Would I be being an a**hole if I told the postman to f**koff?

[LauraJade0308]

Not sure if I’m just overreacting, but I’m starting to get angry, and quite a bit upset.

Every morning for the last week the postman has rung our (very loud) buzzer to let him into our block of flats. On 3 of these days, he didn’t even have any mail for us!!
I have an 8 week old baby that has his nap in the mornings. I have asked the postman previously to not ring ours, we are the only ones in the block with children, but he just shrugged.
Today was one of the days he rang, with no mail. I was feeding DS at the time and couldn’t get up to answer, yet he just kept buzzing over and over.
I managed to put baby down as I was gonna go and give him a mouthful, but he’d already gone.
Should I wait for him tomorrow morning and say something? I don’t want to sound mean, but he’s already been told and I don’t know what else to do!

throw a milkshake over him

From another thread, this is known as 'the lactic tactic'

Complaining will do you no good. Postie will be under pressure from management to deliver the mail and that means buzzing residents if the service buzzer isnt working at the time they get there. He probably starts by buzzing the ones who do have mail but if there's no answer he'll try others.

Either get onto the management company to extend the service access to the time of day your post usually arrives, or get a key cut for access.

Mine buzzes my flat as nobody else answers they've lost the key fob for entry and I'm not paying £20 for them to have a new one, they won't pay for it. My neighbours are retired and always home but apparently none can answer the buzzer. I work, and if I'm not home, we don't get any post

Don't answer if it's inconvenient, it's not compulsory. If the postman can't deliver the mail they scribble n/a and the date on the envelope and try again the next day. They store the undelivered mail in a mini post box thing(?) at the corner of the street that they unlock the next day and attempt to redeliver. We used to get mail with multiple scribbles of attempted delivery dates.

Oh and our trade button just makes everyone's buzzer go off, it doesn't give access unless you get up and answer it
I must admit after one of the neighbours rang 999, I heard an ambulance radio outside at 2am and got up to answer it (10 years working for them, you never forget the sound!)
Neighbours had rung them and not answered the door. They left about 3am. At 5am my buzzer went off again and it was the OOH doctor. At 7am it went off again and it was some nurse person at which point I lost the plot and said if the husband who wasn't unwell couldn't answer the bloody door then the wife obviously wasn't ill enough to need an ambulance

He probably buzzes ALL of them tbh

If youve tried speaking to him and he still doesnt listen, then youve got no choice but to complain

I always thought trade buttons just pressed all the buzzers in a block, it has in the flats I’ve lived in. Is it not a bit of security flaw if anyone could get into secure close just by pressing trade?

You problem isn't the postman.
What is he supposed to do if he can't deliver your mail?

It's the other lazy ass people in your block who don't take a turn answering.

Update... Last night I put masking tape over my buzzer and wrote ‘DO NOT PRESS!’... what a surprise, buzzer goes off as usual this morning at 8:50! Ffs! I have now emailed my council to ask them to switch mine off, it’s ridiculously loud, if she refuses again, I have no choice but to contact the Royal Mail!

Did you answer it this morning?

he's probably pressing all of them rather than just yours to try and get someone to let him in. if you have a trades button then you need to check it (a) works and (b) is set to the right timings.

do appreciate how annoying it is but posties are generally under huge time pressure...

I didn’t answer, somebody else let him in, but once again he didn’t have mail for me anyway 🙄

You need to complain, if the postie is still buzzing after you've attached a note then you should complain. They are being ignorant.

I used to have this in the flats I lived in, I was recovering from major surgery and it would go off constantly and was soooooo loud. I asked him to stop twice (he could clearly see if I was struggling to move). I contacted the management company, they issued a fob, it got lost and they wanted me to pay for the replacement, RM also used to pay.

I followed the wire for the buzzer and found a switch - kept it off permanently and got friends to text when they came round. Could you try that? I've lived in a few flats and there has always been a way to turn them off.

It's difficult to understand the frustration unless you have been in the position, it is ridiculously annoying as the buzzer is so loud.

Some have asked about trade buttons - they don't work all day otherwise anyone could gain access at any time. Where I used to live it was active between something like 7 to 9am to allow for post. Of course that wouldn't work these days, post doesn't come until midday.

I came home to no post again today and an email from RM saying "couldn't gain access"
It's frustrating when I know there's three other families in the block all day and they can't even open the door when they ring 999 for themselves let alone the postman. The neighbours in the house nearby have offered to take all my post but I feel bad about it

If your postie cannot gain access they are within their rules to return it to sender under the rules of "inaccessible" he or she does not have to keep trying day after day, if you don't want to let him/her in it won't bother him/her one bit.