The post person entered my house.

[Globules]

I've just seen it on my Ring doorbell.

17yr old DD had left the door unlocked for her friend so she didn't have to come down to let them in. Not uncommon.

Post arrived, including a parcel, during this time. When no one answered the door, the post person tried the handle, opened up the door and came into my home.

Granted, DD shouldn't have left the door unlocked, but it doesn't make what the post person did ok.

Just me who thinks it was completely unreasonable for them to have even tried the handle?!

OK, so YOU order something.
YOUR postman will try and deliver it twice and then YOU will have to go to the sorting office to get it. Our sorting office is open for two hours on weekdays and a massive four hours on a Saturday.
Parcels are also delivered on a Sunday.
Postie knocks on door and waits.....
tries gate to see if he can find somewhere in back garden to put the parcel you ordered - sees if YOU have set a designated place for YOUR parcel. Plays hide and seek with YOUR parcel, writes YOU a card all in the three minutes he has to deliver YOUR parcel.
Or post tries YOUR door - probably shouts POST and sticks the parcel YOU ordered in YOUR house away from the rain etc.

YOUR postman most probably has no interest in YOUR house, he wants to get the parcel out of his sack/van and carry on with the many other households that he needs to deliver to.

For the love of God OP do yourself a favour and either get items delivered to a work address or just go to the shops. YOUR postie deserves a better service from YOU as a customer. Bet your letterbox is floor level too.

The Royal Mail define an enclosed porch as a safe place to leave a parcel.
If there was no answer when he knocked this is a thing your postie is told to do.
When the parcel was redelivered where was it put or did you have to go to the sorting office to get it. It being your parcel.

What a shame there is no simple fix to people entering your house without your permission. Why oh why can't 21st century science invent some kind of technology that could solve this problem? I guess we are all at the mercy of any prowlers, thieves and worse who choose to walk into our homes and there is sweet F.A. we can do about it.

No, I would rather they do what they are supposed to do - attempt to redeliver it and/or offer you the option of collecting it.

When the postman cannot get an answer or find what they consider a safe place or a neighbour to accept the parcel you should get a card through your door.
The postman will attempt deliver the next day - if still no reply/safeplace/neighbour the parcel once again goes to the sorting office and wait until the customer collects it.

It wasn’t the Royal Mail man who returned my parcel. It was the Evri one and the money was refunded within 2 working days.

I understand that some people may set their safe place as a porch and I respect their choice if they’re comfortable with it; however surely, if there is a door with a lock on it (whether it is locked or not), this is an entry point to someone’s home & shouldn’t really be tested as whether it’s open or not! I find it exasperating!

We don't get the same postie each day, and they deliver any time these days.

Your postie is told to try a porch door. Surely the actual front door is the actual point of entry. You can lock both, of course. If the safe place is the shed, make sure shed and gate to shed are both unlocked. Which means postie can have a fun time in the whole garden, rather than a very small porch.

Posties get sick, go on holiday, fancy a change.
Posties start work later now than they have ever done.
9.30am where I live.

They have a strange system in my area. I get like 4 different posties on my street on the same day. But I was shocked to see a postie delivering on a Sunday.

This reminds me of the many threads over the years about people disturbing others by sending texts during the night. There's a simple solution if you don't want to be disturbed by texts or calls during the night - put your phone on do not disturb and if there are particular family members who are vulnerable who may need you, set the phone up so that their calls come through. But instead of this simple solution, you get a lot of posters arguing that they shouldn't have to put their phone on do not disturb because other people should know not to text in the middle of the night. Well yes, people should know not to text at anti-social hours, but many don't even think about it being a problem because they reply to texts like you might reply to an email and expect the other person to have the phone switched off or set to do not disturb if they are sleeping.

This is exactly the same thing. Should people be trying door handles and entering homes? No. (Although it seems to be common practice among delivery drivers and posties if this thread is anything to go by). There's a very simple solution to this and that is to lock the bloody door if you don't want people entering. All this pearl-clutching about what if the DD had a shower and was naked downstairs when the postie entered. Lock the door to stop unwanted people entering your home. This time it was a postie who opened the door and put a parcel inside and closed the door but another time it could be an opportunist thief (happened to my Grandad and some very precious sentimental items were stolen) or it could be an opportunist who then goes on to sexually assault someone inside the home.
Lock the door if you don't want someone entering. It's that simple. And none of this "but I don't see why I should have to lock my door because people should know not to try the door handle and enter" stuff. A thief doesn't care about whether it's ok to try a door handle or not. They only care about lifting some stuff and getting money for it.

Very well said @fleabites

Are you ok there my dear? You appear to have a bit of a shouty problem and certainly seem rather angry.

Shall I order you some cough drops and a yoga mat for Royal Mail to deliver to your home?

I think it's good they do that instead of leaving it outside. No biggy at all.

If it is a porch I can see where the confusion lies. Porch door open. Inner door locked. Leave parcel in porch. As a paper girl in the 80’s several customers on my route wanted me to throw it in the porch due to all the bulky supplements.

I'm fine, thanks for asking, Tell the postie, it's fine to leave the yoga mat in my porch. I'll make sure the door in unlocked. #everyblessing

Op it probably has been asked & answered, but do you usually keep your door locked?

Exactly.....! Pot, kettle, black.

Nah, I just leave it wide open now and label the expensive things and their value on a sign saying "help yourself".

I wouldn't be happy about this either.

Around here, many people have two front doors... One locked, one unlocked. The unlocked one tends to just go to a tiny hall where shoes and umbrellas are kept. I would suspect he tried the door thinking you might have this scenario. If he'd found it open then you could easily then have another door and he'd have put the parcel with the shoes and umbrellas. If it went straight to your hallway then he'd have only found that out after opening it, surely? Did he actually go inside or just drop the parcel?

We have this door set up except it's the outer door that locks. If we're expecting a parcel we leave the door ajar for them to put the parcel in...

Round here, lots of people like it when posties chuck parcels into the hallway instead of leaving them outside.

Just lock your door – that's surely less effort than whinging and justifying yourself on MN.

Some things like the master bedroom are universally sacred, but you need to accept there are other common practices you may disagree with.