After allegations of mail theft and missing mail, the LMU Distribution Center asked inspectors from the U.S. Postal Service and the Office of the Inspector General to visit and evaluate its operations. Fault has not been determined to date, however, the Office of the Inspector General reported the LMU Distribution Center is running "a pretty tight ship" on Friday, Feb. 22.
"Apparently, there had been ongoing problems at LMU, such as reports of mail theft," said Jeffrey Hayes, special agent with the United States Postal Service Office of the Inspector General. "So we went out there to check out the operation and to see if the problems had any connection to the Postal Service."
The Office of the Inspector General (OIG), an agency that focuses on internal crime within the U.S. Postal Service, visited LMU on Jan. 9, 2008. The investigation is ongoing, but he said the Distribution Center is not the only factor being considered when mail goes missing on campus.
"I didn't find anybody in particular at fault," Hayes said. "I found that the LMU Distribution Center is actually very well run."
An inspector from the U.S. Postal Service visited the Distribution Center a month earlier on Dec. 11, 2007, at the request of the Distribution Center staff. Both inspectors were called to determine at which stage of the postal system mail theft is occurring.
"It was our coordinator Tony Figueroa's idea to invite the inspectors," said Philip Drange, Manager of the Distribution Center. "We just want to clear up any question marks."
Drange also said he could not release additional information about the investigation at this time. The official cause of students' missing mail remains under investigation.
Both Drange and Figueroa make it a priority in the Distribution Center to prevent mail theft. Any packages, what they call "accountables," are handled by staff members only, and ordinary letter-size mail is pre-sorted at the post office. Any mail not pre-sorted is then sorted by staff members or experienced student workers, usually seniors.
"About two and a half years ago, we started putting personal mail, such as letters and NetFlix, in an entirely separate bin from other mail such as bills and magazines," said Drange. "Only staff members - not student workers - handle this bin."
"The students are always up for following these policies because they don't want to be suspected," said Figueroa. "We keep track of who sorts each piece of mail and who delivers it to each campus box."
No one handling mail is ever left alone at the Distribution Center. This includes both staff members and student workers at all locations where mail is handled at LMU: the Distribution Center in P2, the trucks that pick up mail from the U.S. Post Office, the carts that deliver mail around campus, and the "rooms" (the small hallways between campus mailboxes).
"Nobody is ever by themselves just to eliminate question marks," said Figueroa.
Student workers are also required to leave all bags, backpacks and purses on a shelf in the Distribution Center in P2 and in bins in the mail room in U-Hall.
"We are working with human beings, so we do our best to remove temptation," said Drange.
Student workers seem to agree these policies work.
"I've never seen any problems with people stealing mail," said Moana Hom, a freshman studio arts major. "There are so many people working with you at one time, it isn't possible to take something without getting caught."
Drange and Figueroa also said missing mail is not always a case of theft. The Distribution Center received over 60,000 pieces of misdirected mail last year alone. Drange showed photocopies he made of misdirected mail from France, Japan, New Zealand and cities all across the U.S. This mail included everything from absentee ballots, to Christmas cards, to medical records and bills.
"Mail is misdirected when there is a mistake on the barcode," said Drange. "This happens when mail is at the Post Office, not at the Distribution Center."
Drange explained that it is then up to the individual locations to re-direct the mail to the right post office. He said it is very possible that some mail to be delivered to LMU has mistakenly wound up somewhere else.
"It is always a good idea to insure your mail," said Figueroa. "But remember, when a tracking code says mail has been delivered, it just means that it has been confirmed at the Post Office, not at our Distribution Center."
"A lot of things [LMU] does are to prevent theft at the Distribution Center," said Hayes, the OIG inspector. An official report will be released when the case is closed.
