saga of the stolen mail

Finally getting around to explaining this! On Nov 27 my mother-in-law, Judy, sent me a greeting card with a Hobby Lobby gift card in it as part of my Christmas. It actually went out of Memphis on Wednesday the 28. I should have received it on Saturday Dec 1. Another week or so passes and still no card. We thought maybe it had gotten lost in the shuffle of Christmas mail. Finally we decided OK, we had better report this as missing to HL and see if they can replace the gift card since she had the receipt. We email back and forth with corporate, and come to find out MY GIFT CARD had been redeemed for 2/3 of the amount at a Cincinnati HL on December 6!!! Of course we immediately assume it had been stolen out of our mail box. Meanwhile we realize that our paystub, which should have come on Saturday Dec 15, was not here yet and it was Monday by this point. We gave it another day or two and then when still no paystub, assume it too has been stolen from the mailbox. So, on Thursday Dec 20 we file a report with the sheriff and also with the postmaster. Both say there really isn't anything that can be done. We placed a hold on our mail indefinitely until we can figure out what we want to do. Nothing else has been stolen that we know of. I have called the credit card companies and canceled those annoying checks they send. Also I plan to check all the credit agencies to make sure we haven't had our identity stolen. John and I are both on edge about this and the fact that someone has a paystub - of course I am sure they assumed it was a check as it looked like a check. We hate that somebody has that information. Hence comes in the locking of the gate. We already have a buzzer alert about halfway up our drive that sounds a buzz in the house when it is crossed. But we both feel safer with our gate closed. Our driveway is very steep, gravel, covered from the road by woods and is maybe a 1/4 mile? I haven't clocked it. Anyway that is the only way in or out except on foot of course. You can't even see our house or any buildings from the road the way we are on a plateau - one of the things we loved about this place! So, talking around with people come to find out three other people on US 62 have had mail stolen. The ironic thing is, there is a sub mail carrier on Saturday, and for us and at least one other person the mail stolen was expected ON A SATURDAY. And this sub has made multiple mistakes, and had only been on the job since the end of November. So either he is stealing it, or he is misdelivering it and people aren't being honest, or someone is going up and down US 62 on Saturdays stealing mail right out of the boxes, either as an ongoing thing or just around the holidays. We have encouraged everyone to report the stolen mail so there is at least a trend on paperwork documented. This morning when I gave the UPS guy a key to the gate, I told him the story and he said he will be on the alert and pass the word around for suspicious activity. Back to the HL gift card. I followed up with Hobby Lobby to their security division and found out that the store where the gift card was redeemed has security cameras. However, our sheriffs dept says it is not their jurisdiction, that we would have to go to the Cincinnati Police Dept and file a report, and of course the signature on the gift card slip was not legible, and who knows if it captured this persons face and if it did if there would be a way to identify them! And then, what if the person who stole the card gave it away as a present, and the person who redeemed it was clueless? At least they could tell us who gave it to them, but man! What a hassle and pain in the patootie. HL was able to cancel the remaining amount on the gift card and refund it to me, about 1/3 of the original amount. Better than nothing. And John and I decided to drop it, even though it still irks me that this person stole from us! So, that is the stolen mail issue. I think we are going to install a security mailbox, as neither one of us really want to change our mailing address to a po box and have to pay for that, go pick it up, etc, etc. Having to pick it up on hold is pain enough. We really are vulnerable in many ways, dependent upon other people who you can only hope are honest, huh?