Editorial: Cancel this proposal

Tuesday, April 6, 2004 | 9:03 a.m.

With Metro Police saying that Nevada leads the nation in cases of identity theft, now is not the time for the U.S. Postal Service to be turning mailbox keys over to home builders and homeowners associations. This is what it is planning to do, however, in a move to save money. The new policy would affect "collective box units," which have been in use in Las Vegas subdivisions for many years. The units are timesavers, enabling mail carriers to deliver mail and pick it up from several homes at once. The only drawback is security. Although each box is keyed, a thief skilled in picking locks is able to steal from several boxes while appearing to be just a resident getting his mail. Metro Police say this has long been a problem.

And the problem could grow under the Postal Service's proposed new policy. In new subdivisions, the Postal Service wants the homebuilder or a homeowner's association to manage the mail box keys. But this would make residents easy pickings for thieves, particularly identity thieves looking for checks, bills, credit-card applications and other financial documents. It would be impossible for homeowner's associations or home builders to securely store and manage the keys. In our view, wherever collective box units exist, in apartment complexes or on streets with single-family homes, it should be the Postal Service -- and only the Postal Service -- that manages the keys.