it happens every time someone sends out threat letters or another white powder hoax and my phone starts to ring people become concerned about their mail this kind of stuff gets the headlines but the real threats are things like identity theft or dumpster divers either way we try to help [Music] mr. help all inspector gonner nice nice we certainly appreciate you guys coming out I thought we could talk for just a minute and then we'll take a tour of the mail center that's fine how many employees do you have mr. Hopewell well at this location carrying the front office 2100 we received mail from about two thirds that number most of our products go out by truck but we are responsible for about a thousand pieces of mail a day you mentioned on the phone that you had some concerns well yeah like everybody else we're concerned about terrorism things being sent through the mail we understand your concerns but your company isn't likely be a target in fact threats in the mail are very rare it's like one in billions many organizations are concerned about being the target of extremists that's even more rare you know the very few cases of truly dangerous threats that we see nearly all of them are very personal are intended for one specific target like what you know we've never prompted in protests here at this company but we have had some employees personal problems that have caused us concerned it's why it's still important have a plan for dealing with suspicious mail and packages like you probably have a plan for dealing with workplace violence sure even hoaxes or false alarms can really really disrupt an operation we're along some posters this is our suspicious male poster really help your employees learn the obvious things to look for excessive postage stains all over this too much tape mail like this would stand out like a sore thumb here and you want your employees to be alert to these type of signs but sometimes dangerous packages don't look all that different from regular mail so it's important for you to have a plan that takes an all-hazards approach okay well what do you suggest well it's fairly straightforward when your employees receives a package they weren't expecting or you know looks a little unusual just make sure they attempt to verify the package with the sender before they open it usually a phone call there are things right up sounds reasonable stephen ridge this is dan anderson and bradley McMinn i got a package here for Tom Farnsworth he used to be a VP of ours but he had worked here in quite a while did you send it I see product samples also keep in mind that threats can come from a number of different sources express delivery services couriers even things that are just left behind by visitors your plan should address all the ways that correspondence can enter the building but the actual threat of receiving anything dangerous is very low there are some other areas around here that should concern you a lot more like what inspector opportunistic second dumpster divers identity scams these things happen a lot more and you might think well I have some experience in that area unfortunately last year we had an employee caught going through some packages so what can we do to prevent those sorts of problems from happening in the future that's a good start we mention opportunistic theft oh that can be things like employees pilfering small items like cash gift cards books DVDs well our employees don't typically handle much cash it's a really good policy think about it someone's sorting the mail and they see a birthday card that's been mail from out of state there's a really good chance it's gonna be something of value in there may be a gift card you're really tempting especially for a new worker or temporary employee you know that's exactly what happened last Christmas what can we do to stop that from happening again you can ask employees not to receive personal mail at work you can install security cameras employees are less likely to be tempted that way hold up sick let's just go hey don't allow any mail of materials to be taken out the back door this makes it too easy to smuggle things out to a car to an accomplice cougar and be very careful of schemes involving trash containers don't ever allow mail or boxes to be discarded directly into the trash we arrested a guy last year they're just throwing valuables into the trash and he was simply collecting from the dumpster after hours undiluted yeah you also want to keep your purchasing and your mail center functions separate you don't your employees to be able to order merchandise and then intercept it when it comes into the building well that's not really a problem here because any purchase over ten dollars requires a p.o and that has to be signed by simplifies it's a good idea Oh see your posters meter mm-hmm we suggest you treat that like an ATM why I mean what's to steal postage oh you'd be surprised we've got a middle level manager last year using his company's postage meter to promote a new small business he was trying to launch may not sound like much he was sending out hundreds of brochures and materials every week mounted to over ten thousand dollars before anyone got wind of it well even if we installed cameras in here we couldn't stop that I mean our employees mater hundreds of pieces of mail every day and frankly there's nothing suspicious about it there's the easy fix for that just compare your outgoing mail volume with your postage expenses every month or so and once you know the average for both any large variation really stand out okay well that's pretty much the tour you guys want to go back to my office thanks sure you're not mailing out why nice oh no someone just used that for repackaging reusing boxes is fine but markings for non mailable items they've gotta be removed are completely marked out and no mailing of alcohol beer wine liquor it's illegal and potentially dangerous okay Colby could you do me a favor and plaster over the markings on that wine box sure thanks we've gone through all the aspects of our security survey and overall we think you're in good shape physical security of your building is excellent our only suggestions are operational or involve reducing opportunities for crime well then that's nice to hear but what about the areas where we need improvement have you given much thought to identity theft actually we have you mentioned dumpster diving earlier we have a policy here that all discarded mail go to the shredder before it goes to the trash and after your suggestion about the packaging I'm going to implement a policy that all boxes be broken down as well good that's really good we did notice that your employees have access to the personnel database yes I did was that a problem well it could be it could be an opening for ID theft you just you might want to consider limiting the number of employees that have access and it'd be a really good idea if you separate personal information like home addresses Social Security numbers from the company directory I don't believe there's any personal data in that database but I will check with HR just to make sure we thought about illegal drugs being shipped through here through the mail yeah it happens we've arrested people who've had illegal drugs ship to their office or mail center set it to their homes they think they're less likely to get caught that way remember I case Nichols working Chicago last year kid was working in a mail room at a college there and he decided to create a fictional student give his own mailbox and everything the source was shipping steroids now from Canada to this non-existent student know whenever the mailroom clerks are a name on a package just slip it out to his car how did you guys catch him supervisor got a little suspicious when he saw three packages from Canada all in the same week started looking into it so that rent had never been paid on the box and lo and behold the student had never been registered at this school every called us it didn't take that long to figure the whole thing Isaac let me ask you what should I be looking forward my setting packages from source States Arizona California Florida Texas in Canada is a source for steroids and even date rape drugs we're seeing a lot of those in liquid form well you know what we get packages from all those places all the time how would I know what to look for here okies being alert to things out of the ordinary chances are you get packages from the same suppliers over and over and they're going to the same people inside your company right okay so if I have an employee who suddenly starts skinny packages from one of these states that's something I should probably look into exactly exactly just just stay alert and by showing a strong interest in security like you're doing you're gonna make people think twice before trying anything also be a really good idea to do background checks on mail center employees okay I'll make a note of that as well you mentioned your outgoing mail volume earlier what can thanks to mail well basically it's just routine correspondence few packages and once a quarter we do send out a mass mailing really tell us tell us a little about that well we um send out product samples to potential customers and we use mailing lists a couple hundred thousand pieces at a time but we only do that kind of volume like once a quarter these type of mailings are concerned and we've had people mail out samples of their products like sports drink powder mixes other liquids and powders if they're not properly packaged they can leak out and cost customers or mail handlers to be concerned there's a hazard we do send out some small powder samples are there any guidelines for packaging oh yeah proper packaging is it's a big concern you need to label your samples clearly on the outside this way if there is a spill that can be easily identified and many mailers are even putting their company websites or telephone numbers on the outside of the mail pieces just makes it easier to contact you if there's a question ah yeah great it looks perfect you might also want to notify the postal service before doing a mass mailing that raises any concerns that way we've got you in our system and can quickly clear up any problems okay I'll make a note of that what else talk to your marketing department company's ad agency mmm you wouldn't believe some of the clever marketing ideas we've seen my favorite is an ad agency in Cleveland who sent out fake hand grenades their slogan was this sales the Bombers oh I'm sure somebody thought that was a clever idea but they obviously didn't think about the people who'd be opening those packages die notice your company requires ID badges that's that's a great idea what do you do about vendors well our vendors have ID badges that we control and any visitors have to sign in at the front desk and then they're escorted around the building by an employee hmm we think you're on the right track mr. Hopewell I'm gonna talk to our management group about the cameras we have a fairly high turnover rate most of our top executives started in the mailroom but we do also have a lot of young people and it's just better to be safe than sorry you think about those background checks and remember to limit access to that loading dock well I'll take care of that this afternoon I never realized how easy it would be to pilfer mail that way glad we can help give us a call if you have any questions or just concerned about some I really appreciate you coming out you've been a great help on let's go to jail you can get more information on mail center security on our website ww usps.com / postal inspectors look for our suspicious male poster which is free to download it is also included on this DVD and can be accessed on most computers we get a lot of questions about suspicious or dangerous mouth but the odds of that affecting your company are remote the real security concerns are much more mundane now remember these simple steps to make your mail center more secure number one make sure that you have a plan for dealing with suspicious packages before opening any package that seems suspect verify the contents with the sender number to limit access to your mail center and pay attention to the physical security of your building don't allow mail to be discarded without shredding and be sure to break down all boxes before they're disposed of number three consider background checks for mail center employees and install cameras to discourage theft and lastly make security a priority in your mail center by displaying a strong interest in protecting your company's mail you'll discourage crimes from happening by taking these simple steps we discussed today you can reduce losses increase security and avoid liability to your organization now remember security is everyone's concerned [Music]