The investigation was launched when a fellow letter carrier flagged an unusual pattern of opened envelopes turning up near cluster mailboxes in an Acworth neighborhood.
"Envelopes containing greeting cards had been opened and or stolen, and some of those contained cash and or gift cards," Cobb County Police Sgt. Eric Smith told Fox 5 Atlanta (2).
Investigators then set up a gift card sting, slipping an envelope containing a $10 Walmart gift card into the Marietta East Cobb post office as an “integrity test”. Court records note the card didn’t go unnoticed. It was allegedly activated and used to buy an iPad, along with several Apple subscriptions.
Missing mail means more than lost envelopes
Records indicate Hinson admitted to taking eight gift cards from greeting cards processed through the East Cobb Road post office. Investigators later recovered nine more greeting cards from her vehicle, turning what started as routine complaints into a criminal case.
The number of items involved may seem small, but for many households, the postal system is how bills get paid, legal notices arrive, holiday gifts are sent and personal messages from loved ones make it home.
The Federal Trade Commission has warned that thieves often target gift cards because once they’re redeemed, the money is typically gone for good (3). In fact, during the first nine months of 2021, nearly 40,000 consumers reported losing $148 million to gift card-related theft.
Those risks exist within a system operating at an extraordinary scale. Data from virtual mailbox provider Postal suggests that more than 542,000 pieces of mail were lost or went missing nationwide between 2022 and 2024 (4). During that time, the U.S. Postal Service delivered more than 100 billion pieces of mail annually, including 112 billion in 2024, 116 billion in 2023, and 127 billion in 2022.
USPS says undelivered mail represents only a small share of overall volume, citing factors such as incorrect addressing, misrouting and theft. Even a limited failure rate can have meaningful consequences when mail carries bills or irreplaceable personal gifts.
Making sure your package arrives safely
Since the envelopes Hinson opened had not been processed or stamped, investigators suspected the mail had been taken before leaving the postal system. Police later confirmed the suspect lived in the same neighborhood where residents reported finding open mail.
