Karen Samford, 72-Year-Old Postal Worker, Suspended For 'Hoarding' Stolen Mail (VIDEO)

On top of a financial crisis of devastating proportions, it looks like the U.S. Postal Service has yet another problem on its hands: an employee that's hoarding stolen mail.

Karen Samford, a 72-year-old postal worker in Texas, has been suspended from her job after admitting she stole and kept literally truckloads of bulk mail over the last decade, MyFoxHouston reports (h/t The Consumerist). Her boss reportedly became concerned with the excess mail in her office and asked if she had stashed any elsewhere, to which she admitted to renting entire storage units to hold the junk mail.

"This is a hoarding problem," she told MyFoxHouston. "People can have mental issues... it doesn't make them insane. It makes them stupid."

Read the entire MyFoxHouston report here.

Hoarding has been an especially popular topic of late, in part due to the success of TLC's Hoarding: Buried Alive, a show profiling those who suffer through the practice. This week, for example, firefighters in Arizona struggled to extinguish a house fire after finding thousands of beer cans and ceiling-high stacks of newspapers upon entering the home. The owner said he was just "holding on to" the trash.

But Samford's episode is only the latest public relations disaster for the struggling agency. USPS also made headlines just last week after a security camera caught on tape a postal worker throwing a package over a fence.

And it's not just USPS that's guilty of some bad deliveries. A similar event transpired last month when a FedEx employee delivered a package in much the same manner.

USPS has bigger problems than bad deliveries anyway. The independent government agency is facing the possibility of default due to a monstrous budget shortfall, even as it desperately seeks ways to reduce costs and raise revenues -- including cuts and raising the price of stamps.

Last month USPS announced it would delay the closure of some 3,700 local post offices and hundreds of mail processing centers to allow Congress time to pass legislation that would stave off default. The closures are currently estimated to result in $6.5 billion worth in savings and some 100,000 layoffs.

If USPS does reduce services, many small business owners fear the increased expenses of relying on more expensive private companies like FedEx will weigh on them, The Huffington Post reports.

Comments

[blue star]

01:08 AM on 02/11/2012

they want to raise the price on stamps again, to send my bills off, so they can get more money from me!!!! they cant do their job right in the first place!! i wonder why so many people are going paperless?

[dessertrose1986]

07:41 AM on 01/31/2012

On a lighter note...my husband purchased a newly priced stamp yesterday mourning. When it didn't stick completely, I put a little tape (scotch) as a precaution. On the way to post office, I'm thinking, maybe this won't work in all that sorting equipment?..(.I don't know, because I've not worked for the USPS). So I hand carried the letter inside the post office, asked the gal politely "will this be okay"? I was told, "it will be kicked right out." So I remove taped on stamp, thinking she will replace the stamp...hmmm....nope, got to take it back to where it was purchased from (convience store). Keeping my cool, I purchase the new stamp, from this nice gal & asked "Did they raise the cost of the stamp & reduce the amount of glue"? She was laughing...I was too, until my new stamp neither wanted to come off it's backing...or stick to the letter without a good finger massage! Point proved to postal worker...no more laughing :-(

[TheAnitQuasar]

01:07 PM on 01/30/2012

This might explain why I am still waiting on a certain package. Maybe it ended up over a fence?

[nhawkins1106]

12:14 PM on 01/30/2012

I believe the USPS should honestly consider reducing mail delivery to monday threu friday and in rural/small suburban areas mon, weds, fri. Everyone would adjust to this and the cost would be reduced,. Overtime, vehicle costs, etc... the tues, thurs days could be used for sorting mail and having the desk open for purchases to the public. if needed the sorting could be helped by volunteers from each town and workers could retire before age 72. Each postal area could be given an amount of cost to cut and devise their own ideas and plan. As we know all communities are not the same and have different needs and know how.

[charlesdewalt]

01:57 PM on 02/13/2012

Maybe the post office should stop paying out millions to advertise AND also quit giving out huge supplies of free boxes, tape, and labels to ebay sellers who simply reverse the box and ship via other delivery companies!

[pyroburke]

10:03 PM on 01/29/2012

Suspended? Really, you still millions of dollars worth or mail and you only get suspended? This is a FEDERAL CRIME! PERIOD! She should have been arrested immediately and I don't care how old she is. There are 92 year olds doing time in jail for crimes and this lady should be no different. It costs money to replace mail and checks and credit cards and health care cards and boxes and important things that family, friends and businesses have mailed. She should have the book thrown at her. Suspended? Sounds like a joke to me!

[luna456]

03:46 PM on 01/30/2012

This woman has a mental problem. She does not need to go to jail.. Her intentions was not to commit a crime therefore, mens rea can not be proven in this case. So she will not serve anytime.

[blue star]

12:58 AM on 02/11/2012

thats right!!!!!! she doesnt have a mental problem, thats just an excuse so she doesnt have to go to jail. the reason she has all that mail is because she was sorting through to see what was good for her to keep and the rest she didnt want to be obvious and throw it away someone might see her doing it. if it was not an employee of the usps they would go to jail. its not right!!!!!!

[Randolph Greer]

08:41 PM on 01/28/2012

Ok , so when are all the hoarders on Wall Street going to be prosecuted ?

[ctcornerstone7]

01:51 PM on 01/30/2012

They are bein prosecuted knucklehead. Why is it that so many people like yourself want to turn this country into the Soviet Union where everyone has an equal amount of wealth and where the state contols everything. That system is called communisim and it is dead.

[Randolph Greer]

03:14 PM on 01/30/2012

Go speak to the viewers of Fox News or some other stupid species of Mankind. Your ignorance carries no currency in this domain.

[Last Progressive Texan]

12:10 AM on 02/10/2012

You can make the case that communism failed about as well as you can make the case that capitalism failed. I'm ready for door number three!

[missgirl]

07:50 PM on 01/28/2012

Hoarding junk mail? . . . she is a hero in my book.

[TheAnitQuasar]

01:07 PM on 01/30/2012

Agreed. Now if I could just get her to hoard my bills.......

[luna456]

03:39 PM on 01/30/2012

lol

[Debralee Ferreira]

06:41 PM on 01/28/2012

I just finished reading the article and watching the tv report on Karen. I believe she should be charged and serve community service. This is an opening to all of us to be more readily available to start the much needed discussions to relieve the stigma of the mental challenges. Shame on the reporter. As much as the tv reporter defended his right to this story, he did Karen an unjust service. Prompting her at such a time as she was in. He took undue advantage. I would like to tell Karen she is not stupid. Her mental challenge, though difficult to change may be overcome. She needs help. Not further condimnation. Her many years of consistent service to the postal service shows that though one may have a form of mental illness they can also be and are otherwise productive contributors to our society. I will be much disappointed in our judicial system should Karen serve a single day behind bars or worse any other institution due to the underlying causes for her need to hoard. For her home to have come to such a state . . . well it took time and it is seen in the video, much more than bulk mail filling her house and garage.
For want of people in her life, she has resorted to her attainable . . . Things, paper and visable memories.

[clebernpp]

02:34 PM on 01/28/2012

I don't care what happens to this woman, because she may very well be mentally ill as many postal workers are.
If you don't believe me, just go to a near by Postal Office and I guarantee you will see some display of mental illnesses.
My problem with USPS is that they never take responsibility when they either break or lose your stuff, and this story is a good example that your mail don't simply disappear as they like you to believe, therefore instead of been rude or I can't do anything attitude, they should refund people accordingly without any stress.

[lawayne]

11:46 AM on 01/29/2012

Ask management to stop harassing and treating the workers like crap. Unless you have worked there you have no clue what goes on. They want you to do the work of three people and are more worried about their "numbers" than the customers. Most postal workers care about their customers and us old timers don't let it get to us but the new people are constantly getting yelled at, followed, and harassed. Blame them for the window clerks having a bad attitude. Let the employees do the job they know how to do. Certainly don't need to have a supervisor for every 15 people....another waste of money.

[Coolgrandmamaat50]

09:01 PM on 02/10/2012

Right on !! Unless you have worked there No One has a clue what it is like !

[charlesdewalt]

02:19 PM on 02/13/2012

I worked for an equally as demanding and demeaning delivery company but with what they paid me, smiled all the way to the bank. Same with you postal employees. If you are not happy with the way you are treated, leave and I guarantee you'll find thousands of applicants the next day willing to put up with it, for what you make.

[Derpwood]

08:58 AM on 01/28/2012

Actually yeah.. It DOES make you insane ...

[scratinthehat]

08:42 AM on 01/28/2012

Junk mail, personal mail...it is all STEALING and she should be in jail or heavily fined and most def get fired. It is also a Federal offense I think and should be handled as an example and punished harshly. Her comment of being embarrassed and saying she is stupid is further evidence she is aware of right and wrong and made the choice anyone. I'm so tired of goverment workers thinking they know whats best for me. How does she know it was going to be thrown away? I use flyers/ads/coupons ALL THE TIME from my junk mail. I have no hoarding problem in fact , I recycle much of my junk mail after perusal for class projects about math or paper mache with my homeschool kids. Am I to beleive not one piece of personal mail got mixed up in there? Often the junk mailing newspaper folds have smaller real mail in the middle section being held in by the fold. She is a criminal...Maybe they will sentence her to being on hoarder tv show and forced to tackle this with a professional. I assume they will have pity and wrist slap which is so sad and explains much of the tone this county chooses to ignore about "illegal" activity justified by someones poor victim mentality. Circumstances mental or physical do not justify illegal activity.

[charlesdewalt]

02:10 PM on 02/13/2012

I agree with your post 100%. What I do not agree with is that it was ever called hoarding (to make it sound as if it was a mental issue.)
In the past when a mail carrier hid mail (in their trunks, closets, garages, wherever) it was because they were just too lazy to finish their route and knew they'd be written up if it were not delivered. I did not and will never believe she was hoarding! Hoarders do not steal others property to hoard.

[paulandlynns]

09:24 PM on 01/27/2012

That's maybe, why I have had mailings with checks for insurance prems and Christmas cards never get to destination in the last 4 to 5 years.

[larrytheuglrep]

07:45 PM on 01/27/2012

She needs to be in jail as a message to unions that their workers are not above the law, even though Obama will cater to them for votes

[paulandlynns]

09:21 PM on 01/27/2012

it's a hoarding problem, not a union or political problem here. it's amazing how people post comments and don't think about what they are saying.

[charlesdewalt]

02:14 PM on 02/13/2012

She first took property that was not hers, before she could hoard it. That is called stealing and she should have been charged with theft. The hoarding was probably thrown in by a savy attorney to keep her from doing time. She's not a hoarder, hoarders are not thieves.
Honestly I think she was just too old or too lazy to complete her job, so she hid it with good intentions. The charge of hoarding is bunk.

[sheputstheLinPAIN]

11:27 PM on 01/27/2012

What a grotesque comment.

[jannas2cents]

11:25 PM on 01/26/2012

At least she was just stealing junk mail. A postal worker in Novato, CA was fired for stealing packages. NOTE TO SELF: Always always always insure your package and insist on proof of delivery with the recipient's signature.

[sherpeace]

04:12 PM on 01/27/2012

Definitely insure your packages! On the few occasions I didn't (because the stuff was for children and was of little value), the package was opened and some stuff was lost. Since then, I insure no matter what. My sister once sent me a camera though, and I never received AND the post office refused to pay her. So, it gets complicated.
I do know though, that you pay 3-4 times more if you use a non USPS company.

[charlesdewalt]

02:25 PM on 02/13/2012

No matter what class of mail she was stealing, someone paid a good price to have it shipped and had to have a large quantity of identical mailings to classify it as "junk". Churches, social clubs, organizations, and many people want the newsletters that fall under that rate. Can you imagine what it would cost them to get delivery confirmations?

[WI Patriot]

11:23 PM on 01/26/2012

Its not a hoarding problem, its a public union problem.

[sheputstheLinPAIN]

11:28 PM on 01/27/2012

Prove it.

[Derpwood]

08:59 AM on 01/28/2012

Knobberaezwaht?