It's The Great Postbag Scandal

Post by **TrueBlueTerrier** » 27 Nov 2007, 15:54

http://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/wnn ... candal.php

YOUR Worcester News can reveal today how thousands of items of post are left unguarded across the city every day.

Post including bank statements and other personal information are left at unsecure locations around the city. We were alerted to the practice by a concerned reader who saw a postman leaving four bags of post in the entrance to a flat.

When we went to investigate we were able to walk straight into the hall where the bags were, and in the time we were there it would have been easy to put the bags in the car and drive off.

One postman, who asked not to be named, told us: "If you ever get mail and the ink has run on the envelope it is because it has been sitting outside for hours, probably in someone's garden. There are unsecured bag drops dotted all over the city. It is happening all over the country but Worcester is particularly bad for it."

After being contacted by your Worcester News, Royal Mail has promised to look into the problem.

A spokesman said: "Royal Mail take the security of our customers' mail very seriously and as a result of the information provided we have immediately implemented a review of drop points across the area to ensure they comply with our security standards."

The unsecured bag drops are happening because postmen are having to deliver more mail than they can carry.

Royal Mail should drop off bags of letters in pouch boxes - secure boxes often attached to post boxes - but Worcester does not have enough.

In the absence of pouch boxes, postmen should have the extra bags delivered to them on their rounds at pre-arranged times.

Instead, Royal Mail is paying people to house the bags for them.

Landowners and landlords receive about Â£30 a year for the bags to be dumped in the morning and collected by postmen throughout the day.

Worcester postmen say these unsecured bag drops are in front gardens, in open porches, wheelie bins and behind trailers.

"They are making us the scapegoats for their errors for increasing the size of the deliveries," said the postman. "I had a bag of mail stolen and I didn't know until five hours into the delivery. It was stolen from somebody's garden and it was visible from the road so anybody could have seen it.

"Only the other day I heard about bags being left in a garden overnight.

"The postman did not have time to finish his delivery, someone should have come and picked it up, but it was just left there until the next day.

"It is disgusting and unfair on the customers.

"We are supposed to be providing a service and we are not giving it.

"There are people out there who rely on us."

Your Worcester News has been given a list of drop-off points, but we have chosen not to reveal the exact locations to protect customers' security.

8:20am today

Post by **dvbuk55** » 27 Nov 2007, 16:07

For Worcester read any place within the UK I would imagine. We are no different. Only the other day I had to explain to a newish postman that it wasn't his responsiblity to find a bag drop, it is a managers duty to find, log and assess it for viablity and security. If it goes missing then it's his problem,

Post by **trythat** » 27 Nov 2007, 16:22

dvbuk55 wrote:For Worcester read any place within the UK I would imagine. We are no different. Only the other day I had to explain to a newish postman that it wasn't his responsiblity to find a bag drop, it is a managers duty to find, log and assess it for viablity and security. If it goes missing then it's his problem,

We've tried going down that route, and the stock question you will get is 'where do you think is best? ' they won't go out and look or test for security, you can't get a timed dropped because there aren't any vans available, and of course if you got a lot to sign for you can't always reach the point to pick up, and I don't see why postmen should have to phone in for bags either, it's a total balls up.

mrlovepantsuk · Post by **mrlovepantsuk** » 27 Nov 2007, 16:49

we were told about this at wtll this morning, it is all over the front page.

Post by **dvbuk55** » 27 Nov 2007, 18:24

trythat wrote:
dvbuk55 wrote:For Worcester read any place within the UK I would imagine. We are no different. Only the other day I had to explain to a newish postman that it wasn't his responsiblity to find a bag drop, it is a managers duty to find, log and assess it for viablity and security. If it goes missing then it's his problem,
We've tried going down that route, and the stock question you will get is 'where do you think is best? ' they won't go out and look or test for security, you can't get a timed dropped because there aren't any vans available, and of course if you got a lot to sign for you can't always reach the point to pick up, and I don't see why postmen should have to phone in for bags either, it's a total balls up.

It is a balls up and because people take it upon themselves to sort these things out then nothing gets done. It is their responsibility so make it so. Timed drops - it is their responsibility to arrange them.