I'm a postie Ama

[Postieonthego]

What is DM26? Is the Royal Mail on its knees? Where's my post? AMA.

We all make mistakes, but I am sorry as this case be annoying.
if each block has a clear sign of where he is, then this shouldn't happen.
Maybe add some more signs.
One local street to me is confusing in the extreme and many people refuse to have house numbers.

Always have a house number and name is nice too. If the Smith family moved out 10 years ago take their name off the front door. If your house number can be clearly read from the road extra points to you. If your letter box is below waist level expect crumpled letters.

I nearly applied for a temp job a couple of years ago, but I was put off as one of the requirements was the ability to carry (not just lift) mail sacks in excess of 26kg.

Do you regularly have to walk around carrying such weight?

Do you wear steel toe cap boots? My anxiety in this job would be dogs. I would want the boots so that any dog that came at me growling or barking, I could give them a hefty kick that would send them off howling or incapacitate them. I personally know a delivery driver that was savaged in the most horrendous, life altering way (between the legs). Devastating.

I recently got a couple of birthday cards. One was clearly from an online card retailer and had do not bend printed on the envelope. All other letters and post goes into my postbox on the wall. This card was folded and shoved into my letter box. Why would a postie do this? ☹️

I’ve set up a ‘safe place’ for delivery but it gets ignored. Also, I rarely get post- is this why it’s so expensive to send letters? In that not enough people are using the service? I still love to send Christmas cards but I’ve had to scale back due to cost of posting, particularly overseas.
Our postie is lovely but a rare beast - can’t remember the last time I actually saw him.
And I used to tip the postie at Christmas but now not sure if my ‘regular’ guy would get it!

No steel-capped boots.
I won't go into a garden if a dog is free roaming.
I won't post a letter through a letter box if is clear a dog is on the other side, this is especially true if the letter box is at ground - why oh, why oh why - level.
Your pampered pooch I may want to kill, but I have never kicked a dog, it's not the dog's fault that the owners can't get it trained.

Where do you go for a wee during your rounds? We live rurally and love our regular postman. Whenever it his break week the system all goes to pot!

Gosh lots of questions I'll do them one at a time.

When you order something online are you making sure the safe place is mentioned? Is the safe place obvious? Nice box at the front door is always a winner.

Is £1.80 to send a letter to the other end of the country expensive? Measure that against a coffee in Costa or a bag of crisps. I think it's pretty cheap, yes international is more expensive, but so is everything.

Having a regular postie is not guaranteed anymore. I would prefer to do a regal route each day but this is not happening.

If you give a tip to a postie - and that is a very lovely thing to do - the postie you give it to will generally keep it. Some posties get many tips as they have managed to keep a round for a long time, some get little as the any deliver parcels only DPR.

Many places I probably shouldn't.
Shops, doctors' surgeries, offices.
Some lovely people say you can use their loo.
Toilets in the houses of other posties, when their partner has been primed.

Much more of an issue for women.

Possibly the postie didn't see the postbox.
if you have a letterbox and a postbox I would suggest tapping up the letterbox and putting a note on it to highlight the postbox.

Sadly when congratulations or love are expressed in a card larger than a letterbox this leaves the postie with the question of whether to fold or find somewhere else to put the card. I tend not to fold a card, and I apologise if your card was damaged.

I have experienced it once where someone left due to the weight of the bag.
Generally you get stronger, but I have always worked with people who make arrangements if a bag is too heavy. This can be splitting bundles of mail or delivering parcels from a van rather than in a postbag.

My biggest annoyance is people who order cans of coke from Amazon which the Royal Mail then deliver. These may be shaken by the postie 'accidentally' on their way to the customer.

Thank you for answering.

So what do you do with the letters/parcels if a dog is in the garden or at the letter box? Just not deliver them?

Why is post so late these days? I remember as a child post always arrived in the early morning. Now we are lucky if we get it by lunchtime.

Postie has left a parcel in my back garden out in the open a couple of times even if I had notified to leave with neighbours if I am not at home. This means some items were rained on and ruined through. What can I do? I know posties have very tough schedules.

Stand at the gate a shout for the homeowner. If no one comes letters back to the office for the next day. Write on letter DAL - dog at large, to warn/remind postie next day.

Same. I just presume that their rounds are so much longer now. Fewer postal workers, a larger patch to get round.

Firstly did the notification - hopefully on the door - say leave with neighbour or leave with number 26 etc.
Leave with neighbour - the postie starts with next door and may go either side of your house. Are they in? - Have you told them they are the 'safe place' is the postie having to convince them to take your parcel? Tick tock there's 5 minutes gone.

Has number 26 popped out so the postie can't get to neighbour?
Your back garden is away from the prying eyes of the street and therefore pretty safe.
Unfortunately it does rain in the UK. I'd go for a box in the back garden - many, many parcels are put into recycling boxes as they are a water-proof place.

Can the porch be open or the garage?

In my office, and other offices will vary, we have to wait for the parcels to arrive from a main hub. Most posties leave the office between 9.30am and 10.30am. On some days I don't start until 10.20am.

Some people are therefore getting their post as I finish 5pm or 6pm.
My dad, who was a postie, used to start at 4am. So you would have, in those days, got your post quicker. Also he possibly had 10 parcels a day back in 1985 I have about 200. He used a bike I use a van and on occasions I cannot fit all of the parcels into it.

Very true.
And if I may - the post isn't late, it is delivered when the postie is working.

They must be making up for a lot who don't do either, just leave it on the doorstep, where anyone passing can see it.

I am in the process of getting a new front door. I have been adamant about the letterbox being in the middle of the door not at the bottom. It's surprising how many door companies say but it's much more modern than it looks much nicer at the bottom. And I agree it does look much more modern & nicer, BUT, I think more of my posties than that!! (& no I do not want a separate post box outside!!

Which is the policy of some courier companies, but RM should always knock and try to conceal your parcel. The concealment of the parcel can be made much easier by the householder.

I seem to have lost my regular postie🥲. He was a lovely older bloke.& I'm not sure if they're just not being put on the same run all the time anymore or if something has happened to it or he's retired.

He always knew he was more than welcome to use my bathroom or to grab a bottle of water etc and if my door was open, he would always put my post on the side or hand it to me rather than just throw it on the ground

I miss him & hope he's OK x

Edit: I very rarely see the posting now, especially with it being colder the door isn't open as much. So I haven't offered them the use of the bathroom because I haven't seen them to do so, but I definitely let them if they asked (but not sure if they're allowed to ask or not?!?!)

Firstly a huge thank you.
Would a postbox at the bottom of a door also be cheaper to produce - I wonder?
If you have a postbox at the bottom of your door your postie will hate you.
Also if your letterbox does not allow for the posting of letters your postie will hate you.
Have a small dog behind a letterbox at floor level and your postie will hate you.

We have already touched on the number of posties off sick - how many of those are due to bad backs, hips and knees. There is a street I sometimes delver to where every post box is at floor level. We call it Brokeback mountain.

The EU were at one stage going to make letterboxes below waist level illegal.
So please, please, please have a nice letterbox in the centre of the door. Your letters will not be crumpled or hang outside the door. x

Tbf there are some listed properties or conservation areas where you are not allowed to change the look of your front door so the person may be stuck with a low one