Leslie Tripp reports:
Hundreds of pieces of mail fluttered onto interstates in eastern Missouri Sunday after the back door of a contractor’s semi carrying mail for the U.S. Postal Service popped open.
The mail was scattered along 70 miles of highway near St. Louis, according to Postal Inspector Dan Taylor, who said the tractor-trailer was carrying mostly statements and bills bound for the West Coast. He added that he didn’t think any personal mail was lost.
Read more or watch the video on CNN. The postal inspector interviewed in the video said that the mail appeared to belong to two companies. Let’s hope those weren’t bills for anything sensitive, as even if mail is not “personal” mail, it may contain personal information.
What information was on the bills or statements? I don’t think the postal inspector understood the question. Personal mail might be greeting cards. If it is information sent by a company an account number might be on the paper, a statement might include where items had been purchased (ie a credit card billing statement). Clearly no one asked: Could any of the lost information be used to commit fraud or identity theft?