The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has warned people not to use its blue boxes on specific dates. It particularly warned about the chances of theft from these on Sundays and holidays. It raises the question of why USPS bothers to keep these boxes, which must be expensive to service at all.

The USPS’s warning suggested how people dodge the trouble. “If customers simply used retail service or inside wall drop slots to send their U.S. Mail, instead of depositing it to sit outside overnight or through the weekend, blue collection boxes would not be as enticing after business hours to mail thieves for identity theft and check-washing schemes.”

As a solution, people should go to their local post office or put mail in boxes after the last dispatch time. It is a complicated way to decide when to mail a letter. It is also inconvenient.

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The USPS already spends and loses too much money. The blue box requires trucks to pick up mail from them two times a day. It is hard to imagine a system more expensive, particularly because USPS has over 30,000 offices. It also has over 600,000 full-time employees, many of whom deliver the mail. One reason there are so many is the inefficiency of delivering mail six days a week.

Although it might merely be a gesture, one to save money, USPS could junk the blue boxes. While the postal service warning targets holidays and Sundays, the problem exists throughout the week. Customers have to worry if checks or other valuable letters make it to their intended destinations.

Like so many other things, the blue box is becoming a thing of the past.