when you have no mail at all in your box. I recently had some mail stolen from my mailbox, right from my front porch. If I had not been expecting a package, I probably would not have known that someone stole my stuff.

The real point here is that when I contacted the postal inspector, I was told the following:
1. Postal inspectors are not responsible once mail has been delivered, or scanned as delivered.
2. From my local sub-station, there is an average of 1 report a week of mail theft.
3. The local Police don't have the resources to investigate unless the value of the stolen articles is over $1000. I filed a police report in case some identity theft stuff happens in the future.
4. Thought this was a federal crime, but the FBI wasn't even interested and said they would follow up with the local police in my district and see what they could do.
5. Confirmed with the Community Policing officer for my beat that, indeed, there are lots of reports of mail theft each month. NONE have ever been solved or prosecuted to his knowledge.

So, Laurie and I spent the majority of our Saturday opening a PO box, forwarding mail, contacting creditors to change addresses and review activities, running credit reports, etc.....Now I'm seeming to remember several days in the last couple of months when we had zero mail, no junk, no catalouges, no nothing.........what a frightening possibility that someone has been pinching our mail.

You might want to check with your local community police or postal substation to see how prevalent this is in your area. We have a pretty active neighborhood watch and community association, but no-one knew how frequently this is happening.