Bellingham considers process for installing locking mailboxes at all rental properties

Bellingham could require locking mailboxes and parcel lockers for all rental properties, following years of concerns about porch pirates and identity theft as more Americans buy goods online and use delivery services.

A proposed version of the ordinance was discussed at the City Council’s Planning Committee meeting on Monday and was referred to the council’s Committee of the Whole for discussion Aug. 12.

“This seems to be a move in the right direction,” Councilman Skip Williams said.

The proposed ordinance ties installation of locking mailboxes, with one parcel locker for every five residents, to the city’s rental registration and inspection programs. Renewal of rental permits would trigger installation of locking boxes.

Blake Lyon, director of the Planing and Community Development Department, said only multi-family rental units are required to have locking mailboxes.

Those locking boxes reduce mail theft, identity theft and the “discarding of bills and/or other important financial information that can impact the financial well-being and creditworthiness” of renters, Lyon said.

“With over half of the population of Bellingham in rental units and a majority of those households being cost-burdened or severely-cost burdened, equipping those units with locking mail receptacles helps contribute to safe and secure housing for all residents, regardless of property ownership,” he said.

Officials with the U.S. Postal Service don’t keep records about mail and parcel theft, Lyon said in a memo to the City Council.

He cited several reports from the national media that indicate mail theft is a growing problem.

“For example, in one medium-size city (Fresno, Calif.), mail theft incidents in the first two months of the year increased from 35 in 2021 to 132 in 2022. Data also exists for package theft, some of which does not involve mailbox delivery but is still an indicator of the theft problem, with the data generally showing both high levels and a steady upsurge in package thefts.

Indeed, research by the online publication Parcel and Post Technology International lists Washington as among the worst states nationwide for mail theft.

Its ranking is based on internet searches for keyword terms related to lost mail. Washington ranks tenth, with 59.68 monthly searches per 100,000 people.