Post Office "While you were out cards"

This is an interesting item. Postmen, in the UK, wont even knock but they put a notice in your letter box saying you weren't home so they couldn't deliver.

Some people even stayed home from work so as to be there for their parcel but the postmen left the card without knocking.

When one person caught up with the postman he found out that the postman didn't even have the parcel with him.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/debates/6264675/Postmens-Sorry-you-were-out-cards-have-you-been-misled.html

This remindes me of something I though up about the US Postal Service. It says "Postal Regulations Prohibit Us From Delivering Mail". Having said that, here where I have lived for the past 4 years the mail service has been good. I even get a wave and a smile from the postwoman who delivers my neighborhood.

As a side note mail in the US is not delivered to your door but is put in 'community mail boxes' so you have to go and get it. (This is general statement)

As a side note mail in the US is not delivered to your door but is put in 'community mail boxes' so you have to go and get it. (This is general statement)

That only applies to apartment complexes in my experience.  Still always had packages delivered to my door though.  Never seen it in a neighborhood of single family homes.

Is it common for folks in the UK to give a gift (monetary or items) to their postal worker at Christmas time or other holidays?  That's a common practice in the States (for homeowners anyway) and it really helps getting good service.  My mom used to bake little cakes and cookies for our postman and he would always go out of his way for us if needed.

I'm probably lucky but in 3 countries I've lived I've never had a problem with the local post person.  We'll see what happens when we get to the UK in a few months.

I did however have a UPS delivery guy in Florida that pulled this 'leave a note and don't knock' regularly.  That dude was a jerk.

I was waiting for a UPS delivery once and tracking it online. It went from being 'in transit' to being 'undeliverable'. Since I was sitting there staring at the door for 6 hours, I assure you, he never tried to deliver it. There was no note on the door or anything. I called UPS immediately and filed a complaint. I took off work to wait for that delivery, so I insisted they deliver it that day or they would need to reimburse me for my time as I would need to take off another day. Yeah, I was a b*tch. He came back around 6pm.

In Ireland they don't always have the package with them. The postman walks, so if the package is too big he can't carry it around with him all day. It's annoying, but I understand why it happens.

This has been happening for years - at my first house in London I caught the postman slipping one in my door without having the parcel with him and that was back in 2002. Makes me wonder how hard up for news the telegraph is if they're bothering to report on this. I mean, with the amount of letters arriving weeks late and many never arriving at all, you'd think there'd be plenty to complain about already!

Is it common for folks in the UK to give a gift (monetary or items) to their postal worker at Christmas time or other holidays?  That's a common practice in the States (for homeowners anyway) and it really helps getting good service.  My mom used to bake little cakes and cookies for our postman and he would always go out of his way for us if needed.

Frankly, this sort of thing makes me angry.  Postal workers are paid good salaries out of tax money, they shouldn't need to be bribed in order to do their jobs competently. 

Speaking of these, my husband went to the sorting office today to pick up a something that was left via a red card last Wednesday.  The oh-so-helpful lady at the desk told him they didn't have the parcel and that it seems the postman never returned it to the sorting office.  We can only speculate it's still in his trolley, but a week later?!  Her only attempt at being helpful was to suggest we come back in a few days to try again.  Ridiculous.  £%£%$^$%%£$£!!

I was waiting for a UPS delivery once and tracking it online. It went from being 'in transit' to being 'undeliverable'. Since I was sitting there staring at the door for 6 hours, I assure you, he never tried to deliver it. There was no note on the door or anything. I called UPS immediately and filed a complaint. I took off work to wait for that delivery, so I insisted they deliver it that day or they would need to reimburse me for my time as I would need to take off another day. Yeah, I was a b*tch. He came back around 6pm.

I did the same thing, watched it on-line and stayed at home. Waiting. For City-Link. Only to find his card a few minutes after he came by. I went looking for him and found him. Said he knocked. Must have had mittens on.

I find the post (both here ands US quite good, considering. I just find US postal rates unreal since they stopped the slow boat to china service.

That only applies to apartment complexes in my experience.  Still always had packages delivered to my door though.  Never seen it in a neighborhood of single family homes.

Many new subdivisions have this, at least around Houston. They are building so many new subdivisions but no extra post people.  I'd love to get a note, I find way to many important things sitting on my front porch.

UK postmen never have the parcel with them.  They invariably leave a card and you have to go collect it from the sorting office (not your local post office). Or you can ask them to deliver it on such and such a day -- but it's probably better to go get it yourself.

I, too, have waited at home all day for a package, only to go downstairs late in the afternoon (we live in a flat within a converted house with a shared front door) and find a slip from the shipping company.  No buzz, no knock on the front door (I'd hear it), no nothing.  Royal Mail in my area actually never do this, it's always a courier.

Now, if waiting for a very important package (mobile phones come to mind), I leave a post it note on the door saying "Any parcels for Miss Kellwie, please ring the middle buzzer, I am home!"  It's worked so far...

UK postmen never have the parcel with them.  They invariably leave a card and you have to go collect it from the sorting office (not your local post office). Or you can ask them to deliver it on such and such a day -- but it's probably better to go get it yourself.

Mine always has it with him - I've been at home during the day a lot recently, and have received many a package on the first try! Our postcode is very small (north London), so maybe I'm lucky - the sorting centre is close by.

UK postmen never have the parcel with them.

That's definitely not true, because I've had parcels delivered by the postmen and couriers all the time. However, as we live in a quite rural area, the postmen are usually going around in their wee vans, so it's probably easier to carry the parcels around.

UK postmen never have the parcel with them. 

Never, you say? My, my. 

That's definitely not true, because I've had parcels delivered by the postmen and couriers all the time.

Just what I was going to say!

What I've noticed here in suburban Birmingham is that the postman DOES have the parcel with him if it's not too big...our regular postman now knows my husband (who is a nurse, so is home at interesting hours, depending on his shift) and has asked him if it's ok to leave stuff with the neighbours or put it through the letter box if no one answers - not a problem!  As a matter of fact, if he leaves stuff with the neighbours, he notes on the card which house it's at and puts the card through the door.  I call THAT good service!

If we have a larger parcel, that invariably comes to us through some other service (like Parcel Force which is, I think, run by Royal Mail?).  According to my DH, they definitely knock on the door (obviously, if he's home, he has heard them).  They do NOT leave parcels with the neighbours, but put the card through the door and we go to the sorting office to pick up.

So far, in the 18 months we've lived in this neighbourhood, we haven't ordered anything that we really feel the need to be home for, it just happens that due to his nursing shifts, he is sometimes home to await anything we've ordered.  I've only had to await one visa by post, and I used my work address for that one...

What I've noticed here in suburban Birmingham is that the postman DOES have the parcel with him if it's not too big...our regular postman now knows my husband (who is a nurse, so is home at interesting hours, depending on his shift) and has asked him if it's ok to leave stuff with the neighbours or put it through the letter box if no one answers - not a problem!  As a matter of fact, if he leaves stuff with the neighbours, he notes on the card which house it's at and puts the card through the door.  I call THAT good service!

At a previous residence, the postie used to always leave parcels in our blue wheelie bin at the back of the house.   And then he'd put a card through the door saying that he'd left a parcel back there.