GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) — If you have been to your local post office lately, you’ve probably noticed dropping your mail in an outside box is not as easy or convenient.

The change is to protect your checks and other important documents from being stolen out of the blue boxes.

FOX8 went around Greensboro and found some of the old, traditional mailboxes where you open it up, put your letter inside and close the door. Also, there were some new boxes that have only a small slot to put your mail through, making it more difficult for thieves to get inside.

“I think it’s good,” Ron Bailey said.

His mail was recently stolen out of his personal mailbox.

The United States Postal Service tracked more than 38,000 mailbox thefts in 2022. In the first half of this year, more than 25,000 have been reported.

Bailey is happy to see the postal service installing 12,000 of the brand new, high-security boxes across the country. He now comes to the post office on Murrow Drive to drop off his mail.

“Just to be on the safe side,” he said.

While he likes it, the new boxes are causing some confusion for other people.

“It is a nice setup, but it is just not easy to figure out if you are…older,” Linda Richardson said.

She needed some help figuring out where to put her mail.

Many people dropping off mail at the post office said they do not like the new boxes facing away from the curb because the boxes force people to get out of their cars.

We reached out to USPS to see if that was intentional, but we have not heard back.

Another change the postal service is making is on locks to keep their workers safe. Recently in Florida, thieves targeted mail carriers for their universal key, which is known as an arrow key.

It allows them to access several mailboxes at once in apartment complexes and gets them into the blue collection boxes.

These crimes against letter carriers are increasing with 305 already this year compared to 412 in all of 2022. Now the locks will be electronic.