To consider not shopping the thief

[pouffepants]

I'm a delivery driver, and the (big)company I work for seem remarkably lax on security. Obviously everything gets a bit hectic around christmas, but on a daily basis we have missing parcels that never get to our sub depot from the main depot, damaged parcels and obviously tampered parcels. These are embarrassing to deliver.

I didn't think it was a problem at our depot though, because lots seem damaged when they get to us. And I've often helped with the morning sort, so I know some are already missing.

They have found it impossible to recruit a subdepot manager, so in the end one of the courier's nephews took it on at age (just) 16. He's been great. In the run up to christmas it was too much for 1 person, so they paid for his 15 yo friend to help, even though he should have been at school.

Then there was a bit of fuss with the couriers arriving too early, so they started doing the sort with the shutters down. These teenagers literally have thousands upon thousands of pounds of parcels to handle, unchecked. But I never thought anything of it, the lads seem very nice and honest.

Without going into details I have discovered that at least one of them is stealing parcels. It's not really my problem, since I'm self-employed, but it's obviously not good either for the company, or the boys, since the longer they get away with it the more habitual they will get about thieving. So my instinct is to report my evidence.

But if i do, they will be sacked and they probably won't be able to find anyone to man the depot again, which will mean it will close. That would mean that we would have to have the parcels delivered to our homes addresses by lorry, and because I live on a peninsula I would always be the last drop. When this happened before I sometimes didn't get the parcels by 2pm. I only worked part-time then, but I now often do 8-10 hour days, and am the main earner in our family. I can't possibly start work at 2pm, so I would be out of work effectively.

So wwyd?

Is it possible for you to suggest that you run the depot and then do your delivery once you've finished at 10? Just until they find a permanent, trustworthy, person?
If the hours don't suit you could suggest a temporary change in start time (say 7am)?

I'd echo the "chat" with the boys, it might be enough. But you must do something else you'll be out of work too

Good luck, I don't envy your position.

start talking to the boys about what great cctv they put in over xmas

I've thought about running the depot before, but I'd have to be in by 6, to let the lorry in. If I had enough time I could load and route my van while there, but in all probability it would have to wait until I was done. When it's busy I can be loading 150-200 drops in order which easily takes an hour, so on the road for 11, then 10 maybe more hours on the road. Frankly I'd be dead.

This is a really shitty situation, not of your making, and I do feel for you - as well as all the poor sods whose parcels are being stolen. Have a word with the boys and point out this will be discovered eventually and they don't want to end up with their Mothers seeing them in court, unable to get a job because of a criminal record...

Maybe you need to get together with some other people who know how it SHOULD work and take over when whichever company this is goes bust or loses all its contracts.

Don't do anything that might risk your own job or family security. I'm surprised at the posters who are suggesting that!

But do have a quiet word with these boys when you get the chance. I'm sure it will be enough of a deterrent?

You need to be careful - if you 'chat' to the boys, they may decide to take action against you and implicate you in some way! You need to safeguard yourself, personally I would probably do nothing unless I was 100% sure that I was not going to be framed or implicated in anything. For all you know the senior mgt may well be aware and turning a blind eye already! The reason no-one wants the job is probably so that they don't get accused/suspected of exactly the same thing anyway!
Look after no.1 first is my advice.

Going back to recruitment problem, could you share the job with one of the others?

NewYearNewNN Wed 02-Jan-13 22:45:23

Going back to recruitment problem, could you share the job with one of the others?

Tell the boys you know. This seems like really shoddy practice on the part of the firm and I am horrified that these lads are being empowered in their dishonesty.

The plot thickens.

Found out today that the boys are actually cousins, which means that the younger boy is the son of a courier. The courier in question is 'dodgy as' and boasts that she never knocks on doors or gets sigs. I have absolutely no idea how she gets away with it since the rest of us seem to get harassed, making sure we do everything by the book. She often makes 5k in a month, another thing she boasts about, and she must literally throw things out of a moving car, since she only works school hours.

So when I found this out today, I asked the younger boy how long he was being paid to work there, and he said as long as he wants, which I was surprised about. The company won't usually fund 2 people year-round.

Anyway I found out through others that his mum is funding it, but he doesn't know. She makes a fortune by delivering enormous amounts very badly. She then gives some of this to the man that owns the depot (not the delivery company) who pays her son to be there.

Apparently she does this because he won't get out of bed otherwise, and she wants him to think he's got a responsible job. She appears unbothered that he should be at school.

The whole thing makes me wonder if the mums are in on it. Apparently someone commented to the courier about parcels going missing, and she said she wouldn't blame anyone for doing it because they don't get paid enough! The boys are also picked up at the end of the shift by the non-courier mum. Surely she would notice them taking stuff in the car? But of course I don't know how much they've nicked.

I've also realised that although i have proof of their stealing, because I know what parcels, with what barcodes were where, and then they weren't. Since I was the last one in the depot (hence knowing this) then they could easily say it was me, and I didn't put the parcels in the relevant cages at all. So I'm not sure how to expose this whole mess.

OP, why not have a quiet word with the boys yourself? If they realised you'd clocked them they might stop, which would solve the problem.

Ouch, this gets worse and worse. I had to nick my boss once, which ended up in a massive fraud trial in the papers. Yep, I lost my job, because once they'd discovered the extent of the fraud the co shut down, and the trial was a nightmare (you're not paid and it took ages) but IT WAS WORTH IT.

Because a) someone could have said it was me or one of the other staff b) accordingly, it was best to get in first before someone else notices.

Which they will.

Can you tell the mgr what you've found, vaguely, and ask her/him to run a theft warning course for everyone?

i wouldn't have a word with anyone in the company. The boys know what they are doing. The mum knows what she is doing is wrong, and you can be sure the owner knows he shouldn't be employing the boys.

Sooner or later they will all be caught. The longer it goes on, and the more questions you are asking, then more chance you have of them pinning stuff on you.

Report them all. Start with the ed department because they have to authorize school children working, and then go from there.

Find another job and then take the evidence to the police.

I've resurrected this one because I'm so frustrated.

There were various dodgy incidents, and I reported various things that I knew had to implicate them, but apart from a lot of hmmming, nothing happened.

At some point, I forget when, the younger lad stopped coming, and we're back to just the older one. The dodgyness seemed to reduce a lot, and there was certainly a lot less tampering so I concluded it was probably the younger one.

All fine until about a week ago. I delivered a tescos box to someone, and as I got to the door, noticed the seal was broken. A man answered and I suggested we check the contents together. There were 2 tops inside, but no shipping note, and his wife had made the order so he didn't know what should have been in there. He signed for it, and I marked it as 'open'.

5 days later I got a complaint to say that the customer had complained that I'd dumped the box on their doorstep and nicked their ipad. i was livid! I phoned the helpdesk and described the man and the contents of the parcel and confirmed there was no ipad. it had stuck in my mind because the tops were boden which I was sure must have been wrong, but tescos seem to sell everything so I wasn't sure. They seemed content with my descriptions.

Yesterday morning, while checking my work I noticed their address on my list again, with a tescos parcel, so I concluded almost certainly a replacement. The depot was utter chaos that morning, so I inadvertantly didn't finish my scanning, and accidentally signed before checking for missings. It was only when I got in the van to go, that I realised my mistake and noticed I had one missing parcel, this one!! So I went back in to rectify my mistake and report the missing.

The lad thought I had gone and was walking from the end of the depot we don't use carrying 4 parcels. One clearly had tescos tape on it, so I asked to look at it thinking it was 'mine'. He refused and insisted it belonged to another area. He tried to put it in another cage and pile stuff on top. I managed to grab the box, which had the address I thought, was slit open and empty.

I went straight to the depot manager and explained. He agreed it seemed dodgy but just sat in the office. So I decided to watch the lad until he went, determined there was an ipad there somewhere, and not wanting him to retrieve it. He's supposed to finish at 10am and is usually straight out of there like a hare out a trap. Yesterday he had a sudden urge to empty bins, sweep floors, arrange stationery. He was still there at 11am, but eventually left. The depot manager said he'd have a 'little look' which I wasn't happy with, but I couldn't do anything. I wanted him to turn the place upside down.

Got a phone call from the big trunk depot (I'd reported upline) at about 2pm to say an ipad had turned up in the returns from our sub depot, loose with no box or paperwork. So clearly he'd tossed it in there in a panic and couldn't get it out again. They asked me to go and speak to the customer and check the details of the ipad to make sure it matched.

Of course, I wasn't mad about this, since they'd accused me last time, but I agreed. I went tentatively to the door and started to explain and she said 'ohhh, you're the lovely courier who took the time to check the contents with my husband, and cover us so we had proof we'd not had it'. WTAF!!! Turns out tescos made up the tale of me dumping and stealing to try to claim compensation. Anyway, the details matched.

So I thought whatever the consequences for me, it was now pretty much clear to everyone what had happened. There is absolutely no way that a loose ipad can end up in the returns area without the sorter knowing about it. Along with the fact that he was in an area he shouldn't have been, lied to me, tried to cover the evidence.

But now I came to work this morning, the sorter doesn't work saturdays, it's an old guy, and usually the manager's not in either, but he turned up just as i was about to leave, and has come up with the most implausible reasons of how it could have happened. Poohpoohed everything, and basically isn't happy. he wants to cover it up. He also knows I'm not happy and I am very nervous that frankly the only way they could cover each other is to frame me. It would be extremely easy when I'm loading to plant something in my van.

So I basically tried to do the right thing but have made things 10 times worse.

Are you sure you don't have a big sign saying "Criminals only, please help yourself to everything".

I'm certain the police would be interested, but then someone might courier a horse's head to you.

Ouch! No advice - just ouch! This sounds awful.

Is it possible the depot manager is in on it too?

That could explain the lack of action?

OP, perhaps you could have a word in their shell-likes, explaining that you KNOW that one of them is thieving, and that steps WILL be taken if the situation isn't resolved immediately?

The threat of possible police involvement should be capable of producing the necessary pants-filling reaction in the guilty party.

I would report it all to the police, including your concerns about being framed.

I agree with batwings. You are at risk if you do nothing. I would also keep an eye out for a job with another courier firm. Good luck OP. This is a shitty situation for you.

It sounds like you have done everything humanly possible to improve this situation. Doesnt it make you want to work elsewhere rather than waste any more time and frustration sorting it out?

I know you job is at risk, but I would go to police before you get framed and get a criminal record which would mean youbwould loose your job anyway but also will find getting another job difficult or even worse end up in prison for a crime you didn't commit

I'd speak to head office and tell them if they don't investigate with the police and sort it out then you will contact all their big customers (tesco etc) and tell them why is happening - money talks and if they think they may lose business as a result of clients finding out it may focus their attention a bit better.