Lost Special

[hothothot]

You could argue that the person in the locker lost it so they should be sacked ?

[gimba]

In our office you hand write the specials barcode on a list then hand them back, probably for this reason, you can't hand write the barcode in if you don't have it with you at that time, and if it's hand written in, then it has been lost from the office onwards, not the postman to the office

[yellowbelly]

At our office all the returns are left at the returns office door, we dont out stickers on them unfortunately

Thank you all for your replies.
We write on the parcel that it is a p739 and the route number, date ect.
We leave the parcels at the office, and they are then usually scanned back in. The manager is saying that because that scan never happened the last known person to have it is me, and therefore the blame lays on me. Very worried as he says depending on what the customer does I could be sacked. :(

If you say they are '...left at the returns office door....' and there is no direct hand to hand transfer or written record of handover, I would scan any
Specials on 'Indoor' as 'Not Delivered > No Answer'. In fact I do this in similar situations at offices that I cover in where the returns office are not in
until the next day or it is handed over to Post Office counters staff. That way at least there will be a PDA scan record on your PDA with
GPS co-ords that it actually reached the DO. Overkill and not your job? - possibly, but it would only take a few seconds and provide
yourself with a bit more cover in this situation. Who cares if it's scanned again by the returns staff anyway - it's just a duplicate scan.

[chuckychucks]

Thank you all for your replies.
We write on the parcel that it is a p739 and the route number, date ect.
We leave the parcels at the office, and they are then usually scanned back in. The manager is saying that because that scan never happened the last known person to have it is me, and therefore the blame lays on me. Very worried as he says depending on what the customer does I could be sacked. :(

Load of balls, your manager is looking for someone easy to blame...you brought it back..end of..don't be bullied into admitting to something you are not guilty of, boils my piss this low handed bullying bollox (excuse my french )

[transporter03]

At our office we have to scan any barcoded item which we have p739'd on delivery before handing them over to the callers office. As mentioned on a previous post this is done on the pda by going to indoor-record item not delivered- no answer. By doing this there is no doubt that you have returned the item. Many items going supposedly missing in the callers office in the past so this makes a lot of sense and also very easy to do.

[postslippete]

Stick to your story and don't be bullied into admitting that you lost the item when its clear that someone in the office might have lost it. Managers go fishing for someone to blame - so don't sign anything either

[woody38]

Stick to your story and don't be bullied into admitting that you lost the item when its clear that someone in the office might have lost it. Managers go fishing for someone to blame - so don't sign anything either

Check everywhere, check the van u where in that day, check the bags again, check your pockets, failing that check the office, check your fitting, check everywhere you might have thought you handed it in but your mind can play games with u, good luck and I hope it turns up.

[compostcorner]

in our office we just hand the no answers to somebody in the office and they do all the scanning.. once upon a time i lost a special, i got back to the office and handed in my no answers but no special, i searched my bags and even went back out over my route in case i dropped it somewhere, but nothing, i told my boss and he just said wait until tomorrow, it might turn up. but what actually happened was it got mixed up with my collection box work, so when i empty a box i stick a band around the work and just chuck in my bag, when i get back to the office i chuck all the collection work in to a big sack with everyone elses and it gets taken to the mail centre, so luckilly for me somebody at the mail centre spotted it and it went back through the system arriving at our office the next day.

[Celgar]

What's all this sticker business?

I've worked for RM for over 24 years and it's always been the case that returns either put in yorks (Tracked, Recorded, and normal packets respectively) and Specials get put in through the cage window. Job done.

There are stickers to use to write the date, walk number, your initials, and a place to mark if you tried a neighbour or not & if there is an opt out for trying neighbours on that address. We haven't had these stickers for that long though. Maybe a couple of years at most. Most posties don't use them though and just write P739, the date, & initial it.
If an item has been handed into the callers office that is where your responsibility for the item ends. Not your fault if the person there loses it.

[SpacePhoenix]

If an item has been handed into the callers office that is where your responsibility for the item ends. Not your fault if the person there loses it.

Trouble is won't RM just go by whoever was last known to have the item? If there's no proof that an item has been returned to the locker, then chances are as far as they're concerned it'll be whoever last had the item that lost it.

When SDs are sent to the DOs the driver signs for them then at the DO someone signs for them. Aren't the locker staff meant to sign for them to prove that they've been returned to the locker? When you collect them from the locker to deliver, do you have to sign anything to prove that you've got them?

[Newbie001]

Thank you all for your replies.
We write on the parcel that it is a p739 and the route number, date ect.
We leave the parcels at the office, and they are then usually scanned back in. The manager is saying that because that scan never happened the last known person to have it is me, and therefore the blame lays on me. Very worried as he says depending on what the customer does I could be sacked. :(

Our office does same, might not even be the office staffs fault. Anyone could lift a special and no one would be none the wiser.
It's what happens when they make walks too big and only allocate 5 mins to unload van. Every thing gets dumped near the office. Management failure, don't let them tell you differently.

[97gaz]

i know it has been handed back in as it is not in the bags or van.

With it being so busy lately, is it not possible that you might not have handed it in? Over xmas we had three people who said they had definitely handed specials in but we found two in pouches and one under the seat of the van. Check everywhere. It's not unusual for the duty holder to not find something in the van but I usually can because I've found them so many times I know where to look. There's a hollow under both the seats where the jack should go,look behind the seats and especially down between the gearstick and seats and don't forget the overhead shelf and glove box. Check your frame top to bottom. Double check every bag if you're on a shared duty. You'd be surprised how many specials and signed for I've found in bags. If you scanned it as undelivered see if you can get the barcode off the boss and do a track and trace on it. It's not unheard of for stuff to be left on the frame by accident and end up going back out on delivery the next day.

[Postie45]

Thank you all for your replies.
We write on the parcel that it is a p739 and the route number, date ect.
We leave the parcels at the office, and they are then usually scanned back in. The manager is saying that because that scan never happened the last known person to have it is me, and therefore the blame lays on me. Very worried as he says depending on what the customer does I could be sacked. :(

stick to your story, if they do indeed press it then get the union to tear them a new one about a lack of properly having a record of chain of custody of these items as once you hand in the special (and left unattended?) theres no one responsible for the security of these items, and then blaming you due to the poor system implemented could be worthy of a grievance against him.

[redneck]

If you have followed the local procedures for the item, and these procedures are not secure, then they will find it very difficult to pursue against you. Always get the union involved of course if they do try it on. In our area we go to 'local collect' PO's with the p739 items inc specials, all responsibility lies with them once handed over and signed for by PO staff on the PDA. Not a bad way of doing things and if errors are made they are usually flagged up to the PO staff and can be sorted out often without management involvement.

[ssdd]

If you have followed the local procedures for the item, and these procedures are not secure, then they will find it very difficult to pursue against you. Always get the union involved of course if they do try it on. In our area we go to 'local collect' PO's with the p739 items inc specials, all responsibility lies with them once handed over and signed for by PO staff on the PDA. Not a bad way of doing things and if errors are made they are usually flagged up to the PO staff and can be sorted out often without management involvement.

Are you pouching off or scanning as 'local collect' for customer to collect from PO redneck? Just interested, it amazes me there are so many offices doing different things. Does your DO not have an enquiry office?