Sending cash by mail is illegal

[snopes]

Comment: Here's one I hear occasionally, but I doubt its veracity:

Is it illegal/a felony to send cash via the United States Postal Service?

[Towknie]

There must be a lot of grandmas on the most wanted list.

[tribrats]

I found this on the USPS site:

Postal Money Orders are a safe, convenient, and economical alternative to sending cash through the mail.

I don't think they would have worded it that way if it's illegal.

[1958Fury]

When I worked for the USPS (over 10 years ago), they told us it was a very bad idea, but they didn't mention it being illegal.

[Elsie]

When I was a kid, I ordered a pet rock from a package of bubble gum (I don't remember the brand, now). The cost was $0.50. I just put two quarters into an envelope and called it good, but my grandmother interceded and made a "holder" by cutting two holes into a piece of cardboard so the quarters wouldn't flop around loose in the envelope. I got my pet rock, no problem. I also wasn't arrested.

[STF]

Originally Posted by 1958Fury

When I worked for the USPS (over 10 years ago), they told us it was a very bad idea, but they didn't mention it being illegal.

I never worked for the USPS, but that's kind of how I always heard it. Although really it might have been that companies were the ones who told their customers not to send it. It's probably a bit of both actually. It's not a good idea and companies have requested their customers not do it. I never did hear that it was illegal though either.

[1958Fury]

Sometimes those sweepstakes companies send you scratch-off offers, and include a penny in the envelope.

[Mycroft]

In the UK it is not illegal, but ordinary post is not reccommended, instead the customer is advised to used registered (signed for) or special delivery (not only signed for but also delivered seperatly from normal mail.

[Cervus]

Originally Posted by 1958Fury

Sometimes those sweepstakes companies send you scratch-off offers, and include a penny in the envelope.

I've received $15 cash for being a Nielsen family, as well as $1 and $2 bills as a "gift" for participating in mail surveys.

[MegansMom]

Apparently it is illegal in Barbados.

However, in Japan, you can purchase special envelopes for mailing cash at the post office.

*3 Money orders for making remittances within Japan can be obtained at the post office, as well as special envelopes for mailing cash within Japan.

I found a lot of US vendors and government agency who do not recommend mailing cash due to the possibility of theft, but no laws against it.

[Pudding Crawl]

My SO's great-aunt used to send birthday money wrapped in tin-foil 'so it won't get stolen'.
X-ray vision?

[Insensible Crier]

I was told it's bad to send cash in the mail because it can lead to theft and if the letter is lost then the money is gone for good.

And "Don't send cash in the mail" is listed here as a tip from the Postmaster which makes it sound like it's not illegal, just not recommended.
http://www.usps.com/communications/n..._2007_0710.htm

[Joostik]

In Holland, it used to be illegal to send money by ordinary, unregistered mail: registered mail was mandatory. However this rule has been abolished years ago. Which was a good thing as registered mail is a bit of a fraud, as I found out the hard way: it offers no security whatsoever, and only signals to the post office workers that something valuable may be found.

As for Postal Money Orders, Dutch post offices stopped issuing them in the '90s.

[1958Fury]

Maybe it's "illegal to send cash by males."

[BamaRainbow]

Sending cash through the USPS is NOT illegal in the least.
However, Postal Inspectors cannot follow up on a "lost cash" complaint/claim as the sender has no proof that they sent anything. A check or a money order, on the other hand, has some record (the problem with a check, however, is that you can't really prove you sent one until/unless it's cashed).
Also, the USPS will only guarantee reimbursement of a money order if it has been stolen (if you send a money order to a scam operation, the Service will use it as evidence in prosecuting the scam but there's no assurance that you will be reimbursed).

[Just Jocko]

Originally Posted by BamaRainbow

Sending cash through the USPS is NOT illegal in the least.
However, Postal Inspectors cannot follow up on a "lost cash" complaint/claim as the sender has no proof that they sent anything. A check or a money order, on the other hand, has some record (the problem with a check, however, is that you can't really prove you sent one until/unless it's cashed).
Also, the USPS will only guarantee reimbursement of a money order if it has been stolen (if you send a money order to a scam operation, the Service will use it as evidence in prosecuting the scam but there's no assurance that you will be reimbursed).

Yes, but if a check or money order is lost in the mail and is NOT cashed, you can always cancel it, so you're not out any money in that case (except for the amount of postage and, possibly, the stop check fee).

[TheAmazingRando]

I once considered ordering a CD from a small Russian website that instructed customers to send their money hidden in worthless CD cases in small parcels, rather than mailing it directly, to avoid theft by the post office workers.

While I doubt the post office workers will steal from me, it's probably a good idea not to mail money anyway, just because, as previous posters have said, mail can get lost and the post office won't refund it.

[jw]

Given the confidential nature of post, how would anyone ever know that there was money in envelopes, presuming it was notes that were sent?
Or have the post office got a detector, that I haven't heard of?

Anecdotly, my Sil in Boston regularly sent $'s for our kids birthdays, just as we sent €'s or £'s in the opposite direction, always reaching their destination.

[kitap]

When I worked at Eastbay I got lent to the mail order department for a while, and we would get cash in the envelopes sometimes, even though it clearly says "do not send cash" on the envelopes. We hated opening the envelopes and finding cash because then we'd get paranoid about people thinking we were going to steal some or all of the cash.

And I got calls from people- mainly kids- who had sent cash and it never got there and they would just start yelling at me.

[charlie23]

It's illegal to send any cash at all...even coins...through the mail here in Bulgaria. However it brings to mind this:

A mail carrier was finishing his route, and in the last mailbox he found an outgoing letter addressed in shaky handwriting to "God". Not sure what to do with it, he shows it to some colleagues back at the post office and they decide to open it. Inside, written in the same frail script there is a simple letter:
"Dear God, I am an 83 year old widow living on a very small pension. Yesterday someone stole my purse. It had a hundred dollars in it which was all the money I had until my next pension check. Without that money, I have nothing to buy food with. I have no family to turn to, and you are my only hope. Can you please help me?"
They were all touched by the letter, so they passed it around the office and took up a collection, winding up with $96. The carrier put the letter back in the envelope along with the money and the next day he slipped it back into the same box.
A few days later there was another letter, again addressed to "God". Expecting some quaint note, he took it back to the office and everybody huddled around as he opened it. Inside was a letter that read:

"Dear God, How can I ever thank you enough for what you did for me? Thanks to your generosity, I was able to buy groceries and pay all my bills for the month. I told all of my friends how you answered my prayers, but I noticed there was 4 dollars missing. I'm sure it was those thieving bastards at the post office."