Can postman read?

[Fats25]

I would expect that part of the requirements of being a postman would be able to read? Surely that is fundamental to being able to read an address and put the post through the correct door? So if there are any postman on here (they would need to be able to read), can they explain what has happened this morning, to drive me to want to kill the postman the next time I see him?

I have a couple of packages on order, that I was hoping would be delivered today. They weren't guaranteed to be here, but I was hopeful they would arrive. So when I left the house this morning, I left a note stuck to the front door stating, if any packages arrive that either need a signature, or are too big for the letterbox to leave with a neighbour. Having checked with one of my neighbours that was in, I suggested his house as the place to leave it. I also said or any other neighbour would be happy to take it in - which they would.

So why when I got home did I have a note stating that the package has been returned to the depot, cannot be collected for 24 hours, and is not open on a Sunday? I checked and my neighbour was in front of the TV watching Soccer AM when the delivery took place. He was in - he even heard the post put through his door.

I can only assume the postman cannot read. Is there another reason I am missing?

I know there is not enough swearing in here to justify a rant. But I am so fking angry.

[otherman]

Maybe you've done something previously that really annoyed your postie? I've found them all to be really helpful but I go out of the way to talk to them and know their name etc. Just people actually.

[Laurel Green]

Probably did not leave enough kisses at end of message.

Mind, from observation; they seem to have the card with the 'unable to deliver' placed within their letter pile, so they then know when to dive in sack for parcel delivery (if that makes sense). Lazy post-person then posts card through door rather than interfere with routine.

[john2443]

I can only think that they want to get round the , errr, round as quick as possible and having to go next door wastes a vital 30 secs.

I had a huge row with them a few years ago when the postman left a signed for parcel on the back step for the weekend (we were away), SIGNED THE BLOODY THING HIMSELF and put a note through the door to say it was on the step.

I kept the 'on the back step' note quiet until after 3 letters to them they sent the complaints investigator round, he told me that someone else must have been here and signed for it, in fact was adamant that there was no way it could have been left on the step and showed me my wife's (forged) signature - she signed it then for him to show it was nothing like the one he had.

He did shut up when I showed him the 'on the back step note', written on a PO card, but all we managed to get was some stamps as compensation.

Luckily the stuff wasn't damaged, and wasn't valuable, but would have been a right PITA if it had been lost - ours accounts/receipts/cheque book stubs on the way back from the accountant.

[Nickyboy]

john2443 said:

He did shut up when I showed him the 'on the back step note', written on a PO card, but all we managed to get was some stamps as compensation.

What were you hoping to get?? The guy thought he was doing you a favour, maybe wrong but it didnt go missing in the end

[benje]

Maybe there is a policy in place whereby the person who signs it must be at the address on the package?

[TheEnd]

benje said:

Maybe there is a policy in place whereby the person who signs it must be at the address on the package?

You'd think so, but they will also just deliver ebay stuff to anywhere and get a scrawl, or just dropkick a motherboard over a garden fence...

[7mike]

OP, as your title refers to postman in the singular, you are of course referring to you own postman. Why are you asking on an internet forum where it is unlikely anyone here knows your postman (unless they know you personally & maybe live somewhere served by the same delivery round)? Wouldn't it be better to just ask him next time you see him?

Or was it a more general question, Can postmen read? In which case there may be just the slightest hint of irony!

Incidentally, my sister told me about some casual labour brought in to a large sorting office to cover the Christmas rush one year. They looked at everyone else putting envelopes into different slots so just copied. Took a while for someone to realise that, no they couldn't read English & were just sorting envelopes randomly into piles.

[cal72]

Being a postman/woman must be a thankless stty job. Granted it is what they are paid to do but recently it does seem like they are getting an awful lot of negative st thrown at them.
I think we have had about three different posties this year and only had to go and collect about two items in all that time.

So i will join the minority and give those postie people a

Edited by cal72 on Saturday 13th November 15:42

[Oldandslow]

My postie regularly signs for stuff if I'm not there and leaves it under the front door mat (the level of concealment is good for DVD's etc, looks a bit lame when it's anything larger. Yes, OK, he's probably not supposed to do this but I've not lost anything yet. On the whole I'm happy enough with the arrangement rather than having to go to the depot all the time.

[pokethepope]

Postmen apparently don't carry the packets and parcels with them anymore. They fill out the cards at the depot before they go out on their round!

[sleep envy]

cal72 said:

Being a postman/woman must be a thankless stty job.

it's not thankless or stty but well renumerated!

[mattdaniels]

SWMBO is a postie. The answer is - they are not allowed to leave packages with a neighbour, unless the depot have a signed letter from you. Some posties will do it, but they'd get into a disciplinary if caught doing it. So the answer is - highly likely your postie can read, and they were following company policy.

Edited by mattdaniels on Saturday 13th November 16:44

[Wheelrepairit]

My regular postie is a top top bloke.

However the muppet who stands in for him on days off and holidays wants shooting.

Few weeks ago I had a letter through door, same house no as me, that was it, differant surname,road,village,county.

Gave it back to him to be met by a grunt, 3 days later I got it back.

Useless fking penis

[Flintstone]

Fats25 said:

Can postman read?

About as well as you can construct a sentence it would seem

[john2443]

Nickyboy said:

john2443 said:

He did shut up when I showed him the 'on the back step note', written on a PO card, but all we managed to get was some stamps as compensation.

What were you hoping to get?? The guy thought he was doing you a favour, maybe wrong but it didnt go missing in the end

I paid for signed for on receipt becasue I didn't want the stuff dumped on the step, and he decided to dump it on the step instead of doing what the PO had been paid to do.

What I really wanted waa an apology for them breaking the terms of the contract, but they weren't interested in that and kept insisting that they were'nt at fault.

[paulmeow]

mattdaniels said:

SWMBO is a postie. The answer is - they are not allowed to leave packages with a neighbour, unless the depot have a signed letter from you. Some posties will do it, but they'd get into a disciplinary if caught doing it. So the answer is - highly likely your postie can read, and they were following company policy.

Edited by mattdaniels on Saturday 13th November 16:44

this is right. generally parcels arent to be given to neighbours without proper consent, for all the postie knows, it could have been your neighbour who put the note there hoping you had a parcelcoming so he could nab it, admitably very rare chance that that would happen.

as well as not everybody gets on with their neighbours, more so in the "rougher" areas which ive got the pleasure of delivering to.

although most posties would give it to your neighbour it seems you may have one of the lazy bds. unless he had his *p739* card already written out. it would probably be quicker to deliver it to your neighbour than actually write the card out.

also accept this may be down to a saturday. all posties go a bit mental on saturdays. everybody wants to get home as quick as possible so as you can imagine most mistakes and lazy behaviour can be put down to it being a saturday.

[Fats25]

benje said:

Maybe there is a policy in place whereby the person who signs it must be at the address on the package?

After going to the depot this morning. Supposed to open at 07:00, there was no queue, and I left at 07:25 when the parcel had been found. Benje - and others on here - are correct. The reason it was not left was because it requires a signature of someone at that physical address. I suppose I can understand that (until you see below!).

It seems that Royal Mail are the only ones that require this, as I often sign for other couriers for neihbours when I am working from home. I actually asked this morning if I can write to Royal Mail to get an alernative address for signature, as that could be quite helpful. The guy said it was not possible!

The irony is - actually both packages I was waiting on had tried to be delivered on Saturday. So I had the note stating that the recorded delivery had been returned to depot, and some othe normal post. Then a neighbour (different person that stated on my note just to make life more interesting) dropped the second parcel (no requirement for signature) round on Saturday night.

There had been no note through the door for this parcel. If my neighbour had not popped round, I would have had no idea where it had got to. Both parcels had been shipped using Royal Mail.

It is possible that it was a different delivery driver, but to have one rule where you cannot drop mail at a neighbours, and then not to leave a card for when you do drop just seems incompetent to me.

[soad]

Can postman read?

Yes and no. Mostly yes.
But tend to get some post misdelivered to us now and again.
Seems like despite postman's best efforts, performance levels do vary

[voicey]

He probably wont have had your parcel on him at all. Our postman always used to leave the packages at the depot and simply post the "sorry you were out" cards through the letter box. I had to wait a long time before I could catch him in the act but it was worth it when I did.