ATLANTA (CBS ATLANTA) -
A spokesperson with the United States Postal Service told CBS Atlanta News on Friday that the mail dumped on Interstate 285 at spaghetti junction this week was bulk business mail that was accidentally dumped by a contractor that was en route to recycle it.
CBS Atlanta's Adam Murphy asked the postal service to explain how it happened.
"We really don't know how it happened, it could have been a mechanical malfunction with the vehicle, we're just disappointed that it happened of course," USPS spokesperson Michael Miles said.
CBS Atlanta News found mail from credit card companies, banks and car dealerships. So we asked the postal service if they believe any personal information may have been compromised, they told us it's highly unlikely.
"This was undeliverable bulk business mail," Miles said.
CBS Atlanta News learned that not all of the mail was undeliverable. We dropped off one piece of mail to Ron Worth's home in metro Atlanta.
"This has never been inside my home," Worth said.
So we questioned the postal service about our findings.
"Clearly, some of this was deliverable, how do you explain that?" Murphy asked.
"Well, very difficult and hard to say. We go through great pains to go through this mail and make sure that it's not anything that's deliverable. Having not seen that particular piece of mail you're talking about it's very hard to say," Miles said.
The postal service said this is the first time that this particular contractor has dropped mail and they said they are going to continue to use that contractor, but they will have a talk to make sure it never happens again.
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