How to Report Someone Putting Something in Your Mailbox

If someone is stuffing flyers, menus, or other unstamped items into your mailbox, you can report it to the United States Postal Inspection Service online at uspis.gov, by phone at 877-876-2455, or by speaking with your local post office. Federal law reserves mailboxes for mail that has gone through the postal system with proper postage, so putting anything else inside is a violation, and knowing how to report someone putting something in your mailbox gives you a way to make it stop. Each unauthorized item can carry a fine of up to $5,000.¹²

What the Law Actually Covers

The rule reaches further than curbside mailboxes. It applies to any letter box established, approved, or accepted by the Postal Service, which includes wall-mounted slots and cluster boxes at apartment buildings.¹ Postal regulations extend the restriction to anything placed upon, attached to, hung from, or supported by the receptacle, so a flyer clipped to the flag or an envelope taped to the side of the box is treated the same as one dropped inside.³

A few narrow exceptions exist. Items dropped through door slots or into nonlockable bins used with apartment mailboxes are allowed, as are newspapers mailed as periodicals delivered on Sundays and national holidays, and items hung on a hook or ring attached to the mailbox post.⁴ Just about anything else placed in or on the box without postage is a reportable violation.

Gather Your Evidence First

A few minutes of documentation makes a real difference in whether your complaint gets traction. Before you touch the item, take photos of it sitting in the mailbox. A picture showing the flyer on top of your legitimate mail is far more useful than one taken later on your kitchen counter.

Note the date and time you discovered the item, and if you know the box was empty earlier, record that window too.
Write down every identifying detail on the item itself: business name, phone number, website, address. For advertisements, the company name is the single most important piece of information.
If you saw the person placing it, describe them, their vehicle, any license plate you could see, and any company branding or uniform.
If this is a repeat problem, keep a running log of each occurrence. Patterns carry more weight than isolated incidents.
Bag the item itself and set it aside. Physical evidence beats a description of something you tossed.

Choose the Right Reporting Channel

You have three ways to file, and the right one depends on how serious and how persistent the problem is.

Online at USPIS

The Postal Inspection Service takes complaints through its portal at uspis.gov. File under the “Mail Theft” category, which covers mail-related crimes and incidents beyond outright theft.⁵ The form walks you through the details you already gathered. After submitting, save or print the confirmation page. The reference number on it is what you’ll use for follow-up.

By Phone

Call 877-876-2455 to report by phone.⁵ Phone reporting works well when you need to describe a pattern that’s hard to squeeze into form fields, or when something in the box looks dangerous. If the item is a potential safety threat, say “Emergency” when prompted.

At Your Local Post Office

For routine complaints, like a local restaurant repeatedly leaving menus in every box on your street, your station manager is often the fastest fix.⁶ The manager can contact the business directly and explain the law. Most businesses stop once they hear from the post office, because many of them genuinely didn’t know they were breaking a federal statute.

What Happens Next

Set your expectations realistically. The Postal Inspection Service handles cases ranging from mailbox flyers to multimillion-dollar mail fraud, and a single pizza menu isn’t going to launch an investigation. A business systematically leaving unstamped ads on your route, week after week, is a different matter.

For pattern violations, inspectors usually start with a warning that explains the law and the potential fines. If the behavior continues, the agency can pursue fines for each piece placed. Repeated or widespread violations can lead to formal prosecution.

Don’t expect regular updates on minor complaints. The system is built to accumulate a record, and multiple reports about the same offender from different addresses strengthen the case significantly. If your neighbors are getting the same flyers, ask them to file their own reports rather than piling on to yours. Keep your reference number so you can add evidence later if the violations don’t stop.

What to Do With the Item

Something placed in your mailbox without postage is not legally “mail” — it never entered the postal system — so you can throw it away. Nothing requires you to return the flyer to the business that left it.

Real mail is different. If your carrier delivers a letter addressed to someone else or a former resident, don’t open it and don’t discard it. Write “Return to Sender” or “Not at This Address” on the envelope and put it back in the box for the carrier. If mail for a previous resident keeps arriving, ask your local post office to note that the person no longer lives there.

When It’s More Than a Flyer

Most mailbox complaints involve nothing worse than an aggressive local business. But if someone is repeatedly leaving threatening notes, unsolicited packages, or suspicious materials, you’re looking at possible harassment or intimidation. File the USPIS report, and also file a report with your local police department. Threats can violate state harassment and stalking laws on top of the federal mailbox statutes, and local police can respond faster than federal investigators when there’s an immediate safety concern.

If anything in your mailbox looks like it could contain a hazardous substance or otherwise be dangerous, don’t handle it. Call 877-876-2455, say “Emergency,” leave the mailbox open, and step back until authorities arrive.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 1725 Postage Unpaid on Deposited Mail Matter
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3571 Sentence of Fine
3
United States Postal Service. DMM 508 Recipient Services
4
U.S. Government Accountability Office. GGD-97-85 US Postal Service
5
United States Postal Inspection Service. Report a Crime
6
USAGov. How to File a US Postal Service Complaint