AUSTIN (KXAN) — The United States Postal Service said it will investigate after one man complained a mail carrier overstepped her authority with his important and expensive delivery.
Awaiting Delivery
Nathan Grodowitz knows numbers.
“I’m probably one of the most organized people that the post office has to deal with,” said Grodowitz, who has filed a formal complaint with the USPS.
As a racecar computer engineer, he’s constantly analyzing data and watching the clock, waiting for his expensive and highly-important technology to arrive.
“I know mail, I know shipping. And I know when it’s not working right.”
That’s why he was on high-alert when his high-tech computer, which he had been expecting, showed it had been signed for and delivered but wasn’t on his doorstep.
“Normally I order stuff and I expect it to be on time and I am incredibly conscientious for when it arrives,” he said.
Surveillance video Grodowitz has shows a postal worker coming up to his door and trying to drop off his package. The only problem is it’s a full hour-and-a-half after official USPS documents show it had been delivered.
“This is a common thing that postal workers do to improve their times so it looks like they are doing more work than they actually are with less people,” Grodowitz said. He says he called to investigate and found out it’s not allowed.
“I was like, ‘Is it okay for a postal worker to sign for a signature package?’ And they said ‘under no circumstances,’” Grodowitz said. “They were shocked someone would do this.”
But what Grodowitz wants is a little more accountability.
“If you sign for it, that’s fraud. Like mail fraud.”
A statement from the USPS
A spokesperson with USPS told KXAN they take the security and sanctity of the mail seriously.
No uniform shown
It’s still not clear why the postal worker was wearing plain clothes and not an official uniform in the surveillance video.
KXAN obtained other videos that show her using what appears to be a certified USPS truck and tools. The postal service says it will look into this and respond fully when it knows more.
Internal Investigations
The Postal Service does investigate its own employees and even arrests them when necessary.
In 2017, after more than 700 investigations, the Inspector General secured 30 convictions, USPS reported. Almost 600 administrative actions were taken.
In terms of business, the postal service reports it has been gaining back customers over the last decade, but it noted that online shopping and companies like Amazon have hurt business.
Last year, volume topped six billion packages, the post office reported. But the bigger problem has been revenue. That has declined since 2015, now below $13 billion dollars.
In fact, last year, the Postal Service lost just under $4 billion dollars overall.