There is a postman in our office.

[Dogs of War]

There is a postman in are office who was out on delivery, when a person came to him and said can you post these letters for me mate. He said
no not allowed to take mail of anybody can you not post them into a post box. The postman claims he didn't take the mail because if there was money in the letters and they didn't arrive he would get the blame for nicking the money. I think he has a major point, what are peoples thoughts on this.

[krussel]

Well i can see where his coming from with all the bad press. I take mail from my customers whilst on the walk i guess its a matter of trust. I never really thought about what they will think if it goes missing on route.

[Pat Ostman]

Well i can see where his coming from with all the bad press. I take mail from my customers whilst on the walk i guess its a matter of trust. I never really thought about what they will think if it goes missing on route.

Same here

[mondeoman1]

When I started six years ago I was told in training not to take mail off people for that very reason.
If the mail does not reach its destination the customer would blame you.

[floydy]

why not just ask them if there is anything of value in them before taking them....it's not rocket science

[Ahebban]

It is another one of the those grey areas for posties. Do you put your 'customer service' or 'job's worth' hat on at the time. The vast majority of the public and businesses trust their regular posties to ensure that their mail is sent on its way safely without need of a post-box. Sadly, it is only the media and a few 'life-long' complainers that grab the headlines when anything goes astray for whatever reason.

[Acca Dacca]

why not just ask them if there is anything of value in them before taking them....it's not rocket science

Youd have to be careful when wording it

Be better saying ''If its very important or of value your best to post it yourself cause I dont wanna be held responsible if it is lost sorry'

rather than

'is there anything of value in it?' which sounds like your wanting there to be so ye can nab it

[floydy]

why not just ask them if there is anything of value in them before taking them....it's not rocket science

Ye think someone would give a postie a letter after telling them there is £100 inside?

but surely only an idiot would give a letter with a £100 in to someone else to post


nice edit

[Woodcutter's Son]

Depends on the customer for me - if they come up with the goods at Christmas - definitely take their mail If they don't tip but a generally ok - then probably - but if they have pissed me off in any way shape or form - then forget it

[brothermagrew]

There is a postman in are office who was out on delivery, when a person came to him and said can you post these letters for me mate. He said
no not allowed to take mail of anybody can you not post them into a post box. The postman claims he didn't take the mail because if there was money in the letters and they didn't arrive he would get the blame for nicking the money. I think he has a major point, what are peoples thoughts on this.

My own personal thoughts are that your colleague was correct and done the right thing in refusing to take the mail of this particular person or any other person for that matter. Whilst on deliveries the only point that posties should be taking mail is when they are doing a scheduled collection from postboxes. I am also sure that Royal Mail has no particular steadfast rules on this although I could be wrong.

However, and in a similar vain a good few years back, I had a person who was waiting beside a collection postbox and they informed me that according to them they had mistakenly posted a letter without putting all the contents in it, and that again according to them they had just asked the sub postmaster who apparently had informed them on the lines of "oh! it will be okay the postie will sift through the contents of the box and find it and give it back to you.

I upon their request simply refused to hand any letter from a postbox over to anyone. Turned out that day when I got back to the DO and unknown by me this person had put in a complaint, the DOM (now ex) in his bolshy mood attempted to give me the 3rd degree. Why didn't you locate the customers letter out of the postbox it would only have took you a minute says he. He got his answer in no uncertain but polite and dignified terms. Thoroughly peed off and annoyed I went one better and emailed Bob Gibson who at that time was responsible for collection issues outlining my concerns over this matter.

I received a written response (from CWU Outdoor Dept) which informed me that both the sub postmaster and DOM were quite wrong to say that you should have gone through the contents of the pillar box collection with a view to taking out an item and giving it to a member of the public. It has been a long established principle that once a letter has been posted it should not be removed from the mail stream without proper authority. Neither you nor the sub postmaster could know if the person claiming to have posted the item was the rightful owner of the contents of the envelope and technically you would both have been breaking the law if you hads handed the item over. You are also right in saying that had you sorted through the contents of the collection this would have delayed you in carrying out your proper duties.

It would seem that both the sub postmaster and DOM need to be reminded of their duties in respect of mail. Suffice to say my Area Delivery Rep was forwarded a copy of this exchange of communications so as he could raise this matter at the appropriate level. Which to all intense purposes he dutifuly did as a few days later my DOM has another informal chat with me "who have you been speaking to" as "I got my arsed chewed off".

Morale of the story is if in doubt don't be afraid to write, email or ask for advice from CWU HQ. You may be lucky and get a written response like I did.

[gj1023]

This thread I think can be summed up by the Phrase "Public Service" . This maybe a strange concept for anyone with under 10 years service. As they have been drilled by RM to follow rules, with threats of a flogging if not. Public service was in the days when the customer really mattered, when we had time to care for the customer and would do what we could to help . Taking letters was and is standard practice on Rurals as far as I know. as it can be a bit of a way to a box. Leaving them hanging out of the LB or on the step etc is the norm. The days when the public knew and trusted the postman without question . Over the many years , when people have asked me to take letters, I have never had a second thought, to me it is part of my job, collecting and delivering the mail .

[Acca Dacca]

why not just ask them if there is anything of value in them before taking them....it's not rocket science

Ye think someone would give a postie a letter after telling them there is £100 inside?

but surely only an idiot would give a letter with a £100 in to someone else to post


nice edit

Then why ask unless you suspect they ARE an idiot

[floydy]

why not just ask them if there is anything of value in them before taking them....it's not rocket science

Ye think someone would give a postie a letter after telling them there is £100 inside?

but surely only an idiot would give a letter with a £100 in to someone else to post


nice edit

Then why ask unless you suspect they ARE an idiot

Tere's a lot of it about dont you know

[jaylime]

On my rural people leave me letters out so i can take them back to the office to post them,and ive never had any mither.

[PostieWithTheMostie!]

.. Simple really if you value your job at the moment and any letter goes missing that you took off a customer to deliver, then they will question your honesty first. We where told at job training 9/10 year ago not to do it. Once you explain the reason to them why you can't they're fine with it, just going by my experiences.