Taiwan Post Co mailboxes apparently have become the first choice among pickpockets and lazy do-gooders, who use them to dispose of lost or stolen wallets, identification documents and other items.
Every week, 40 to 50 wallets, personal identification cards and ATM cards are found in the more than 2,000 Taiwan Post mailboxes in the Taipei region, which includes Taipei City and Shenkeng (
Other items found include passports, EasyCards, drivers' licenses and even "Taiwan compatriot travel documents" issued for Taiwanese traveling in China, postmen said.
Postman Chen Yen-ching (
Hung Kuang-yi (
Hung said that although this adds to the post office's burden, it is also a reward to the see the smiles on the faces of people who come to pick up their stolen belongings.
Chen said that in his 20 years as a postman, the worst thing he has found in a mailbox was a bag of feces in a mailbox on Chongqing S Road.
He had to find a restroom to clean up before going back to the post office and to clean every piece of mail that had been smeared with the feces before being able to deliver it.
He has also found people waiting by a mailbox for him to get there and open it because they had accidentally managed to drop in their wallet or ID along with their mail.
Hung said that in the area around Taipei's main railway station, it is also common to find hotel keys, maybe dropped there by people who had to check out in a hurry to catch a train and forgotten to return the key.
It would then fall upon the postman to find the hotel and return the key with the help of the name on the keyring.
Hung also told of one postman who was told by a couple of kids they had set off firecrackers in a mailbox to test if that would amplify the sound.
To their dismay, they said: "the sound of the explosion was muffled instead."
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