Customers: Drive-up mailboxes at Davie post office frequently full

Sticker on boxes says mail picked up once per day

DAVIE, Fla. ā€“ Postal customers said the drive-up mailboxes at the U.S. Post Office in Davie are frequently full, making it easy for thieves to swipe their letters.

Some customers called it a reoccurring problem, an inconvenience, and a security risk.

Ron Thoreson said the drive-up mailboxes at the post office on State Road 84 sometimes have letters bulging out, just an arms length away from the driver pulling through.

"Then, someone comes up and they're going to push something in, and what if they're not an honest person?" asked Thoreson. "They could just take a whole handful. Maybe there's something in here that's good."

The sticker on the box says pick up is once a day at 5:45 p.m., but usually by that time, customers said they don't feel safe leaving their letters there.

"It's usually in the five o'clock hour, late in the afternoon, or after a long weekend," said one customer.

A postal employee said the boxes are emptied two or three times a day.

"When they are and we know about it, we come and we check it out," said the employee.

Debbie Fetterly, the spokeswoman for the Post Office in South Florida, said sometimes the narrow openings can get clogged up with a package, making the boxes appear full, or often business customers drop off several trays at once.

Soon after Local 10's Roger Lohse started asking questions, a worker came and cleaned out the mailboxes.

Thoreson said he's not trying to cause trouble and just wants to be sure his mail is safe.

"I understand the post office is in a budget crisis, I understand they are understaffed, but to sacrifice the public's ability to mail is not a compromise that can be taken," Thoreson said.

The spokeswoman for the post office said workers at that branch will be instructed to adjust their pick-up times and pay more attention to how full the boxes are during the day.