Dear Liz: In a recent column, you discussed two instances in which the tax preparer screwed up, and yet you concluded the problem was with the post office. I’m not a fan of the post office, but your logic escapes me.

Answer: In both instances, sensitive financial documents were entrusted to the U.S. mail system. Although this is common, it’s certainly not secure, since such mailings aren’t tracked and they certainly aren’t encrypted. The two taxpayers didn’t think to question the way their papers had been handled until those papers went missing, but both taxpayers and tax preparers would be wise to use more secure methods to transmit sensitive data.