Sorry You Were Out - Roy Mayall - Guardian

[norbert]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/ ... ur-parcels" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Very few mailmen mislead their customers – but it's more likely to happen at Christmas.

More than half of all consumers apparently feel they have been misled by their postman because a "Sorry you were out" card has been pushed through their letterbox while they were, in fact, at home. According to the watchdog Consumer Focus, who carried out their survey for the BBC's Panorama, 23% of customers believe this has happened to them at least three times. Some postmen, the accusation is, don't even try to deliver parcels any more. They leave them at the sorting office, and let the customer do the work.

I think the problem is probably being exaggerated: I take all my parcels with me, even if – at very busy times of the year like this – that means having to return three or even four times to the sorting office during a round. And although there will always be a few people who abuse "739" cards, as they're known, almost all my colleagues do the same. The vast majority of postmen are committed to the idea of public service.

There are a couple of points worth making in defence of the little red cards. First, while Royal Mail say postal volumes have dropped, for the average postman they've risen – and that increase is mainly down to online shopping. Amazon, eBay and so on mean there are more packets to deliver than there were. Second, once you've been doing a round for a while, you can have a pretty good guess at who's going to be in, and who's going to be out. If the children go to school and both parents work, then it's a fairly safe bet that most weekdays, there'll be nobody home. So if you've got a lot else to deliver that day, you might write out a 739 for that address and take it with you instead of the parcel. And on occasion, inevitably, you'll get it wrong: somebody will be home.

Unfortunately, that's more likely to happen at this time of year. Last week I had four extra bags of Christmas parcels every day, in addition to my regular bag and both bike panniers. This week will be worse, and next week worse still. Plus, one of the power companies is currently sending free ligh tbulbs to every household, and we're badly understaffed: in my office alone, three people have left and not been replaced. Obviously there are always exceptions, but in general, very few postmen set out to deliberately mislead their customers. It's not what we're about.

• Roy Mayall is the pseudonym of a postal worker in the south-east of England. His book Dear Granny Smith: A Letter From Your Postman is published by Short Books at £4.99.

[sevenandseven]

Read the comments on this article and you know you can't win. One even suggests leaving the packet under a mat or in a recycling bin! And when that goes missing who gets the blame?
So they have to stand in a queue. Don't these people ever use banks, railway stations, restaurants, bus stops? No, apparently it is only the Royal Mail queue that is a danger and requires a rude and arrogant nature from the customer.
There is also a new survey (just done it) where 75% of customers ask for a redelivery on a particular day - usually Saturday - and can't be bothered to get out of bed to answer the door to receive the packet they have asked for. We are not perfect - we all know some lazy useless "colleagues" but neither is the customer always right.

[Straight4ward]

Someone should conduct a nationwide survey on how many doorbells are not working at any given time!

[POSTMAN]

Parcelforce dude round my way today said he took a sickie to wait in for a signed for,he said he didn't hear anyone knocking and later on in the day noticed the 739 card on his mat

Ok that's one,now there have been MANY times after i have got back to the office and the PHG tells me she has had a phone call to say a customer has complained that i did not knock or ring.
I ALWAYS knock and ring if there is both,twice,sometimes 3 times as i'm filling out a card!

[smokerjim]

I ALWAYS knock and ring if there is both,twice,sometimes 3 times as i'm filling out a card!

Great minds think alike....

Anyway, I posted a comment up there - no doubt someone will come back with a mouthful of abuse calling me a lazy bastid that does 2 hrs work a day, etc, etc.

[westlondonpostie]

A mate of mine is a reserve driver, different van everday.

He told me on saturday he had a request delivery for a package that had been 739'd earlier in the week, when he knocked on the door he was met with a load of abuse, and how the customer said they had been in all day that the card was put through the letterbox and how he had rang and complained about it and hoped that someones head would roll for it,
It was then that mate informed the customer that he was just a reserve driver, and also, that he was positive that on the day in question, my mate had actually delivered a Special Delivery to this blokes place of work on another round, where this fella had signed for it himself and this could be verified by checking the SD cards, he said he remembered this bloke because he was a right miserable f****r, and he asked the customer why he felt the need to lie and try to get someone in trouble for no reason only to be met with one very red face and a door closed abrubtly in his face.
On monday the regular bloke was pulled about it but thankfully my mate was able to back him up, and the manager will be writing to the customer!


Just makes me think how many people who say that they were in actually are!!

[smokerjim]

But for the grace of God the regular driver avoided a bollocking.....but here's a news flash - no journalist is going to write that story up & get it printed

[Wessex]

I ALWAYS knock and ring if there is both,twice,sometimes 3 times as i'm filling out a card!

For problematical customers I actually write on the 739 how many times I have rung and how many times I have knocked the door.Funnily enough they never complain now

[norbert]

But for the grace of God the regular driver avoided a bollocking.....but here's a news flash - no journalist is going to write that story up & get it printed

Re Customer Complaints - seen this happen with another union , things could be very bitchy and there was plenty of sh***hawks in charge on the lookout for trouble ; looking to settle petty vendettas .

It was a form of militancy only with a different twist with them . Not very nice . Like with RM there was a lot of s*** stirring in the media , the drip effect , public = bad - private = good . These " experts " should be careful as to what they wish for .

Agree with Wessex - call their bluff .