Coupons...how some people save! NOT!

[kadee]

I couldn't believe this when I saw it!

www.timesherald.com/articles/2011/01/29/news/doc4d442953ca40d571687100.txt

[Opti]

N.Y. (AP) — A mail carrier on New York's Long Island is accused of pinching thousands of discount coupons intended for residents' mailboxes.

Police say 38-year-old Thomas Tang of Baldwin stole more than 7,000 J.C. Penney Co. discount coupons he was supposed to deliver to the department store's customers. Police say Tang then sold the coupons on eBay.

Since the article was so short I decided to post some of it. I have no idea how much JC Penney coupons are worth but it seems like an unusual choice for theft to me.

[tiredboomer]

I don't live in an area where I get Penney's coupons now, but Penney's used to have coupons once or twice a year for $10 off of a $10 purchase.

[Apple]

Penny's still does the $10 off $10 purchase, those were probably what he was stealing--you see the $10 off $50 all the time in the newspaper, but the $10/$10 is usually just around some of the holidays (Christmas, Mother's Day, etc). He could have made a lot of money off just those.

[bobbysgirl]

There was a time he would have gotten away with this. it's encouraging to see his crime did not pay off in the end.

My question is: Is nothing sacred?

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

I wonder if it was JCPenney that saw the coupons for sale on Ebay and decided to investigate? I wonder if any of the people buying coupons on Ebay wondered/considered the possibility that they were buying stolen coupons?

[bobbysgirl]

MOLLY: It would never occur to me that someone was interested in stealing coupons. Especially a mail person. When i worked for the gubment, I took an oath. I thought everyone did. If he did, I think he would get a worse case scenario for a sentence.

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

Unfortunately, it seems like postal carriers are often suspects in a lot of mail fraud/theft investigations. Don't get me wrong, I think it's a tiny percentage who turn out to be criminals, but those few certainly raise suspicions for everyone.

Then again, when I worked retail for 6.5 years, it was clear that in-store security spent just as much time watching/catching employees stealing cash + merchandise as they did shoplifting customers.

In our local newspaper today, two casiono employees (blackjack dealers) were just arrested for stealing chips and then slipping them to friends to cash in before splitting the money ~ they caught it all on secret videotape.

[rubyslippers]

Maybe that's why I haven't received any in a long time. I used to get them regularly.

[Deleted]

Hijacking sorta: I know retail cashiers are always watched.

For my department they run yearly criminal background checks as well as driving records. You get a blemish, and you get talked to nicely thankfully (not that I've experienced it). They also have us run PII (personal information something) tools on our pcs.

But I work IT, so we have access to a ton of stuff. (People save tax info, resumes, SSN, CCs, passports etc on their work computers.) I've never understood the people who email us their entire SSN.

I'm glad I'm not a postal worker though. I'm guessing they get a lot of blame if things end up missing.