ST. LOUIS – Amid new calls from Congress to address growing complaints about late mail or no mail at all in St. Louis and across Missouri, FOX 2 has discovered a disturbing rise in blatant mail theft.

Surveillance video shows a thief using a mailbox key to get into an iconic blue box on a street corner in the Central West End and steal every item of mail from the box. There’s more.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service has posted a $100,000 reward for two suspects in surgical masks who pulled off a heist at the Main Post Office in Downtown St. Louis around 4:30 a.m. on Valentine’s Day.

The posting includes a surveillance image of the potential getaway vehicle: an early 2000s gray or silver SUV, possibly a Jeep Cherokee.

Investigators won’t say exactly what or how much was stolen but it is substantial given the size of the reward.

Investigators say thieves have been stealing from blue public mailboxes across the St. Louis area in recent months.

At least four blue boxes have been hit in the Central West End alone.

Customers are feeling the consequences.

“I told my girlfriend, ‘I believe someone is clipping this mail,’” said Sophia Smith of Jennings.

She said she’d been plagued with slow or no delivery recently.

Congresswoman Cori Bush and Senator Josh Hawley, hardly political allies, have both written letters to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy in the past eight days, demanding action on issues like staffing levels and working conditions.

“The mail is a lifeline,” Sen. Hawley told FOX 2. “People depend on it. Their medications come in the mail, communication with family come in the mail, bank statements, things people rely on.”

“It’s been since the 3rd of February,” Smith said of her delivery issues. “Here it is going on March already and (my creditors) haven’t received anything (from me). These are personal, important bills that need to get to those people.”

The United States Postal Service launched the Project Safe Delivery in May. It includes replacing 10,000 outdated blue boxes nationwide (which are more than 60 years old in certain places) and nearly 49,000 old locks on blue boxes with new electronic locks.

Customers are calling for increased staffing as well as consequences for thieves.

“They should be punished because you’re invading people’s privacy. You’re getting into their mail and people need their checks,” customer Dave Johnson said.

He said he went without mail for about a week last year but has had no problems since then.

“They’ve got to do better,” Smith said. “I’ve never known the post office to go down like this.”

The Postal Inspection Service has declined an interview but reports nearly 650 arrests for robberies and mail theft nationwide since May.