee stealing a few dvds is committinga misdemeanor. A postal worker steal, opening or even borrowing for a day a netflix DVD would be committing a FELONY and a FEDERAL CRIME and very likrly be caught.

The rest of "js" comments (about how and throttling iworks) are equally factually incorrect.

[js]

My information comes directly from the US Postal Inspectors office. The company I work for does DVD rentals by mail like Netflix. We had similar problems with the Flushing USPS facility, that is why we started talking to the Postal Inspectors. Once arrests were made our loss rate for those zipcodes dropped to 1/4 what it was. How could Netflix employees be stealing another company's DVDs? Just because you don't like what I have to say doesn't mean I am wrong.

I would guess that stealing from within a Netflix facility would be much more difficult. Netflix knows that each DVD is valuable so they probably invest heavily in security. BTW, stealing more than $400 worth of murchandise is considered grand theft and is a felony in most states.

"The big theft at the "flaushing facility" was at the NETFLIX FLUSHING facilty not the US post office Flushing facility."

Thats Right! I remember it now. It was a NF facility and NOT the USPS.

"BTW, stealing more than $400 worth of murchandise is considered grand theft and is a felony in most states."

Depends on the state. Grand theft (felony) is $300 in my state. 300 devided by $20 average = 15 discs. May fall as misdemeanor.

"I would guess that stealing from within a Netflix facility would be much more difficult"

Really? I would think NF would be easier to steal from. The USPS has catwalks and 1-way mirrors all over the facilities to watch the employees. Postal Inspectors routinely follow carriers and view them. They place dummy parcels and letters into boxes and verify their delivery. There are scan points along the route and barcodes on mail that must be scanned and verified.

At NF, you could drop something in the trash and go dumpster diving later. If you're a driver, just stop or toss some out along the way for later. NF is more than likely minimum wage daily "temp" workers (manpower). The USPS is mainly union representative, highly paid, fully benefited employees. I would wager that NF employees are far more apt to steal than a USPS employee.

2002 annual report
5,858 suspects for mail theft in FY 2002
ONLY 3 were USPS employees. And only 1 took NF discs.
http://www.usps.com/postalinspectors/ar02/ar02_03.htm

Two steal from PO in Colorado
Only 1 was a postal employee, the other was a "contract driver" (no benefits)
http://9news.com/acm_news.aspx?OSGNAME=KUSA&IKOBJECTID=9d25e532-0abe-421a-019e-c94fd786b109&TEMPLATEID=0c76dce6-ac1f-02d8-0047-c589c01ca7bf

Again, a small amount of employees listed here:
http://www.detnews.com/2005/metro/0508/26/B01-293820.htm

Nationally, the number of postal employees charged with crimes, including stealing mail dropped from 87 in 2003 to 63 in 2004.
Not bad considering they employ more than 700,000 career employees.

http://www.usps.com/communications/organization/postalfacts2005.htm
Deliver more than 206 billion pieces of mail a year
Employ more than 700,000 career employees
Each letter carrier delivers about 2,300 pieces of mail a day to approximately 500 addresses
We operate a transport and delivery fleet of over 200,000 vehicles driving approximately 1.1 billion miles a year
When fuel costs rise one-cent, our costs increase $8 million

From knowing the postal inspection system its my belief that the below statement by "JS" is completely falsified.

For example how were the arrests at Netflix effectin his "rental by mail company." Does his company also ship through Netflix?

"My information comes directly from the US Postal Inspectors office. The company I work for does DVD rentals by mail like Netflix. We had similar problems with the Flushing USPS facility, that is why we started talking to the Postal Inspectors. Once arrests were made our loss rate for those zipcodes dropped to 1/4 what it was. How could Netflix employees be stealing another company's DVDs? Just because you don't like what I have to say doesn't mean I am wrong."

[js]

Just to be accurate, I rechecked this. You are right, there was theft in the Netflix facility. The investigation found that there were 2 independant gangs stealing, one inside the USPS and one inside the Netflix facility. That is why the losses were so high. If one group didn't steal it then the other would.

And what kind of security do you think Netflix has? They too know about dumpster diving. They HAVE to run a very secure environment because the first thing the Postal Inspector asks about when you report a theft problem is about your own employees and practices. As reported on digg.com by someone who would seem to know: "The Netflix Director of Security is a former Postal Inspector who worked internal crimes." For the USPS some of the mail is valuable. For Netflix EVERY piece is valuable.

If you believe that Netflix is throttling you then fine. But you hurt your case when you say it can't posibly be the USPS causing problems when they definately have been in the past and will be again. I agree with you that it is rarely the career postal employees. However, seasonal/temp employee or not, they still work for the USPS and the DVDs are still gone.

From personal experience I can tell you that working with the postal system can be frustraiting. In order to offer a plan at a price that people will signup for, you have to be at the one ounce rate per DVD. No matter what color the envelope, the postal employees know whats inside. We can live with the small percentage of DVDs that get trashed by the sorting machines. Theft is another matter.

You sound like a very proud and honest postal employee. Too bad everyone at the USPS isn't the same as you.

Soudns like this ended up as the Netflix facility. Interesting how people turned it around in their minds.

[Sonja]

I read of another case like this happening. This guy had gotten his hands on a ton of movies. When they went into his home, the postal worker had over 200 movies.

[Ron]

USPS IS STEALING CD'S and DVD'S 100%

Here how it happend with me.

i Burned some Music Cd,s and DVD,s for xmas gift for my friend as Xmas gift they were about 40 cd,s and Dvd,s since he like all diff kind of music so i thought it will be good idea to send these cd,s he will be very happy. I mailed in a bubble padded package , paid and after a week i called my friend did you recieved my package and all cd,s he said yes i got your package but has only 3 cd,s in it but seems like package was opend and sealed again i ask how it was repack since i sealed with clear packing tape he said it was usps tape all around but looks like it has more tape then it needed so i complained to the usps website but so far no respeonse and no phone call so far seems like country is so poor usps employees have to steal customer items and live there lives or may be thats the American dream keep stealing since its a richest country in the world and i doubt that, so my advice to people DONT use USPS send via UPS or Fed-Ex, at least they have tracking even you dont insure the package still they will know which employee was handling that package.

Ron .........very Unhappy usps customer.

[HATTIE19Wiley]

I think that to receive the home loans from banks you must present a firm reason. Nevertheless, one time I have received a term loan, because I wanted to buy a car.