What happens to posties if stuff keeps going missing?

TurkishDelight

Hi, sorry if this is in the wrong place but I figured that the royal mail is used more here than elsewhere on the forums.

Recently we've had quite a few things go missing, and I don't think it's our delivery posties pinching them because they're really nice people (I mean really nice ) and there are things that were very obviously high value and have turned up.

I just wondered what actually happens in these cases, things must go missing all the time and even though a lot of things have not turned up it's not a huge proportion because we buy pretty much everything online. Do the royal mail keep a track of what goes missing?

I'd just feel really bad if our stuff getting lost made someone get sacked, but obviously we can't afford to just not bother letting sellers know that it never arrived

soolin

I had problems as a seller about 3 Christmasses ago and Royal mail in Glasgow (I think that is their complaints hub) actually assisted me in sending items to see exactly where they disappeared. Once the problem was sorted I was sent two letters with compensation, one letter said that staff were being retrained as appropriate and the other said that measures wer ebeing taken against a small number of staff 'as appropriate'. Unofficially they suggested they had had major problems with casual staff bought in for the Christmas period.

LilDevil

It depends really - often it's just stuff going astray, it's rare that it's a postie nicking stuff - although having said that, a couple of years ago there was a spate of mail thefts, stuff like birthday/xmas cards, stuff that looked like it had a value.

If RM suspect any of their staff, they tend to put some 'mail' in the post that looks similar to those that are going missing and tailing 'suspects' to see if it's them taking it.

One casual got caught in my close after he'd pulled a birthday card back out through the catflap.

We also had a spate of mailsacks being chucked in the river by casual staff too - Oxfordshire had the poorest record in the country at one point!

southernscouser

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/dorset/7676580.stm

StaffsSW

This guy used to be our postman, and he seemed quite nice at the time...!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/staffordshire/4046003.stm

TurkishDelight

southernscouser wrote: »

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/dorset/7676580.stm

:rotfl: caught wearing them that's just taking the pee.

Made me feel better though, if it is just bad luck they're not likely to just sack people willy-nilly.

custardy

well theres many methods in place for this sort of thing
at a basic level there are test letters sent out regularly,these vary from types where the customer is asked to return a letter insude stating when they received the letter up to items where the manger goes round after the delivery to speak to people in person regarding their delivery(s)
it takes time for patters to emerge if a postie is stealing so its worth reporting any mail that is missing
if anyone is suspected then RM will ramp up the pressure with the investigation bureau (in RM speak the IB)
this could take place with test letters/packages,bag searches,observation at the inward primary sorting via the cameras and/or following the postie on delivery to monitor them

anyone caught stealing is sacked,no arguments and nearly always it becomes a criminal case

stolt

my daughters schoolfriends father was a postie and has just come out of prison after a 6 month stretch. apparently taking stuff from his round, including credit cards and then he had a team of people he use to give the cards to use. He now lives in a rental property behind mine and he still drives a nice car and looks like he lives a decent lifestyle... who said crime doesnt pay!!

jenniewb

May not just be the postie- don't forget there is a long line of people who get to process your parcel before it arrives to you, from the post office who stamp it, the collection officer, the sorting office, delivery drivers, and anyone else I have left out (eg cleaners, maintenance people, any burglars or machines that break down mid-chewing a parcel if things like that happen! etc etc etc...)

When you think of things like that, it almost seems amazing that things do turn up! always send recorded delivery, it does cost more, but atleast theres the security of being able to claim the £35ish back if it doesn't turn up.

Contains_Mild_Peril

If you obtain a free certificate of posting you can claim the value of missing mail (up to £36 for normal mail) regardless of whether or not it was recorded. The advantage of recorded is that the recipient cannot deny having received an item for which they have have signed: it is most useful for things like legal documents where it is important to be able to prove that they reached their intended recipient.

soolin wrote: »

I had problems as a seller about 3 Christmasses ago and Royal mail in Glasgow (I think that is their complaints hub) actually assisted me in sending items to see exactly where they disappeared. Once the problem was sorted I was sent two letters with compensation, one letter said that staff were being retrained as appropriate and the other said that measures wer ebeing taken against a small number of staff 'as appropriate'. Unofficially they suggested they had had major problems with casual staff bought in for the Christmas period.

I think that would have been the same year I had about 3 different parcels posted within about a week mysteriously vanish (1 one which was a Christmas present to a friend). I (eventually) got compensation for their value, but was not informed of any further investigation.