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There's a lot of mail theft and identity theft these days, and my own mailbox is down by the highway at the foot of the property, which is about 1500 feet from my house.

When sending paper checks - as some people still do for some things - they can send checks by special guaranteed type of delivery or whatever they want to do at considerable cost (certified/registered/overnight/etc.), but this has worked for us:

- Instead of one piece of typing paper around a check, wrap about 6/10 of an ounce of advertising crap (that you were going to throw away anyway) around the check.

- In front of your own name on the return address, put "Rev."

- In front of the recipient's name put "Brother" or "Sister".

Along the bottom of the BACK side, write, "We missed you in church Sunday, Brother ______, Here's Sunday's bulletin, and we sure hope to see you this Sunday."

That piece of mail does NOT look like a check, and will go with only one first class stamp.

Finally, don't add tracking... That just draws attention, and makes the contents appear possibly valuable.


... and I don't need to hear about venmo, paypal, and all that jazz. This post specifically pertains to mailing paper checks - when one needs to - for under $1 postage, and employing a strategy to fool thieves.

.

Brother David,

Your last check bounced.

Leave only cash, certified check or money orders in the collection plate next week.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Yours, together in faith,

Rev. Filthy T. Lucre

Go to the post office and mail a check inside the post office..
Very easy...

bisontuba wrote: Thu Jul 24, 2025 7:23 pm Go to the post office and mail a check inside the post office..
Very easy...

...ok...

..and use the strategy I suggested, because mail can be stolen anywhere between your local post office and final delivery... ...certainly from one of the major sorting centers.

Mail ends up being stolen out of the Memphis sorting center all the time...(whether storm, snow, or heat, but mostly during the gloom of night)

... but it's just as easy for some of our more distinguished citizens to follow rural route mail vehicles by about a quarter of a mile, and pilfer through mailboxes just after mail has been delivered.

We had an issue with Chuck's being stolen from the mailbox out front of the post office... mostly return business envelopes with the utility or business name stamped on the front.. Postal inspectors got involved and arrested a Post Office employee.

I write checks so infrequently that, on the rare occasion when I need one, I typically screw it up and have to void it.

Remember the term Sewer Service? It was a long time ago, but there was a carrier who routinely dumped the mail in the sewer and went on his merry way.

Mary Ann wrote: Fri Jul 25, 2025 9:53 am Remember the term Sewer Service? It was a long time ago, but there was a carrier who routinely dumped the mail in the sewer and went on his merry way.

Yes, and that was outrageous...and/but that's about 1% as harmful as a postal employee (or a mail carrier vehicle-follower) stealing a check, isn't it?

Either way, the check is gone. If the postal employee is dumb enough to cash it, s/he will be caught.

Mary Ann wrote: Fri Jul 25, 2025 10:04 am Either way, the check is gone. If the postal employee is dumb enough to cash it, s/he will be caught.

I believe it's difficult for some people - people ranging from a little bit to a lot above average intelligence, and who also try to keep their lives under control - to understand just how foolishly some people govern their own lives. Additionally, someone - who is desperate for a heroin fix - needs that heroin at that moment more than a need to not be caught stealing one day later.

It is said that every possible thing that men can do fairly easily has (already) been done - at least by a few men, simply because they can.

A long time ago someone sent me a check for 6 or 8 bucks or some small amount (maybe not that small) after we did a cross country tuba transaction. Did I say that was a long time ago? I don't even remember what that was for maybe a "reimbursement" for overage fees? I Just tossed it, never got around to talking with the shipper/seller/check writer about it, I'd just figured they don't need to be paying me back that little amount and can keep the money in their account. Anyway, just telling you and the universe THAT particular check didn't get swiped

If I have to 'write a cheque' nowadays that typically means I set it up in my bank bill-pay system and they issue the cheque and mail it to the recipient. If it goes missing they have all the info on it already to deal with any issues that might come up.

Bloke's checks and Wade's shipping fall into the same general category.

I'm just suggesting to (maybe??) not make a piece of mail appear to be important or valuable.

Wondering how they handle bad check writers in the Czech Republic…….

bloke wrote: Thu Jul 24, 2025 3:58 pm - Instead of one piece of typing paper around a check, wrap about 6/10 of an ounce of advertising crap (that you were going to throw away anyway) around the check.

- In front of your own name on the return address, put "Rev."

- In front of the recipient's name put "Brother" or "Sister".

Along the bottom of the BACK side, write, "We missed you in church Sunday, Brother ______, Here's Sunday's bulletin, and we sure hope to see you this Sunday."

What if the corrupt postal employee or mailbox thief sees it and decides they need to find salvation and turn their life around? Imagine how disappointed they will be when all they find inside is a check?

So, does that mean, with checks, that banks, are the originators of cancel culture?

Kinda like banks, on Valentine’s Day? No penalty for early withdrawal…….

Schlitzz wrote: Sat Jul 26, 2025 10:38 am Wondering how they handle bad check writers in the Czech Republic…….

"bad Czech writers"

You know, they do not have the first amendment there...

... and czech out the hate speech (along with actual arrest) they use against this guy for speaking his mind:

https://tvpworld.com/84417269/right-win ... billboards

Fascinating. he does not "look" Czech nor does his name "sound" Czech.
Kind of reminds me of what happened in the US not that long ago, when a Navajo man was speaking at a rally and some idiot young white kid whose ancestors came in and wiped out the natives of this continent, yelled that he should go back where he came from. Since I'm not fond of either idiocy or blind ignorance, I vote for the Navajo guy.

I'm old school and send checks to pay bills (long story).
I go to one of the big blue boxes to drop them off...

Checks are only good to who they are made out to, so I guess I don't see the big problem