Philadelphia Postal Worker Stole 2,200 GameFly Rentals

Philly.com (via Gizmodo) reports that a former mail handler stole more than 2,200 GameFly games and sold them to GameStop.

Reginald Johnson, 34, of Germantown, faces from 12 to 18 months in prison under preliminary advisory sentencing guidelines. U.S. District Judge Berle M. Schiller set sentencing for Jan. 13. Authorities said Johnson was a mail-processing clerk who unloaded mail from tractor-trailers docked at the processing and distribution center in Philadelphia. The feds said Johnson stole the video games, valued at $86,000, between April and September 2008.

Thanks to Nick for sending this in.

Comments

[Davis Freeberg]

$86,000 means the cops are valuing the merchandise at approx $40 per disc. Since Gamefly repportedly pays $50 per disc and given their releuctance to ever send you any new games, there's no way that the inventory could have really been worth that much. Even assuming that Gamefly was giving him an average of $12 per game (a rate that I think is pretty high compared to the measly amounts they really pay out), then this guy got less than $30,000 out of the merchandise.

[Tester]

@Davis Freeberg:

Hmmm, less than $30,000. Just let the bastard go free. Hell, let's not ever prosecute anyone for theft unless you think it's worthwhile.

[Tim]

See, Netflix isn't getting preferential treatment by the USPS ;)

[byteme]

@Tester
Re: Davis Freeberg

I really don't think Davis was trying to justify the theft or even diminish the seriousness of the matter. I think he was merely pointing out, as many have before, that the authorities, content owners and "journalists" always seem to artificially inflate values for these types of stories in the name of sensationalism or to promote an agenda.

Anyway, I find it interesting that more and more stories of dishonest post office employees keep cropping up. And they wonder why fewer and fewer people utilize USPS.

Last Christmas, my mother-in-law sent several gift cards to us using USPS that never arrived. I guess some postal worker was able to make use of those to buy a new DVD player and Xbox to better enjoy all of those Netflix and Gamefly discs that he pilfered.

[Davis Freeberg]

@tester - yup I was just doing the math. I actually think that the guy should be on the hook for more than 18 months. Mail theft is serious business and things like this erode confidence in disc-by-mail services. As a public servant, he's placed in a position where he should be more accountable not less. If the post office goes easy on insiders it only encourages more behavior like this. If a private citizen stole mail I'm pretty sure it's a federal offense.

[Tester]

@byteme:

I may have overreacted but it does seem that he has an ax to grind against GameFly. Two statements made me think so;

"...given their releuctance to ever send you any new games"

"...a rate that I think is pretty high compared to the measly amounts they really pay out"

As far as artificially inflating values I have to disagree. They should use what the discs cost on open market, not what GameFly paid for them.

I do agree with you about the increased incidents of theft from the mails. I don't really think it has increased a great deal, I just think we are hearing about it more.

[Tester]

@Davis Freeberg:

I'm sorry if I misunderstood what you were saying. With that said, I do feel you said what you did because of some sort of bias against GameFly. Please read my previous post to see why I feel that way.

Just to let you know; I'm not associated with them, other than having a GameFly account.

[PatB]

I worked at the Post Office for a couple years while going to college. I was a clerk. Clerks have to be able to memorize a "scheme" so there is at least a little intellectual content in the job requirements. In those days the ranks of mail clerks were filled by a lot of students, would-be artists, and out of work actors. It was like an artist's colony.

The mail handlers on the other hand were like untouchables. They were stupid, lazy and usually drunk or high or both. Compared to mail handling, ditch digging is a skilled profession.

Being young and strong then, I was often pulled outside to work with the mail handlers when they fell behind. Trust me, this guy was probably already a criminal when they hired him and was probably doped up continuously.

[microgaming]

Hell, that's a lot of game rentals to be stolen... I don't think this guy will go to prison... at least he doesn't deserve it because he didn't stole $86.000, he just stole $40 2200 times and that's not the same than a single strike. This is quite a funny news if you ask me and evidences that the merchandise is not safe in the clerk's hands but what did you expect of a guy who is earning little money? Sooner or later they will be tempted to steal...

[Gendo Ikari]

$40 a disk is a fantastic price if that is all Gamefly is claiming for them. There is licensing involved when dealing with rentals- DVDs or Games. They've worked out one hell of a deal to get their replacement disks that cheap.

Remember kids- you can't just go pick up a new disk at Wal-Mart and start renting them out. At least not legally.

@microgaming: You don't feel he deserves prison time, because instead of just stealing once he *only* stole -2,200 times?- This is your argument? Calling you a farktard is being polite.