In recent months, carriers in North Carolina and North Dakota have been taken to court for failing to deliver all their mail. Though the U.S. Postal Service says the offense is rare, it seriously damages the agency's image.

For instance, a 34-year-old Webberville woman was initially charged with a felony of stealing more than 9,400 pieces of mail, but those charges were dropped by federal prosecutors. Jill Hull faces up to one year in prison.

The part-time, fill-in carrier had kept thousands of pieces of unopened mail, including 988 first-class letters, in a self-storage unit that managers opened in September after she failed to pay her bill. Some of the mail had postmarks from 2005.

The stash was discovered in September in a storage unit in Fowlerville, about 50 miles west of Detroit. The woman allegedly told an agent that she couldn't keep up with the job.

She hid the undelivered mail at a storage unit at Fowlerville Mini Storage and told investigators she intended to keep paying rent on it “until the day I died.” Hull and her attorney had no additional comments after the guilty plea.

Hull, who was represented by the Federal Defender Office, filled in on various routes in the Livingston County city when she worked for the U.S. Postal Service from 2005 until August 2008.

Federal prosecutors amended the charge in November to desertion of the mails, which she pleaded guilty to today in federal court. While it’s still a felony, it’s a lesser charge than the original embezzlement count she had faced which could have put her behind bars for up to five years.