For the second time this year, our community mail boxes are being targeted by some lowlife who thinks stealing our mail is easier than working for a living. Canada Post appear to be doing nothing.

Does anybody know of any small, cheap tracking device I could place in an envelope in my mailbox that, ideally, I could then watch on my computer screen as it leaves my mailbox...

Of course, it also begs the question, why am I doing this and not Canada Post or the police?

There is a small one on eBay, cost is $30 approx and it takes a SIM card. Works good, about the size of a box of matches

Will see if I can find a link, cant make a link?


View item:
Quad band GPS Tracking Device TK102B Car person Track device gps tracker

End Time: Nov 25, 2014, 10:18:12 EST

Mail security in Canada is a joke and Canada Post doesn't really care about it and for local police its probably not a high priority for their departments.

If theft is an issue, I'd just go and get a PO Box at the post office and reduce as much as possible to not receiving any mail at home.

I lived in an area and the boxes got hit 1-2 times a month consistently around the last Wed of the month when many government agencies send out cheques.

Where I live now the carrier routinely leaves the mail boxes unlocked so anyone walking past can access them all.

Thanks, both, for your replies. Magnumpi, do you have any experience with this tracker yourself as the reviews on Amazon don't sound promising.

And, Jsmth, I don't really want the ongoing expense of a rented P.O. box and having to drive out every day just to fetch my mail when the community mailbox is 200 feet from my house.

I'm a bit miffed that I have to do anything at all. Does anyone have any ideas on how I can persuade Canada Post that perhaps they should be replacing their master locks if somebody is getting in? I should say the boxes show no sign of having been broken into.

What do they steal? Isn't mail just bills and advertising these days? Is the government still messing around with cheques, no direct debits?

Thats kind of what I was thinking too... Maybe in this nation of immigrants there are enough overseas grandparents sending kids birthday money to make it worthwhile...

Them trackers are good for the money, it tells u when it moves and then u can dial it to get location

Mine is.

We get about 2-3 "useful" pieces of mail each week, and about the same from business that we do business with, so difficult to stop, then about a 2"-3" (5cm-8cm) stack of junk and catalogs! We probably get 4-6 cheques a year, most less than $50. .... I'm in the US, but Mrs P submits a hold mail request every week, so we get all our mail delivered on a Friday.

What do they steal? Identities.

I'd be looking very carefully at my credit report for any unusual activity

Hadnt thought of that....

I hear fraudulent credit card applications are sometimes followed by a second raiding of the mailbox to steal the newly issued credit card which was approved because it was sent to the "customer's" usual address.

we suspect that's how Ben's credit card was compromised many years ago, leading to a rather exciting "sting" operation , where we actually got to see an arrest being made!

Our bank advised us to cancel all paper statements as the perps. obviously had our address details.

Identity theft mostly these days and the government makes it even easier in the fact they print the full SIN number on the documents they send out from CRA, haven't figured out why they do that.


In some poorer area's the target is social assistance cheques which in BC arrive on the Wed of the last full week and thief's know this so they target boxes in the poorer area's on that day to steal cheques.

Yes, I suppose the identity theft thing is a risk. Credit cards too as Pulaski said. Still, paper cheques are antiquated - especially if stuff like this is going on.

Yes cheques are, unfortunately banks don't make it easy to obtain an account for the poor and very low income the bank fees can be excessive and not something they can afford.

There are a variety of reasons why the disabled on those on social assistance don't have bank accounts.

They can take a paper cheque from the government and cash if for free at most banks.