OAKLAND, Calif. (Jana Katsuyama/KTVU) – U.S. Mail trucks in Oakland have been targeted by taggers in recent months, leaving the red, white and blue painted vehicles covered over in graffiti and black letters.

“We have to have those repainted and cleaned,” said Jeff Fitch a postal service inspector and spokesman. Fitch says the tagging outside their postal facility on 13th Street increased after the parking lot they were leasing across the street closed and was sold to a developer.

photo credit: KTVU

“We’d been renting space there yes to park vehicles and we had fencing up to make it secure,” said Fitch

Now, the mail carriers have had to park mail trucks on the street overnight. Fitch says 40 trucks have been tagged in just the past few months.

“That would be a vehicle out of service for a short time. So anytime a vehicle’s out of service, it can’t be out making deliveries,” said Fitch.