Lost mail discovered in North Side alley

CHICAGO — Nathan Mason is a longtime resident of Chicago’s North Side. He’s seen a lot over the years but nothing like what he recently discovered. 

On a cold Saturday morning in late January, Mason discovered hundreds of pieces of mail in the alley outside his building near Leland Avenue and Sheridan Road.

“There was a significant number of W-2s, checks…a lot of financial stuff,” Mason said. “I walked up and down the alley and the backyard and picked up about 250 pieces of mail.” 

That was seven weeks ago.

Since then, Mason sorted the mail and posted a list of the addresses on social media, to try and help people who were looking for lost mail. All of it appeared to be within an area serviced by the Uptown Post Office located at 4850 N. Broadway. 

Mason then returned it to the post office in hopes it will finally be delivered.

“I made the list and saw that it was – I could pick out an area on the map,” he said. “So, it was certainly like one route.”

But it’s still not clear how the mail ended up there or who was responsible.

“The regular letter carrier was on vacation,” said Elise Foster, president of the local office of National Association for Letter Carriers. “They have not found out how the mail got there.” 

A spokesman for the USPS declined to comment. The federal agency’s Office of Inspector General investigates allegations of mail dumping.

The status of that internal investigation is unknown.

The alleged mail dumping comes as the U.S. Postal Service faces an uncertain future. The Trump Administration has suggested that privatizing mail service could save taxpayers money.

But there are no immediate plans to do so.

Data obtained by WGN Investigates shows there were 58 complaint calls regarding the Uptown Post Office over a recent 12-month span.

The majority of the calls were linked to alleged mail theft and there are currently 18 open investigations, including one involving mail Mason discovered in the alley.