A federal investigation is currently underway into the disappearance of packages at a Hilo post office

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Frustrated business owners say they’re out thousands of dollars after packages keep disappearing at the main post office in Hilo. HNN Investigates spoke to two small business owners who said it’s a problem they’ve faced for more than a year.

Kahua Aina’s owner was fed up with the missing mail, and took to social media to see if anyone else was having trouble. Jordan Kamara quickly realized that she was not alone.

“I’ve had a lot of people write back to me and say, ‘Yes, my small business is here.’ ‘My small business is there,'” she said.

That’s how I discovered that Jessica Wong, another Hilo owner, had the same problem.

“We didn’t have any problems until last year,” Wong said.

Both business owners told HNN Investigates when they drop off large shipments of online orders — on the post office’s back curb or inside a mail drop off location — it appears that not all of their packages are scanned into the system.

HNN Investigations

“Customers were sending us emails like: ‘Where’s our update? Where’s our package,'” Kamara said.

“When I looked through all the tracking, I noticed about 10 orders. Same thing. It said a bar code label was created, but USPS had not received it,” Wong said. “So I filed the necessary claims.”

But she says she has not gotten answers about what happened. Her requests to compensate for her losses were rejected. In all, she says she spent about $2,500.

When asked how this affected her small business, she replied: “It affects it a lot. We are not like Amazon.”

HNN Investigates forwarded complaints to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and to the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General, two federal agencies responsible for investigating mail theft.

When asked what the U.S. Postal Service is doing to get to the bottom of what is allegedly happening in Hilo, Postal Inspector Matthew Norfleet responded: “The tools we use in mail theft investigations are all the tools of law enforcement: intelligence, surveillance, subpoenas and search warrants.” “.

He continued, “Given that this situation in Hilo is ongoing, there is not much that I cannot say about what is going on at this moment without informing the responsible person.”

Norfleet says customers should never leave mail unattended at the post office. He says that in California he has seen cases where thieves went onto post office property to steal.

“Whether it’s at the front desk or the back dock,” he said.

If you’re delivering packages at a back curb in Hilo, Norfleet added, “Run the buzzer, wait for someone to come out. They’ll scan your mail.”

It is also suggested that businesses obtain a merchant account.

“Get the carrier out. And scan it in their store or warehouse — where there won’t be the same time pressure. There won’t be other people waiting,” Norfleet said.

Meanwhile, the camera says it can’t afford to lose anything else. That’s why she chose to stand in line in the lobby and have the clerk inspect each of her many packages individually.

“I have to get a receipt,” she said.

If you encounter a similar problem in Hilo, postal inspectors want to hear from you. Call 877-876-2455.

You can also call this number if you have information that may help solve the case. Tips that lead to a conviction can earn you a reward of up to $100,000.

Copyright 2024 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.