Puzzles for postmen: Graphic designer challenges Royal Mail

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Puzzles for postmen: Graphic designer challenges Royal Mail workers to solve cryptic clues

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A graphic designer is testing the reliability of the Royal Mail to the extreme, by writing and sending cryptic addresses on envelopes for postmen to solve.
James Addison, who admits he is ‘fascinated’ by the postal service, started his 'Puzzles for Postmen' project five years ago and has been amazed by the response he has received.

He was inspired by an extremely efficient postman he encountered growing up in the village of Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, and decided to set him a challenge.

Mr Addison has since used maps, word-searches and drawings of the destination for his letter to test sorting office brains and says the Royal Mail has delivered them all.

‘I’ve always had a fascination with the Royal Mail,’ he explained. ‘How a letter can physically travel from one end of the country to the other for just 57p is still brilliant.

‘They never fail to deliver and I have a growing admiration for their patience and perseverance.
‘Somehow I very much doubt that any other postal service in the world would embrace badly addressed envelopes in such an eccentric and light-hearted way.’

A Royal Mail spokesman said: “We’re pleased to hear that our postmen and women have been able to decipher and deliver James Addison’s obscurely addressed mail.

“It demonstrates how our people, who are based at the heart of communities across the UK, use their local knowledge on a daily basis to ensure mail is delivered quickly and efficiently to 29 million addresses nationwide, six days a week.

“We would of course encourage our customers to always use a full address and postcode when addressing their mail to ensure it arrives at its intended destination.”

You can see a gallery of Mr Addison’s envelope riddles here.

[wabbithunta]

Simple picture puzzle.jpg

[glenfiddich]

we've been told to return to sender any vague items we can't identify straight away not even leaving something for the regular postie when its his day off so a few of these cryptic ones might start being returned

[wannabeek]

It's not exactly a tough puzzle. They all seem to have the correct postcode and are destined for the same address so they presumably just land on the same postie's frame in Poole who glances at it and says, 'oh yeah, another one of those with scribbles all over for that nutty geezer at the quay.'

[cheffie]

must be why we get cryptic christmas cards all the time then

[Lounge Lizard]

He only does this because he's heard 'mail volumes are dropping' and assumes we've now got the spare time for 'puzzles'.

[baldrick]

RM management scrapped the Blind Duty in Mount Pleasant MC, which used to try to decipher badly addressed mail for London, and further afield. So if he posted his letters in London they would probably be sent to Belfast RLB for destruction.

[wabbithunta]

Apparently this guy is in Poole.... If it were on my delivery I'd write "tracing" in blue crayon all over it and then leave it for a few days while I searched and then stick "Dead stickers" on it and RLB 'coz I bet there ain't a room for a return address on them.

[plodplodplod]

time and waster