Writer Martha Steger learned the hard way that mailing gift cards is risky. She shares her story and tips on how to avoid gift card mail theft.
I can lavish praise upon my very professional local United States Postal Service office (USPS) and mail carrier – but, that aside, my biggest lesson learned between Christmas 2024 and Christmas 2025 is not to put gift cards in the postal mail. Research into the national issue shows my personal experience dovetails with what has become a growing national problem, especially over the past year.
While package theft (“porch piracy”) is widespread, theft of checks and sensitive mail from collection boxes or facilities is a major concern, with figures showing dramatic jumps in complaints and crimes against carriers. Nearly 1.7 million cases of mail theft occur every day, according to USPS, with nearly 40% of Americans who have a mailing address experiencing the pain and time-consuming trouble of a stolen mail delivery at some point in their lives. In 2024 – as USPS reported 58 million stolen packages and what it calls “a worrying trend of internal theft by postal employees” – I became one of those statistics.
I hadn’t considered that sending a Costco gift card for several hundred dollars was the same as sending cash through the mail. In late November 2024, I sent my Anchorage, Alaska, daughter, via USPS registered mail, a physical Costco gift card to purchase items for her new apartment. The card had not arrived by early February – which even Alaska dogsled could have accomplished.
After submitting the registered mail supporting information to USPS as an official complaint, I received a call from the postal service’s investigative unit to thank me for the necessary data and to give me a case number. The only thing determined within a few days was that the envelope got no farther than processing at the Culpeper Post Office. The case was marked closed because I was informed the card was undelivered mail. But my own detective work revealed my card was stolen, not just undelivered.
I got, from my Costco account, the number on the gift card I had purchased and Costco was able to track all of the purchases on the card to its Charlottesville store: The thief had cleverly set up a temporary Costco membership, made the hundreds of dollars of purchases, then closed the membership. The store had video footage of the purchases being made, but the thief was versed in wearing a hoodie to make recognition almost impossible.
Related: Beware of Package Scams
Despite the acknowledged problem with internal theft, USPS has not been more forthcoming regarding the Culpeper heist. My local postmaster told me, “Some people pat the mail all during its processing.”
I am hard-pressed to criticize USPS because I also discovered that 45,000 permanent postal workers got paid via Money Order (as opposed to their regular paychecks) for more than six months during Louis DeJoy’s time as U. S. Postmaster General because of – according to his communications office – the implementation of his widely touted new computer system. (ABC News in Northern Virginia covered the situation of the 45,000 workers because Virginia was one of the states where postal employees were affected and were paid via money order.)
This year I have mailed no gift cards, but I have emailed electronic ones (also recommended by Costco), and I personally handed my mail carrier a physical gift card.
For mail safety tips, visit the United States Postal Inspection Service, with a page dedicated to tips for the holidays. Go to USPS.com for mail safety tips and for information on reporting mail theft.
