Friday, April 17, 2026

Signed, sealed… not delivered? Warning posted on Avenue B mailbox

Photos by Stacie Joy 

There's a notice taped to a USPS mailbox on Avenue B at Eighth Street. 

The sign reads in part: 
WARNING DO NOT MAIL YOUR TAXES HERE!!!!! Last night at 2:30 in the morning I saw a man fishing out mail from the mail box ... 
The person who posted the warning says they plan to report the incident to USPS. (In case you do, too: 212-673-3771.)
Someone also glued the box shut for good measure... ditto for another mailbox on Avenue B and Third Street.

And now an EVG PSA: Use common sense when mailing anything important — and consider bringing sensitive mail directly to a post office... especially your "10 records or tapes for $1" postcard to Columbia House.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Someone needs to get a job or do something else valuable with their time - Geeeze

Scuba Diva said...

It's been a long time since I've used a street-corner mailbox to mail anything; hope they're working on a new design of mailbox that can't be fished.

tom said...

Fishing for mail has been around a long time. I bring any mail to the post office.

hywel dda said...

The mailboxes on 2nd & both 10th St. & St Marks have sticky goo on the mail slots. The box on 3rd Ave last week had goo & someone had tried to slide in a plastic mailing envelope. It stuck.
I'd say go to a Post Office but about 3 years ago I mailed Fed & State taxes, my rent check and ConEd payment in the Cooper Square mail slot. None were received.
I do everything online now.

Andrew Porter said...

I never ever mail anything in a mail box on the corner any more. Also, many boxes where I live have been removed, because of this problem.

Scuba Diva said...

I have good results (so far) sending things from East Village Postal.

Mitchell said...

I believe this has been an issue for a while in the city. There are some gangs that make six figures per month on mail-related NYC check fraud.

Unfortunately, it is not getting the coverage it receives. There was a journalist who was trying to track them down, but the gang members pointed a gun in his face, and the coverage has since stopped.

I'm not going to mention the specific name of the group who is doing this, as I believe it will lead to my comment being taken down - but the information is out there!

Anonymous said...

I've had the same experience at Cooper Square. I told the manager and he was very defensive. It's probably an ongoing problem. But I've never had a check washed. So it might just be sloppy workers.