USPS offering new service this week to combat mail theft

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- From your inbox to your mailbox, the U.S. Postal Service is equipping families with a new tool to fight mail theft by giving you a digital preview of your day's delivery.

Starting Friday, you'll be able to register for an informed delivery service that will send scanned pieces of your mail to you by e-mail - letting you know if someone tampered with your mailbox.

Years after crooks crowbarred their way into one Fresno resident's mailbox, Darlene Cunnings is still paying for the intrusion of privacy.

"I started getting bills from PG&E, Comcast, and they were charging on my social security," she said.

It's not just her neighborhood. All across Fresno, thieves have been prying units and smashing locks - leaving neighbors unsure of what's been compromised.

"Anything has got to be better than what's happening," Cunnings said.

The USPS says starting this Friday you can get images of your mail sent to your phone. It's part of the informed delivery program.

"All your state regulated government mail, that would be a great idea to have sent to you as a form of security," Fresno resident Arvelia Cooper said.

The post office already uses high-resolution scanners to take pictures of your letters during sorting. All they'll be doing differently is sending you a copy, and it's all for free.

"If I knew when I was going on vacation, and what I was going to get that week, it would be great," Cunnings said.

Darlene says living in a neighborhood constantly hit by thieves is hard.

"I had to fight it every time, papers and papers and papers," she said.

Those images will be especially handy in preventing identity theft if the virtual pictures don't match with reality.