According to La Poste, mail thefts in the capital are more and more recurrent. Even ifthe Prefecture of police didnot count this year of increase of thefts in the yellow mailboxes, the company indicates that the closing of 200 of them is linked to it. This corresponds to 1 in 6 mailboxes , since there are about 1200 in Paris. An inconvenient situation for the concerned inhabitants, who must now drive a little more to find a yellow box on their way.
The Post Office indicates that these mailboxes had to be condemned because it was impossible to secure them effectively because of their age or their configuration, depending on the models present in the capital. The inscription "Closed for security reasons" is then affixed on the box. Emmanuel Cottin, general secretary CGT of the postal services of Paris, believes in RTL that thefts and dilapidation are not enough to explain the disappearance of these mailboxes. According to him, new ones, more up to standard, could be installed to replace the old ones .
In case of mail theft, users could see their identity stolen or used to take out loans, which the Post Office wishes to avoid. To prevent such theft, mail carriers now collect mail twice a day instead of once. An electronic unlocking system has also been installed on many yellow mailboxes.
