Current Events > Postal worker rented a storage unit to hide mail he felt 'pressured' to deliver

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/29/us/postal-worker-hides-mail-storage-unit-trnd/index.html

A United States postal worker was caught with a public storage unit full of mail he never delivered.
Jason Delacruz pleaded guilty to charges of delay of mail by a postal employee in August 2019. He is set to be sentenced on February 12.

Delacruz, who worked as a mail carrier in Chesapeake, Virginia, said he felt "pressured" and couldn't "make time" to complete his mail route, according to court documents. He told authorities that he rented a public storage unit for $49 per month for "the sole purpose of storing mail he could not deliver."

The employee said he started hiding mail in November or December 2018 and he rented the storage unit in February 2019, according to court records. He said he put mail he was unable to deliver in the unit from that time up until he was discovered in May 2019.

Delacruz told authorities he intended to deliver the mail in the storage unit, but he fell behind and was never able to, according to court documents. He said he never destroyed any mail.

Delacruz's attorney, Wilfredo Bonilla, Jr., told CNN Wednesday that he was unable to comment at this time.
Agents from the United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General found almost 5,000 pieces of mail in the storage unit in Virginia Beach.

They discovered 97 pieces of first-class mail, which included letters from the Department of Motor Vehicles, the IRS, insurance companies, bank statements and other tax return documents.

Magazines and other publications made up 115 pieces of mail. There was also one undelivered package found in the unit. The bulk of the mail was advertisements, more than 4,700 ads at that.

The Postal Service delivered the first-class mail after it was found. The ads were discarded because they were old by then.
"The employee no longer works for the Postal Service," USPS public relations manager Dave Partenheimer told CNN Tuesday. "He resigned in 2019 and he worked for 14 months prior to his resignation."

Delacruz could face a fine or up to five years in prison, according to federal law.

---

It should be illegal to send ads via mail at this point. It's a waste of resources and I don't know a single person that gets junkmail and goes "yeah let me look into this". Although this is perhaps why we need to move on from the government funding a postal service. Clearly they don't have enough people on routes.

Getting rid of junk mail would also be a huge positive in helping the environment as a bonus.

---

Newman!

---

Caution999 posted...

It should be illegal to send ads via mail at this point. It's a waste of resources and I don't know a single person that gets junkmail and goes "yeah let me look into this". Although this is perhaps why we need to move on from the government funding a postal service. Clearly they don't have enough people on routes.

Getting rid of junk mail would also be a huge positive in helping the environment as a bonus.

All of this minus the government part. If 94% (using this topic as an example) of the mail they deliver is ads and we cut those out they could clearly easily manage.

---

Tmaster148 posted...

The ads were discarded because they were old by then.

I dunno. Suddenly getting two years of junkmail all at once would be pretty hilarious by itself.

Also, consider this:
~5000 mail items
~4700 junk mail items
94% spam. That's probably the biggest reason the post office isn't completely bankrupt yet, give or take maybe Netflix and Amazon.

>5000
Japanese mailman: Hold my beer.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-51236136

---

Questionmarktarius posted...

I dunno. Suddenly getting two years of junkmail all at once would be pretty hilarious by itself.

Also, consider this:
~5000 mail items
~4700 junk mail items
94% spam. That's probably the biggest reason the post office isn't completely bankrupt yet, give or take maybe Netflix and Amazon.

It's ridiculous. I get too much junk mail for the year 2020. Send me an email or something instead. I pay my bills online. Send me coupons online. Really, paper mail should be reserved for essential items only.

Also, this is what we're keeping the post office alive for? 94% spam mail? This is insane. A large company/companies should buy them out and focus on the essential items while delivering packages from ebay/Amazon/etc.

---

Needs to be in jail

---

gatorsPENSbucs posted...

Needs to be in jail

He is set to be sentenced on February 12.

Junk mail is pretty much the only reason we still have a postal service tbqh

---

Caution999 posted...

It should be illegal to send ads via mail at this point. It's a waste of resources and I don't know a single person that gets junkmail and goes "yeah let me look into this". Although this is perhaps why we need to move on from the government funding a postal service. Clearly they don't have enough people on routes.

Getting rid of junk mail would also be a huge positive in helping the environment as a bonus.

Postal services are paid to sent out these ads and the US government loves to cut funding towards the postal service. They are just doing what the free market has decided.

---

https://youtu.be/LL6ubXD9ZjY

---

The bulk of the mail was advertisements, more than 4,700 ads at that.

lol

---

Tmaster148 posted...

Postal services are paid to sent out these ads and the US government loves to cut funding towards the postal service. They are just doing what the free market has decided.

The easiest way to cut junkmail is to increase postage to roughly the break-even point for the actual costs of getting the mail to your mailbox.
At 19.1 cents for bulk-rate mail, you can carpet-bomb a decent sized city for $100k or so. Raise postage to two dollars or so, and suddenly it goes away, as well as online bill-pay becoming a really good idea. Also you'll get fewer Christmas cards from relatives you don't remember.

Lordgold666 posted...

The bulk of the mail was advertisements, more than 4,700 ads at that.

lol

The guy shouldn't have to go to jail for five years for 94% of junk mail. Give him a year, and let's call it a day. It's not like he's a threat to society (a year that will prob be half a year with good behavior/parole). Since he technically he broke the law he must go to jail but anything beyond a year for this situation is ridiculous.

---

should not be in prison for this

he already resigned

let him pay a fine and leave it alone
---

spudger posted...

should not be in prison for this

he already resigned

let him pay a fine and leave it alone

Unfortunately it's a federal crime he broke.

---

Caution999 posted...

The guy shouldn't have to go to jail for five years for 94% of junk mail. Give him a year, and let's call it a day. It's not like he's a threat to society (a year that will prob be half a year with good behavior/parole). Since he technically he broke the law he must go to jail but anything beyond a year for this situation is ridiculous.

I know that its morally wrong for him to see time for this, but I care far more about technicalities than morality.

---

Tmaster148 posted...

Unfortunately it's a federal crime he broke.

doesnt matter. unless our corrupt justice system has mandatory minimums for mail theft.
---

This, too, was once a Federal law:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fugitive_Slave_Act_of_1850

---

Tmaster148 posted...

Unfortunately it's a federal crime he broke.

Feds take fucking with the mail very serious from what Ive heard

---

Tmaster148 posted...

Magazines and other publications made up 115 pieces of mail. There was also one undelivered package found in the unit. The bulk of the mail was advertisements, more than 4,700 ads at that.

https://imgur.com/Au2Lm5t

Shablagoo posted...

I know that its morally wrong for him to see time for this, but I care far more about technicalities than morality.

It's a federal law. I think a year (in reality likely half a year) is the best you can hope for. We have laws for a reason. The guy could've went to his boss and said he had too much mail or quit and gotten another job. Instead, he chose to...rent a storage unit and keep piling up mail.


---

To be fair it's possible he specifically targeted ads as mail to hid away. I'd be surprised if 90+% of US mail, was in fact ads, but I'm not in the USA, so maybe I shouldn't be.

Imagine thinking he shouldn't be in prison for possibly fucking over hundreds if not thousands of people on important documents from the IRS and Insurance companies. Not to mention possibly screwing over people who may gotten accepted into their dream school or only college choice and never getting the letter.

---

Alpha218 posted...

Feds take fucking with the mail very serious from what Ive heard

Also people are really glossing over this part too:

They discovered 97 pieces of first-class mail, which included letters from the Department of Motor Vehicles, the IRS, insurance companies, bank statements and other tax return documents.

I get that majority of these letters were ads and people aren't going to be upset not getting an ad letter mailed to them, but imagine if you were the guy who didn't get your tax return document.

---

Tmaster148 posted...

The bulk of the mail was advertisements, more than 4,700 ads at that.

Hero

---

JE19426 posted...

To be fair it's possible he specifically targeted ads as mail to hid away. I'd be surprised if 90+% of US mail, was in fact ads, but I'm not in the USA, so maybe I shouldn't be.

Thats a good point.

90%+ would surprise me but honestly we do get a fuckload of ads (its extremely annoying).

Caution999 posted...

It's a federal law. I think a year (in reality likely half a year) is the best you can hope for. We have laws for a reason. The guy could've went to his boss and said he had too much mail or quit and gotten another job. Instead, he chose to...rent a storage unit and keep piling up mail.

True, he should have done that. But if were arguing that the whole thing is broken and postal workers are overworked, I think sympathy is warranted. Perhaps it was implied to him hed lose the job if he did that.

---

Shablagoo posted...

All of this minus the government part. If 94% (using this topic as an example) of the mail they deliver is ads and we cut those out they could clearly easily manage.

This
---

Tmaster148 posted...

but imagine if you were the guy who didn't get your tax return document.

...or whatever this was

There was also one undelivered package found in the unit.

He was just entrusting them to another porter.

Kolibri X posted...

Newman!

Because the mail never stops. It just keeps coming and coming and coming. There's never a letup, it's relentless. Every day it piles up more and more, and you gotta get it out, but the more you get out, the more keeps coming in! And then the bar code reader breaks! And then it's Publisher's Clearinghouse Day...!
---

Questionmarktarius posted...

He is set to be sentenced on February 12.

Last thing of the OP said jail or fine.

I love this place and their position on laws and rules. Its a felony. So theres that. He continued on with committing a felony. Not like he just did it once. 14 months and 5,000 things so it shouldnt even just be one count. It should be 5,000 counts of committing a felony.

wonder how many people had their water cut off, late fees, reconnection fees, wonder if people got fucked on their taxes, all types of shit that could have happened because someone is lazy, slow, and too much of a child to speak up.

---

gatorsPENSbucs posted...

too much of a child to speak up

which just makes me more sympathetic to him tbh lol

Im just picturing the anxious hell that those 14 months must have been for him.

---

Time to grow up and learn. He gets a slap on his wrist this time then maybe next time its a lot worse. Or he never learns and another child in a grown ups body is fucking this country up.

---