united-states property postal-service
Is it a crime to take my own package from a delivery truck before it has reached my home?
<p>Not that I would ever do this, but I'm curious: if I were to go into a stopped delivery truck and remove from it an item that is addressed to me, would this be a crime? If so what crime would it be?</p>
<p>It seems to me that I would not be stealing anything since it's my own property that I'm taking. I might even have a reason to suspect that if I did not take the package from the truck, then the driver would leave it sitting out in the open where it would likely be stolen (or that the driver himself might steal it), in which case I'd actually be preventing a crime by taking it from the truck directly.</p>
<p>I don't think this would be burglary either, since that would tend to require that I was breaking into a restricted area <em>with the intent to commit a crime.</em> Especially if the delivery truck had no doors or I acted while they'd been left open, then I wouldn't even be &quot;breaking and entering.&quot;</p>
<p>I can't see this as being &quot;trespass&quot; if the truck was on a public street, unless trespass applies to the interior of vehicles. Even then, as long as I'd leave before anyone noticed me, I could just say I only went in to retrieve what's mine and prevent it from being damaged or stolen.</p>
<p>So I'm guessing there must be some kind of arcane laws that only the US Postal Marshalls deal with. Yes, there are special guys called &quot;US Postal Marshalls,&quot; who investigate mail-related crimes. So I'm curious what crime this would be?</p>
<p>Note: I did review <a href="https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/31510/stealing-my-own-property-back">this post about &quot;stealing your own property back&quot;</a> but it does not really seem to apply here.</p>

<h2>Yes, it's illegal</h2>
<p>You are missing something terribly important:</p>
<p><strong>The package might not be your property [yet]. In any way, it is not in your possession, while it is in the hands of the postal service!</strong></p>
<p>The <em>contents</em> of the package started fully owned by the sender and were entrusted to the postal service to deliver it. This entrustment is (contractually) defined as the time it is handed to the postal service, but the postal service does not gain any ownership. They do however have insurance on the parcel (to some degree), as they are liable for the loss of it. In many cases, the transfer of ownership happens upon delivery (for example, in the UK), so that you can't even be sure you own the contents while the box is still on the truck. At least in the eye of many postal services I know, it is the basic presumption, that they hold the item as entrusted. So to be on the safe side, it's best to presume that the package only becomes <em>your</em> package the moment you sign for the receipt of the package or it is dropped into your mailbox or at your dedicated dropoff point (you can specify that with many postal carriers btw). Otherwise, your actions might interfere with the contract of the mail service [to bring it to your door] and might incur liability upon them as their insurance presumes the parcel was lost and it has to be replaced. By the way, it is customary that any message of <em>the parcel is damaged</em> go to the sender, not the receiver so that in the case of commercial mail they can send/fund a replacement, as the sender needs to ensure that a non-defect item is delivered under their own contract with the recipient.</p>
<h2>Criminal lawsuits</h2>
<p>But, you want to know which specific law you'd be sued under <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1708" rel="nofollow noreferrer">18 USC §1708 (2)</a> not only for taking the box, but also for taking the item from the box (emphasis mine)!</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Whoever</strong> steals, <strong>takes</strong>, or abstracts, or by fraud or deception obtains, or attempts so to obtain, <strong>from</strong> or out of any mail, post office, or station thereof, letter box, mail receptacle, or <strong>any mail route</strong> or other authorized depository for mail matter, or from a letter or mail carrier, <strong>any</strong> letter, postal card, <strong>package</strong>, bag, or mail, or abstracts <strong>or removes from any such</strong> letter, <strong>package</strong>, bag, or mail, <strong>any article or thing contained therein</strong>, or secretes, embezzles, or destroys any such letter, postal card, package, bag, or mail, or any article or thing contained therein [...] Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The act of <em>taking</em> is relevant. It is irrelevant that you would receive the parcel later. You take it from the car on the delivery route. You also do trespass under whatever jurisdiction applies where the car is parked. For example, Criminal Trespass on Indian country is defined under <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/25/11.411" rel="nofollow noreferrer">25.CFR § 11.411 (b)</a>. The rules in other jurisdictions are very similar: you are not allowed to enter the car, as it is clearly off-limits to the general public. The car is btw. supposed to be closed to prevent such, so you have to actually break property of the postal service (which is an extra charge to just the normal B&amp;E).</p>
<blockquote>
<p>(b) A person commits an offense if, knowing that he or she is not licensed or privileged to do so, he or she enters or remains in any place as to which notice against trespass is given by: (3) Fencing or other enclosure manifestly designed to exclude intruders.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>A car door, even if not locked and left ajar, is an enclosure manifestly designed to exclude intruders, and the inside of a car is &quot;any place&quot;. So, in the correct jurisdiction, this statute of criminal trespass does apply. And as pointed out above, taking the mail without the driver knowing is illegal. In some fashion, taking your own mail is also a strange case of <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1702" rel="nofollow noreferrer">obstructing the correspondence</a>, which specifically calls out that the parcel has to be given by the mailman to the recipient (emphasis mine).</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Whoever takes any</strong> letter, postal card, or <strong>package</strong> out of any post office or any authorized depository for mail matter, or from any letter or mail carrier, or <strong>which has been</strong> in any post office or authorized depository, or <strong>in the custody of any</strong> letter or <strong>mail carrier, before it has been delivered to the person to whom it was directed</strong>, with design to obstruct the correspondence, or to pry into the business or secrets of another, or opens, secretes, embezzles, or destroys the same, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>If it is discovered by the driver while still on route, they will have to call the base and investigate the missing parcel, which takes time from the delivery, so might constitute <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1701" rel="nofollow noreferrer">retarding the passage of mail</a>. If you break the lock to the car, you'd be charged as <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1706" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Injury to mail bags</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Whoever</strong> tears, cuts, or otherwise <strong>injures any</strong> mail bag, pouch, or other <strong>thing used or designed for use in the conveyance of the mail</strong>, or draws or breaks any staple or loosens any part of any lock, chain, or strap attached thereto, with intent to rob or steal any such mail, or to render the same insecure, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>A Postal car, especially with a lock on the door, is such a device. And if you somehow had the key to the car, you'd break <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1704" rel="nofollow noreferrer">18 USC § 1704</a> instead. Plus, your taking does possibly incur monetary damages to the postal carrier, so civil charges for that money and expenses in investigating would also accrue against the taking person.</p>
<h2>civil lawsuits?</h2>
<p>If you'd take the parcel, you make the postal driver accountable for the loss of the parcel and the worth of the package, as the internal system of the postal service does recognize that they did not deliver the parcel, did not scan it out at the home base, but they did scan it onto their route. So unless they can point the finger at you or a known thief, they might need to admit that they did not lock the car or committed some other misconduct that allowed someone to steal the parcel. This can lead to the financial loss of the delivery driver or them being fired. Should the mail carrier or the postal service discover it was you, the mail carrier can now sue you for the injury the lost parcel meant to them as you interfered with their work contract. The tort is <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/tortious_interference" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Tortious interference</a>.</p>
<p>Then, the mail service can sue you for intentionally interfering with the delivery contract the service had with the one ordering the delivery done: they were required to bring the parcel to the target and got paid for that. Only your action of taking did prevent this. Would you not have taken the parcel, they would have delivered, so you interfered with their contract.</p>
<hr />
<h2>Life Advice:</h2>
<p>Approach the driver, get out a photo-ID (Drivers license, passport, ID-card etc) and ask them something akin to this &quot;The website told me you might have a parcel for me. Can you look? I am this person, and this ID proves I live at the target address, as indicated on this ID.&quot; With those credentials in hand, the postal driver can check and give it to you but isn't technically obligated to. But as it often means they can save a few valuable minutes getting to your house, they might, especially if you know your mail carrier and are friendly.</p>
<p>On the other hand, it's extremely unlikely for letter mail to be given this way, as searching for a parcel on a truck is much easier than looking for the letter mails in the bags.</p>
