I'm a postie ask me anything

[Postieonthego]

In light of the two recent thread - postman being a checker fcuker - and - how many parcel are too many. What do you want to ask a postie?

Thank you for that. It’s lucky he can pop home if he needs to!

My postie is great and I always tip at Christmas

one thing though, do you have a camera in everyone’s house so you know when to knock when they go into the bathroom for possibly the first time that day? He's absolutely spying on me

I usually cover an area where I am that has seven rounds or a second area that is made up of three. I'm happy to do any of these 10 as I know them, but I do hate the first day of school feeling when thrown in somewhere completely new.

I have been doing parcel support over Christmas, but this is from 12.30pm until 8pm so mostly in the dark! Today I covered a round for someone who was off sick, the post had not gone out yesterday, so it was double mail.

Do you like reading people's handwriting styles. I do very much and have thought about working for RM in the sorting dept. I tried to get a job for RM years ago, but wasn't shortlisted, sadly.

In the job I do now, I work with migrants and they always say their postcode when asked for their address. As if that postcode is unique to their house and they don't need to spell out the rest of the address!

Do you you ever come across this in the sorting office?

Ahhhh I have loved reading this thread. It's made me happy! I think it's because I've wanted to be a postie for the past couple of decades. I've applied twice and never got an interview! Ha! Anyway this was nice. Thank you.

Thank you for starting this thread OP. It’s nice to read a positive thread about Posties. Usually people just come on MN to slag them off so it’s nice to see so many positive comments and interesting questions/answers.

Personally I do appreciate a nicely written address.
I also like the little notes that especially appear on Christmas Cards.
eg Postie not sure if 11, 13 or 15 Smith Street, but it's the house that has a green gate and a red door.

I can't speak for every postie, of course, but in my experience we are trying our best in changing circumstances. I would like to see Royal Mail become GB Mail like the renationalisation of the rail industry.

Thank you.

Hi OP. Love a positive postie thread, thanks for this one.

If you were to be greeted at the door by someone with small token gifts of appreciation, what would you like to receive? I often think about doing something as a one off thing, maybe a bag of Haribos, crisps, couple of chocolate bars and a drink but feel like it might be weird. Would it be weird? If not, what would you like to be surprised with to help keep your morale going during busy times?

Happy to be told you wouldn't want to receive something like this from a stranger. It's just that I clean lodges and love when people leave me a cold drink in the fridge and something (unopened and still sealed) to take home with me. Little things that make my day a bit better so I'd like to give someone else that feeling of being thought of.

Thanks @Postieonthegoreally interesting!

Such an interesting thread OP, thanks!

I am wondering why many birthday and Christmas cards appear with small tears in one corner? It’s never the bills, always the cards! My DM used to say it was somebody checking for money in the card…

thanks for the thread
What’s the most incorrect address you’ve delivered to? I just remember stories of address to Mr X in Yorkshire somehow getting there.

In India address used to be descriptive- third floor X street Opp Spare Garage -,are there any like that now (as well as the postcode)?

In the hot summer cans offered were gratefully received.
A chocolate bar is always nice. I've had birthday and wedding cake before. I appreciate some people are nervous of homemade things.

I don't think it is weird at all. I think it's lovely.

Cards are generally not as well sealed as letters and sorting machines often tear the corner. I've never known anyone open cards to check for money.

Just reposting in case you missed it by mistake 🫠

I can't think what the best course of action is.
Was it from a UK address?

Ok I have never tipped my postie at Christmas and now I am thinking I have been rude for years?! Do many people give you a tip / card of gift at Christmas ?

Not loads, up to you really.

Thanks yes it was. Am hoping it’ll miraculously turn up one day but I guess parcels must go missing all the time?

☺️ glad to hear about the cans as I always have them and ice pops to hand during summer for anyone who knocks with a delivery. Aww, i love that people value you enough to offer their cakes to you, how nice 🥰 I think I'll go ahead and put a few things together then, thanks for replying ☺️

It seems, from a Google search, that Bristol Hub is notorious, but items do magically appear again. Maybe there is still hope.

I recently posted 5 birthday cards from the same postbox and 2 of them had cash in (stupid, I know). 3 cards arrived but the 2 with cash never got there and it made me wonder just how widespread stealing is within the postal service.

I live on a small estate mainly composed of blocks of flats & we get this a lot too. About once a fortnight, there will be packages or letters for people in a different block which we need to redeliver.

Packages get left on a shelf in the block lobby so I can understand the postie not noticing a mistake there. But letters all go into the individual postboxes & any that shouldn’t be in our block get left on the parcel shelf, so it must be obvious that that’s wrong.

I thought maybe it’s either due to a tight schedule or to just not being that bothered.

We have a great postman who doesn’t always deliver to us every day, but is our most regular postie, if that makes sense. We know him by name and always give him a Christmas card with a tip. But years ago at our previous house we had an episode with a rogue postie who'd started a very strange campaign of delivering items to the right house number, but the wrong road - so we, at eg 15 Acacia Avenue, would get things for 15 Elm Road or 15 Ash Street.

DH and I were both freelance at the time and we got cheques through the post so it was very worrying. After taking the wrongly-delivered mail round to the right addresses for weeks I eventually twigged that it was happening too regularly to just be occasional carelessness on the postie's part, and started knocking on doors and getting other people onboard. We all complained and after an investigation (quite a long-drawn-out process) we were informed that he was indeed doing this for whatever weird reason of his own, and he was 'let go'. But we never really felt anyone official cared particularly that the mail was arguably being interfered with (which is an offence - surely it’s 'intentionally delaying' post if you deliberately deliver it to the wrong addresses?), by an actual postman!