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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To wonder why I couldn't collect a parcel for my other half!!

100 replies

whydoibothersometimes · 21/11/2013 18:55

Got a card through front door saying a parcel was attempted to be delivered and had been left at my local post office for collection. Take the card (which only said first line of address, no name) and proof of address with me. Lady takes card after checking proof of I.d, goes to check parcel and says I can't give you the parcel it's in a completely different name. I say the name I know it must be, she's says yes, but I can't let you collect it. Aibu to think, the name is obviously not on the card put through the door and I quite obviously live in the same house as the person the parcel is for! So if I would have been at home the delivery bloke would have handed it to me and let me sign for it. So really don't understand why she had to be such a jobs worth about it? It's so frustrating because my bloke is working all week and sat and sun all day then all week next week and sat, so actually won't be able to get to the post office himself to get it.

OP posts:
Tullahulla · 21/11/2013 20:43

Omg, laughing at the clerk cheerleader Smile

Looks like the haters have gone!

starsandunicorns · 21/11/2013 20:44

my dp works for a angency but only does royal mail contract as a HGV driver
I have worked as angecny at royal mail mailing centres inculdin 3 christmases but had prior worked with other postal systems I now run a post room

Think people dont see the bigger picture and just think about there own mail which is fine but dont have a go and call people jobsworths or shout at them when a single packet could be sorted by hand minuim of 8 times by 8 differnet people in one night

sapphirestar · 21/11/2013 20:45

Most of our customers associate post offices with queuing so they're always making Shock faces if they catch us in a rare lull and can walk straight up to the counter!

Tullahulla · 21/11/2013 20:45

That is a right pain, one of the most confusing things royal mail have ever done.

Well that and the new dvla stuff.........

peppapigmustdie · 21/11/2013 20:45

How many bottles of nail varnish are allowed and at what volume? Ben trying to blow your baby brain Grin

starsandunicorns · 21/11/2013 20:46

I having fun with new SD densations yes we can send it to thst country but not that city heres a CN 22 oh the joys

sapphirestar · 21/11/2013 20:47

Anyone feeling nervous about the amount of Boots type gift sets of perfumes, nail varnishes and body sprays we'll have to interrogate people over?? I swear they think we're just being nosey!!

peppapigmustdie · 21/11/2013 20:48

We need our own PO Clerk help thread.

Original poster
whydoibothersometimes · 21/11/2013 20:51

Well I will just take both of our I.d in tomorrow and shall hopefully get the parcel...I suppose it was stupid of the parcel force bloke not to put a name on the card but it was the woman in the post office that had a face like a slapped arse and was being awkward in my opinion but I suppose it's everyone having patience for stuff one day and not having it another that leads to threads like these...

OP posts:
sapphirestar · 21/11/2013 20:52

Honestly OP she wasn't just being awkward!

BenNJerry · 21/11/2013 20:56

peppa Oh my word... I did the compliance test on this the other day as well! I know deodorant is 2 cans at 500ml! Confused

TwoStepsBeyond · 21/11/2013 20:56

DS aged 8 got a parcel for his birthday. I was asked for his ID to collect it as it was his name on the card, which I didn't have on me. They asked for his passport, I said he didn't have one, having not been abroad before.

Luckily the postie had written the wrong name on the card, mis-spelled it as a more common name, so I told them that I couldn't produce ID with that name on it, as it wasn't his name!

In the end she let me take it "but only because the name was wrong on the card" WTF?!

ScariestFairyByFar · 21/11/2013 20:57

My post office doesn't even ask for the card he knows where I live and will ask me to take a neighbours or my mums parcel if they have stuff! They are out of order!

friday16 · 21/11/2013 20:57

pick up the phone write a roundrobin email to say that parcels need to be addressed a certin way

Alternatively, the Post Office could do their job and write the name of the recipient on the card that they shove through the door. That's how the system is supposed to work, which is why there's a box on the card for the name. The claim the Post Office make is that they need to match names to deal with shared houses and blocks of flats. That's entirely reasonable. So how, roughly, would you suggest that people who live in shared houses and blocks of flats should co-ordinate with all their families and friends? Wouldn't it be easier to just have the Post Office write the name in the box, as they're supposed to?

Privatisation can't come quickly enough. I also get parcels from couriers and they without exception fill the card in properly.

Original poster
whydoibothersometimes · 21/11/2013 20:57

I know, I think it might just be my hormones today. I did feel a bit bad when I pressed post message. I will take my cant be bothered, in a bit of a funny mood, hormonal whale shape and weight body to bed soon!

OP posts:
sapphirestar · 21/11/2013 21:01

friday16 it would be difficult to have the post office writing the names on the cards as that isn't our job, we don't deliver the mail or leave the cards. we work alongside royal mail and parcel force but all are separate companies!!!!! im sure this has already been pointed out upthread ^^

Tullahulla · 21/11/2013 21:02

Once again Friday, it is royal mail, not the PO who is delivering your mail!

Privatisation!

Have you any idea what that will mean?

So yeah, maybe privatisation is the answer, the royal mail will charge what they like, just like the energy companies!

Yep, that seems like a great idea

redshifter · 21/11/2013 21:07

Can't people understand? If a parcel is not addressed to you, IT IS NOT YOUR PARCEL.

I was a postman for 20 years. I used to know my customers and their situation, I could use common sense.
These days with so many mutiple occupancy houses and blocks of flats with just one letterbox the risk of fraud/theft is just too great. Not to mention so many couples divorcing while still living at same address.

Say you ordered an iPad and someone else who lived at your address (which was a big old house with multiple rooms let out to many different people/couples) came in with card to collect it. I couldn't just give him YOUR ipad just because he had the same address. He gets free iPad and I could get sacked.

I've a someones ex husband ask me for mail in the street, he had passport with proof of address (ex marital home). I could give him mail addressed to him. But do you really think I should have gave him the solicitors letters addressed to his wife?
These were always sackable offences in theory but is happening so much now that postmen have been warned that it will be taken much more serious now.

These measures are for security reasons and rightly so. They may be a hassle but are there to protect people and their property.

Would you expect a bank to give you someone elses money just because you provide proof you lived at the same address?
Think about it. We can't just give someone else YOUR valuable/confidential mail.

starsandunicorns · 21/11/2013 21:11

Friday my post to you was in answer to help lessen the confusion if the deverily office ie the postie on your walk doesnt do there job 100% you quoted me and said that it would be diffcult to tell all your friends and family a way of addressing packets etc to your family so you dont have go in with all your familes id just one or two

BenNJerry · 21/11/2013 21:13

Friday and this is what, as a PO clerk, is so annoying. People who just don't listen when we say that Post Office and Royal Mail are different companies. We work alongside Royal Mail. We take in the mail, send it off with the postman, and after that it is Royal Mail who handle it.

starsandunicorns · 21/11/2013 21:14

Well said Red

Tullahulla · 21/11/2013 21:14

Aw whydoibother, don't worry about it, just go back tomorrow. At least you know what to do the next time.

Excellent post redshifter.

starsandunicorns · 21/11/2013 21:23

If you google royal mail the website say royal mail group if you look at the website as desk top verison at the bottom of the you will see links to
Post office
Parcelforce hence different companies

TheDoctrineOfWho · 21/11/2013 21:32

I don't work in the postal services at all and I think you all need Flowers

redshifter · 21/11/2013 21:40

As for why can they give me someone elses parcel if I open the door then?

Well that is the understood contract with the customer (the person who sent the mail/parcel) , to deliver to the addressed delivery point.
If an addressee feels their delivery point/adress is insecure they can arrange for their mail to be kept at office for collection (which many people do) or re-directed to be delivered somewhere else. But again only their mail should be held/re-directed NOT everyone living at the same house/block of flats/office.

Even if 'Mr. Smith' asks for his mail to be re-directed, not all mail addressed to Mr Smith will be, not if it is addressed to Mr. & Mrs Smith.
I have known someone that was sacked for consistently doing this.

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