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The Role of the United States Postal Service in Public Safety and Security
Implications of Relaxing the Mailbox Monopoly
The United States Postal Service (USPS) has long held a statutory monopoly to deliver mail to mailboxes (the Mailbox Rule). Critics have argued against it, mainly on economic, anti-monopoly grounds and on property rights grounds for mailbox owners. But relaxing the Mailbox Rule may have ramifications in other areas — in particular, public safety and security. Based on descriptive analysis of the United States Postal Inspection Service (IS) reported-incident database, the authors find that the main risk to the public of opening mailbox access may be in terms of theft from the mailbox. An increase in mail theft might occur because more people would make deliveries to the mailbox, increasing opportunities for mail theft. In addition, depending on how the Mailbox Rule is relaxed, we would expect greater variability in personnel in terms of the type of training that personnel have received. Relaxing the Mailbox Rule would also limit the number of crimes that the IS polices, denying the public the benefit of the only law enforcement agency that specializes in this field. Relaxing the Mailbox Rule would also make it more complicated and costly for the IS to police the crimes still in its jurisdiction. The authors offer recommendations to address these concerns.
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Pages: 222
ISBN/EAN: 9780833046154
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Contents
Chapter One:
Introduction
Chapter Two:
The USPS's Monopolies and Its Role in Public Safety
Chapter Three:
Relaxing the Mailbox Rule: Effect on Public Safety and Security Incidents
Chapter Four:
Relaxing the Mailbox Rule: Effect on the IS's Ability to Detect, Deter, and Investigate Crime
Chapter Five:
Public Perceptions About Relaxing the Mailbox Rule
Chapter Six:
Conclusions and Issues for Further Consideration
Appendix A:
Methods
Appendix B:
Detailed Tables of Incidents
Appendix C:
Guidelines and Training
Appendix D:
Differences Between FTC and IS Fraud Data
This research was sponsored by the United States Postal Service and was conducted under the auspices of the Safety and Justice Program within RAND Infrastructure, Safety, and Environment (ISE).
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