Behind the Box: A Sociological Analysis of Theft, Tampering and Mishandling of Postal Packets

Abstract

There is no gainsaying the fact that besides the physical requirements of food and shelter, man has another fundamental need, the need to communicate with his fellow human beings. The urge for communication is natural, primal and, in our modern interdependent world, a necessity. Indeed, our social life revolves around communication since it is the cement that holds society together. It is for this very important reason that postal service was developed to provide the indispensable link between people living in different parts of the world. Thus, through postal service people separated by hundreds and thousands of miles can be brought together. However, over the years, there have been malpractices in and against the Ghana Post Company Limited. These have resulted in numerous complaints, which constitute an indication of the public dissatisfaction with the performance of the organization. The study revealed that indeed mail theft, pilfering, tampering and mishandling of postal items are present at the Post Offices in Ghana. Among others, we identify factors such as social solidarity among workers, social pressure and ‘conducive’ working environment as contributing to mail theft, pilfering and mishandling of postal packets.

Key words: Postal service; Pilfering; Tampering; Mail theft; Deviance