Postal Theft

[Barry Trotter]

Its always a shame when mail goes missing but to be honest,the amount of mail I handled on the IP at christmas which had an address which was totally unreadable or missing a large part,ie 22 high street. every town has a high street. I looked up 2 cards from the same person,both fully addressed to unknown streets in edinburgh.I went on the internet and found both letters should have been going to glossip in leeds( god only knows how the sender managed to put edinburgh,most people have a rough idea of where their relatives live). they had no return address on the back so if I hadnt had looked them up they would have been condemmed and that would have been another two letters 'stolen' by the postman.
I should add that I am not saying This was the case with your card magicbeard just adding one of the many scenarios postmen face daily when it comes to cards with no return address on the back.

[Barry Trotter]

I should also say that I had a card on which the whole address except the door number and postcode had been covered by ink from one of the stamp cancelling machines,again no return address on the back but luckily those two bits of info were enough to get the card delivered,if not it would have been another case of the postman stole it,probably looking for money.

[baldrick]

There was an article in the Times Supplement today about the 'postal detectives' at the National Returns Centre
in Belfast trying to forward badly addressed and damaged mail. They quoted a really high figure, which
unfortunately I can't remember, but I think it was 300,000 items a week.
Also a lot of mail does get chewed up by the sorting machines, increasingly so as more of the processing
becomes mechanised.

[andy2007]

You shouldn't have to do that anyway. We've got a dedicated team, who do work out that type of thing. They're experts at tracking down where Mail needs to go, when it's badly addressed.

Anything sent to them, will eventually reach it's intended recipient. The delay, depends on just how badly addressed it is.

[97gaz]

Just to give you an idea of the security measures and how seriously Royal Mail take the issue of theft from the mail:

The sorting floor in my office is probably about 50M X 50M. Covering that we have about 30-40 overhead security cams,the black ball type you see in the likes of tesco. Tucked away in the corner of the building is a control room for these cameras with access only via a door outside. No-one on site has access to this room. When someone such as yourself reports mail going missing , members of the IB will arrive through the night when the site is empty and monitor any suspects without anyone being aware they are there.

They will also try to build up a pattern to see who was on what round when the theft happened.
Marked letters will be put into the post destined for the suspects round and I imagine they will check to see if these letters were actually delivered.
The suspect will also be watched for any strange behaviour while they are out.

IB do have a very good reputation . As for the percentage who are prosecuted, I would be very surprised if it was not 100% of those caught.

[97gaz]

Sadly, I've heard of another one caught in the nearest DO to us. He's been stealing packets and when IB searched his house they've found quite a lot by all accounts.
As with all other thieves nobody I've spoken to has any sympathy for him. We did have one hell of a laugh though when we heard that he was the guy who challenged the IB when they came to the office.

"Excuse me, can I help you"
"You certainly can. You're nicked !!"

[Blackandwhite_cat]

To echo the comment about poor addresses, I've had several recently with (for example) 22 Warwickshire. Does make delivery difficult. Also, if it's not sealed by the sender, or damaged, it might sit in the damaged items tray for a while, depending on how good your local office is.

[Lounge Lizard]

The public won't realise the large number of letters with the house number missing. I check the phone book, but most residents are ex-directory now, then with keeping them on the sorting frame for a couple of days usually link them with a correctly addressed letter and deliver it a bit late, but with a policy of keeping the frame clear each day before delivery most will just attach the red sticker and the letter will never be seen again and to the sender and intended recipient it will be yet another item 'lost in the post' or stolen.
Recently I had a package from abroad with an incomplete address, and with no surname, and with christian names I didn't recognise. However, by asking in the area I learn't that 'Monty and Lucy' were Mrs Evans's dogs and the package was delivered the same day.
I doubt if 99.999% of postal workers are fully trustworthy but would hope that at least 99% were.
It's just unfortunate that the public can't see all the wrongly and incompletely addressed items we deal with and recognise the challenges we face.

[lost boots]

A few months back I ordered some boots they were sent special delivery and didn't arive. I'd like to say at this point these boots are for a foot condition and helps me not break my feet, I have to save up for 12 months to buy these. As they were lost I filled in your forms got proof of posting from sender the claim was rejected. The sender had included return adress on the in side the parcel and out side. I would say they were stolen at local sorting office as thats where tracking stops. Right would the person who stole these please break three toes and walk around as I'am right now due to not have my boots I'm also about another 8 months away from new boots

[POSTMAN]

A few months back I ordered some boots they were sent special delivery and didn't arive. I'd like to say at this point these boots are for a foot condition and helps me not break my feet, I have to save up for 12 months to buy these. As they were lost I filled in your forms got proof of posting from sender the claim was rejected. The sender had included return adress on the in side the parcel and out side. I would say they were stolen at local sorting office as thats where tracking stops. Right would the person who stole these please break three toes and walk around as I'am right now due to not have my boots I'm also about another 8 months away from new boots

Some of this seems wrong,if they were special delivery they would be tracked all the way even in the mess we are in at the moment.
Do you know if they were signed for?Can you provide us with the tracking number?

[TrueBlueTerrier]

A few months back I ordered some boots they were sent special delivery and didn't arrive. I'd like to say at this point these boots are for a foot condition and helps me not break my feet, I have to save up for 12 months to buy these. As they were lost I filled in your forms got proof of posting from sender the claim was rejected. The sender had included return address on the in side the parcel and out side. I would say they were stolen at local sorting office as thats where tracking stops. Right would the person who stole these please break three toes and walk around as I'm right now due to not have my boots I'm also about another 8 months away from new boots

Not our forms - we are an unofficial site - but I certainly sympathise. BTW if you did not get the boots and the shop/people you ordered them from cant prove you did then surely they should send you new ones - they then claim from us.

[baldrick]

If they were sent Special Delivery it would have to be the sender who claims for compensation.

[barrowfordred]

My mother sent my son a birthday card with £20 inside the card (silly I know), the card arrived in the envelope but with no £20 The cheek of it.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

My mother sent my son a birthday card with £20 inside the card (silly I know), the card arrived in the envelope but with no £20 The cheek of it.

TBH the problems with any cards is they are easy to spot so if anyone has a tendency to steal they will keep an eye out for brightly coloured envelopes or ones that obviously have cards in them, thats why I would always recommend sending cards with money in them at the cheapest Special Delivery rate. Paying £5 is better than loosing £20+

[baldrick]

My mother sent my son a birthday card with £20 inside the card (silly I know), the card arrived in the envelope but with no £20 The cheek of it.

TBH the problems with any cards is they are easy to spot so if anyone has a tendency to steal they will keep an eye out for brightly coloured envelopes or ones that obviously have cards in them, thats why I would always recommend sending cards with money in them at the cheapest Special Delivery rate. Paying £5 is better than loosing £20+

Or put the brightly coloured envelope inside an ordinary A5 size manilla one. Paying 5p for an extra envelope is better than losing £20.

Or send a cheque instead of cash which shouldn't be sent in ordinary post.