The Benton County Sheriff's Department has alerted citizens about a new USPS program designed to help curb mail theft.

The Department says they've seen (like other agencies) a spike in mail and package theft. Especially in more outlying areas of the county, more and more residents report mail being stolen. Many of them don't have lock boxes like inner city folks.

The Sheriff's Department says the new USPS program will provide you an email with a picture or scan of what letters  you are due to receive each day in your box. If any come up missing, you know you've been a potential mail theft victim.

  The program is called Informed Delivery, and sign up is free. According to USPS:

"Digitally preview your mail and manage your packages scheduled to arrive soon! Informed Delivery allows you to view greyscale images of the exterior, address side of letter-sized mailpieces and track packages in one convenient location.*

* Images are only provided for letter-sized mailpieces that are processed through USPS' automated equipment."

Hey, it's better than nothing! Besides previewing incoming mail, you can also more easily track packages coming to you, and reschedule deliveries to times when you know you are going to be home.

And one of the best parts? Informed Delivery is free. To find out more about this service, which is reccomended by local law enforcement for people to consider, click on the button below.

However, judging from some information we have learned, make sure you read over all the information carefully. Reportedly the service may not be available to all locations. But it's worth checking out.

Mail thieves--or Not?

 

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