postman sacked for signing for goods

NonGeographicalMan

custardy wrote: »

postie says i delivered it and signed for it,recipient denies it postie has broken RM delivery procedures so has no defence

And if a postman signs for numerous different customers post all the time its much more likely he could have signed for it himself before accidentally putting it in the wrong letterbox, especially at somewhere like my block of flats where the postboxes on the wall are not even arranged in numerical order (but instead in developer plot number order which was different from the official street numbers then assigned by the local council).

macfly

You see what a state we are in in this country? I've been self employed for twenty years and a company executive before that. I still regret Scargill lost his battle with the government. The grey men have taken over, the rule book boys.
It's a matter of judgement custard. It's how I do business. If I thought some grey man with a rule book could do it better I would be sweeping floors. I do sweep floors actually, but only my own.

custardy

NonGeographicalMan wrote: »

And if a postman signs for numerous different customers post all the time its much more likely he could have signed for it himself before accidentally putting it in the wrong letterbox, especially at somewhere like my block of flats where the postboxes on the wall are not even arranged in numerical order (but instead in developer plot number order which was different from the official street numbers then assigned by the local council).

yup it could happen,and by regularly signing its not like the can recall that one item
not just that,if a signed item has the wrong address(often in flats!) then its delivered as addressed but to the wrong address
ive often had folks come to sign for stuff and its simply not for them
even with SD items

custardy

macfly wrote: »

You see what a state we are in in this country? I've been self employed for twenty years and a company executive before that. I still regret Scargill lost his battle with the government. The grey men have taken over, the rule book boys.
It's a matter of judgement custard. It's how I do business. If I thought some grey man with a rule book could do it better I would be sweeping floors. I do sweep floors actually, but only my own.

thats right,a matter of judging whether your job is more important than someone not having to post a letter themselves,collect a package etc
this is the cold hard truth of the current RM management,many posties havent woken up to this let alone customers

NonGeographicalMan

custardy wrote: »

thats right,a matter of judging whether your job is more important than someone not having to post a letter themselves,collect a package etc

Surely the answer is to formalise some of the current ad-hoc informal arrangements so that a postie can sign for a package where a customer or their legal guardians have specifically previously agreed either in writing or through a secure on line addresses account that they can do so in certain specific circumstances. Similarly if a customer is happy for a packet to always be left on the doorstep or in some agreed hidden location in the garden etc if they are not in this could be ok if formally agreed to in advance by the customer.

Although of course this could be a problem with relief postman if all posties had data terminals containing details of all addresses on the round they are covering and containing details of any such formal agreements to deviate from the standard procedure then the whole position should be able to be covered.

In many areas people no longer have a single postman who serves them virtually all year round and this is surely why the old informal arrangements are no longer appropriate.

I don't even know if the postman I have a problem with is the guy who delivers here most of the time or one of two other relief postmen who regularly fill in on some days. As some of the worst problems I have encountered, such as for instance letters being left sticking half way out of all our letterboxes so a thief or nosey parker could easily retrieve them) have only happened once I would strongly suspect that those were committed by a relief postman. But as my flat is at the back of the house I never seem the postman come or go so have no idea who it is on any given day.

custardy

NonGeographicalMan wrote: »

Surely the answer is to formalise some of the current ad-hoc informal arrangements so that a postie can sign for a package where a customer or their legal guardians have specifically previously agreed either in writing or through a secure on line addresses account that they can do so in certain specific circumstances. Similarly if a customer is happy for a packet to always be left on the doorstep or in some agreed hidden location in the garden etc if they are not in this could be ok if formally agreed to in advance by the customer.

Although of course this could be a problem with relief postman if all posties had data terminals containing details of all addresses on the round they are covering and containing details of any such formal agreements to deviate from the standard procedure then the whole position should be able to be covered.

In many areas people no longer have a single postman who serves them virtually all year round and this is surely why the old informal arrangements are no longer appropriate.

I don't even know if the postman I have a problem with is the guy who delivers here most of the time or one of two other relief postmen who regularly fill in on some days. As some of the worst problems I have encountered, such as for instance letters being left sticking half way out of all our letterboxes so a thief or nosey parker could easily retrieve them) have only happened once I would strongly suspect that those were committed by a relief postman. But as my flat is at the back of the house I never seem the postman come or go so have no idea who it is on any given day.

you have hit the nail on the head,its just not practical for staff to be chasing around for random arrangements
in ye olde days it was fine,regular staff who did duties for years
knew where everybody lived and who wanted what
i used to know my customers doing the school run and would put their packets in my first bag and hand them out at the school gates
i got rid of my packets and they didnt come home to red cards

however as start times change and duty sizes and time pressures change this isnt feasible
my last duty was 900 calls (doors) plus delivery to the businesses in that area as well
RM dont want regular FT staff,they want casual workers
far cheaper
its also cheaper to push FT staff out by any means than paying redundancy

checking a 'data terminal' for each address isnt really feasible as everything is timed nowadays and that would add time
RM are more interested in bigger rounds and more unaddressed mail

adouglasmhor

custardy wrote: »

you wouldnt believe the interest some people take in what RM staff do
they will report posties who they deem as being parked strangely,behaving strangely etc
i had the police questioning me one day as i had buzzed the old folks home doing a duty on overtime. since i wasnt the regular postie they called the police after i had delivered the mail and left the building?

When I did relief I had the warden of a sheltered housing complex try to stop me delivering recorded items to a blind lady as I was not the proper postie.
When I told her I was delivering it but she could come and watch me as I delivered it she went off on one. She reported me*, but I reported her to the Director of Social Work for the council who ran the sheltered housing complex. She ended up being nice as pie to me for the rest of the time I covered for a coleague.


*What the basis of her complaint was seemed to be that I did my job by the book instead of letting her vet residents mail.

Mal666

My postie was too lazy to even bring my parcels. I caught him out one day sneakily posting the sorry you were out card. When I asked him for the parcel he didn't have it and said another driver had called earlier and he was asked to put a card in. :rotfl:

custardy

Mal666 wrote: »

My postie was too lazy to even bring my parcels. I caught him out one day sneakily posting the sorry you were out card. When I asked him for the parcel he didn't have it and said another driver had called earlier and he was asked to put a card in. :rotfl:

maybe they decided the rule of delivery wasnt worth bothering with
however if you are talking about a driver who couldnt gain entry to a stair then that is the protocol

Cat72

My postie reguarily signs for recorded delivery items. I have tried to speak to him about it- as was not happy and he still did it.
Last week he did it twice- worse thing was the letters werent even for me !
I have phonesd and complained before and nothing has ever been done. The other postman know about it- they say its because he wants to go straight home- as his last deliverys are beside where he stays. So if he has any items left he would have to take them back to the post office- so he delivers them no matter what and to whoever as well.
He has left packages on my doorstep when I have been out and put my items though other peoples door because their letter boxes are bigger.
I have therefore signed up with the royal mails postal survey as I am so mad he continues this.