In a word despicable.

I need to add this brief history the the courageous US Postal Service:

In 1775, before the Declaration of Independence was even signed, the Continental Congress turned the Constitutional Post into the Post Office of the United States, whose operations became the first—and for many citizens, the most consequential—function of the new government itself.

Why risk federal charges for.... what exactly did they get in return? Not a good payoff. So sorry to hear she was injured, I hope folks are taking good care of her.

@Paly02
They got the postal keys, which allow them to unlock and open mail collection and storage boxes and multi-unit mailboxes in whatever area the keys cover. Sometimes those also unlock secure building lobbies. Now the robbers can steal mail and obtain account info, credit, debit and gift cards, etc. A similar theft in the Seattle area led to months of mail disruption in one neighborhood to the point that the USPS had to stop deliveries in multi unit buildings there for a few months until they finally caught the criminal.

@Mondoman, thanks for letting me know. I hope they find them quickly!!

I agree with Mondoman, this is a quite serious crime and at this point we are lacking in information about just how much risk there may be in putting a letter into the local mail (given that it contains checks with routing numbers, bank account numbers, etc.). Theft from mailboxes in the absence of a key theft has been a growing problem in recent years to the point that the best plan was to put mail in a mailbox during daylight hours and optimally not long before the collection time. The current development suggests the safest plan would be to put sensitive mail directly into the mail slot inside a post office building such as on Hamilton. What a mess.

Mail carriers have always been such great people to me. Palo Alto was such a great town when I lived there.

Palo Alto is still a great town. I love living here. This is one incident, though similar crimes are on the rise elsewhere--like Seattle, for instance.

I hope the injured postal worker recovers quicky and fully. I'm sorry this happened to her.

Neighbors, we can all help our local police. When you see something, SAY something. If it is an emergency (like a robbery in progress), call 911. If it is an non-emergency that needs to be checked out (like a vehicle parked in a bike lane), call PAPD's non-emergency number 650-329-2413. (Never use social media to report crimes in progress.) Palo Alto Police are well-trained professionals. We, evidently, need more of them.

The robbers need to be caught and sent to JAIL for a long time. We need better officer coverage. Our city's police are very well-trained, but over-extended.

Thieves with postal keys have been stealing checks from blue mail boxes in Los Altos and reselling them. This is a national problem.

Web Link

I will take a guess ... this isn't one of the residential areas with video camera footage to help the police arrest and prosecute these criminals, is it?

Another problem occurring is wjth the Post Office boxes. Someone jams something in them so the envelopes do not go down into the box. This is occurring at the boxes in the shopping center at Charleston and Middlefield next to the market. Next time you go to put your mail into the box make sure it goes all the way down. I think this happens where people are sitting next to the boxes working on their computers or eating.