Dozens of parcels left unattended generally doesn’t fare well, but someone has been leaving 60-100packages at a time next to a mail box on Bruckner Boulevard during the night.
Postal police are now investigating the anomaly that has occurred at least twice, most recently on Wednesday, March 16 when about 60 to 70 packages were neatly stacked next to a mailbox on Quincy Avenue and Bruckner Boulevard, and also on Wednesday, February 23 when 75 to 100 packages were also left next to the same mailbox, according to neighbor Tom Ziegler.
Ziegler contacted the Throggs Neck Post Office when passerbys would stop and pick-up the packages, including what Ziegler said was someone in a city-owned vehicle, who came to pick up what remained of the packages on March 16.
“This has been happening in the middle of the night, and when we wake up in the morning, there are all these packages left next to the collection box at the curb,” Ziegler said. “These are just regular packages going to locations all over the city, and are from companies like Direct TV and Amazon.com.”
The packages are sealed and nothing seems suspicious about them, but nevertheless, Ziegler called the postal police.
Ziegler said, “The vast majority of the stuff is USPS, with some UPS and Federal Express packages mixed in as well.’”
“There was a homeless man who was opening the packages and pilfering the contents,” Ziegler said. “I called the police and they nabbed him, but later had to release him.”
An investigation by the postal inspector was brought on because Ziegler and others heavily pursued the issue.
“The Postal Inspection Service’s mission is to ensure public trust in the mail,” a source from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service New York stated. “We are responding to the information provided by Bronx residents regarding this incident. Postal inspectors are actively working behind the scenes to resolve this matter. Tips can be called in to (212) 330-2400.”
The sight of unattended mail left on the street is almost unthinkable for Ziegler.
“If you leave sealed parcels on the street they are probably going to disappear,” Ziegler said.
A call was placed to the New York City Department of Transportation about a worker who Ziegler said picked up about a dozen of the packages, but no comment was available at press time.
