Signed for put through letter box with out signature : Then Dog destroys valuable letters

Post by **POSTMAN** » 08 Mar 2018, 10:39

https://www.nottinghampost.com/news/not ... og-1310059" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A dad-of-three lost two celebrity autographs after his dog ripped them up when the postman put them through the letter box rather than asking for a signature.

Bryan Garner, 38, of Sutton-in-Ashfield, was expecting the delivery of a “rare” signed autograph from famous Superman actor Christopher Reeve.

The item was supposed to be delivered via Royal Mail’s Signed For service, which means its should have been signed for, rather than posted through the letter box.

However when it arrived on Tuesday, February 6, he said the postman signed for it, rather than knocking on the door to collect a signature, and put it through the letter box.

This meant his small pet dog called Toto reached the mail before his wife and tore up the autograph, which he estimates was “easily worth a couple of hundred pounds”.

The Tesco retail manager said that this is not the first time the postman has signed on their behalf. He said he has previously lost a signed autograph from actor Jack Haley who played the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz in the same way a couple of weeks ago.

He said: “After the first time we noticed we complained and they reassured us it would not happen again. I took them at their word.

“Then yesterday morning he just posted without knocking. By the time we got to the door the dog was halfway through the envelope.

“They told me maybe I should think about getting a cage but I do not think that’s the point.”

He said he had been offered compensation but as he had managed to buy the Reeve’s autograph for “a really good price” he would not find again, this would not cover how much he had really lost.

“You would think Royal Mail would follow their own rules,” he added.

“I just do not want it happening to anyone else. If it was someone’s photos they could have lost them, they need to take care of the post.”

After contacting the Post about his story he said he received a phone call from the Royal Mail apologising for what happened, saying that they were looking in to it and offering him £150 in compensation.

He said that this was lower than he could have sold it for but he felt they had now gone “above and beyond” to help.

However he added that he was “shocked” it had taken complaining twice and speaking to the Post to get them to respond.

A spokeswoman for the Royal Mail said: “Royal Mail apologises to Mr Garner that he has not received the high quality of service we are committed to deliver to our customers.

“We are speaking directly with Mr Garner about the issue and have reminded the postman in question and all staff at the local office of the correct delivery procedures for signed-for items."

The spokeswoman added: “On these occasions, the postman did not follow the correct delivery procedures.”

Royal Mail’s webite states that its Signed For service gives you “the peace of mind that comes with knowing that an important item has arrived safely”.

It means that the person getting it should be asked to sign for the item when it is delivered.

It is more expensive than normal post, costing £4.35 to send a small parcel weighing 1kg first class rather than £3.35 for the same but unsigned.

NWpostie · Post by **NWpostie** » 08 Mar 2018, 13:20

Cutting corners like that will get you sacked.

twoloops · Post by **twoloops** » 08 Mar 2018, 16:15

Some cracking comments from the public in that link

BeamishStout · Post by **BeamishStout** » 08 Mar 2018, 16:44

I have been caught out on a few occasions by focusing on the 2D bar code rather than the words 'Signed For' or whatever it is. If a signed for item has the old fashioned orange sticker I agree this is pretty hard to miss but the stuff printed out (from a home printer) in B&W can be (and is) missed. This happened to me yesterday - thin item scanned the 2D bar code, posted it (assuming it was just a bog standard 2D code) then went F*** when I got no reply after seeing the black dot next to the 2D bar code on the PDA. Wrote a note to the guy and had to sign for it myself otherwise what do you do? Saw him today and apologised for my cockup! He was fine but some folk would complain hence my cockup note to him. So in my case I was not cutting corners (as I then spent another minute writing a note to the guy) but it was an honest mistake - perhaps this happened to the postie who is the subject of this post.

And of course it can happen with tracked (signature) items as well.

We are only human.

daveyeff · Post by **daveyeff** » 08 Mar 2018, 17:33

mebbies they should think of stopping their dog ripping stuff to shreds. there could well be something comes through their door one day that is very important but does not need a signature. cheques, photo's don't need to be signed for. it would serve them right if it did happen.

Natagora · Post by **Natagora** » 08 Mar 2018, 18:43

No way, what a nightmare. I sign for stuff all the time, glad this has never happened to me!

The Postman · Post by **The Postman** » 08 Mar 2018, 20:06

Looks like someone’s playing tug a war with the dog in the second photo with a signed for, I can now easily see how the dog mistook the signed for as his favourite chew toy.

Seriously though, a lot of customers ask you to sign and post recorded deliveries. Surely it’s safer to sign and post it behind a locked door than let a neighbour they might not know sign and look after it for them. Or, maybe they could revoke delivery to neighbour for signed for items to avoid this way of thinking by posties like myself?

k979aaa · Post by **k979aaa** » 08 Mar 2018, 22:26

Why not provided the service the customer has paid for recipients are not customers the sender is!

Janet Brum · Post by **Janet Brum** » 09 Mar 2018, 20:04

He could have bought a £10 letters cage to safeguard his autographs from the dog.
Too stingy for that

Norfolk 'N' Chance · Post by **Norfolk 'N' Chance** » 29 Mar 2022, 22:10

BeamishStout wrote: ↑
08 Mar 2018, 16:44
I have been caught out on a few occasions by focusing on the 2D bar code rather than the words 'Signed For' or whatever it is. If a signed for item has the old fashioned orange sticker I agree this is pretty hard to miss but the stuff printed out (from a home printer) in B&W can be (and is) missed. This happened to me yesterday - thin item scanned the 2D bar code, posted it (assuming it was just a bog standard 2D code) then went F*** when I got no reply after seeing the black dot next to the 2D bar code on the PDA. Wrote a note to the guy and had to sign for it myself otherwise what do you do? Saw him today and apologised for my cockup! He was fine but some folk would complain hence my cockup note to him. So in my case I was not cutting corners (as I then spent another minute writing a note to the guy) but it was an honest mistake - perhaps this happened to the postie who is the subject of this post.

And of course it can happen with tracked (signature) items as well.

We are only human.

Have to agree with you! Its surprising how easy it is to perform a "mistaken action" (performing an incorrect action, in the genuine belief that its correct). Its one of the five main classes of human error and as you have rightly pointed out the poor distinguishing features on a printed B&W prepaid slip, further set people up for failure.

A similar thing happened to me a few weeks back. Ive been doing LAT's mainly for the past 20 weeks and maybe the odd SD here and there normally delivered on my longish drive over to the MC to collect the days LAT's. However the other week there must have been a pipeline failure?, as I was handed a bag of Specials along with my york of LAT's. Rang the DO no answer, tried both manager, (N/A), so took it upon myself to break the SD bag seal and scan in the SD's as part of my LAT route. Had to rejig the order of a couple of them in the manifest as it was by now about 11am ish and getting 8 SD's done that were spread across the whole area by 1pm was going to be tight.

Anyway as I had them interspersed with LAT's I managed to cock one up as im so used to posting smaller LAT's through the letterboxes. Cant recall seeing the silver/blue SD label......As the thin packet dropped on the mad i looked at the PDA i saw my error! Easy done, and not done to just get it cleared!

In this case of Tonto the vampire mail eating dog, why do owners of such little sh***s not have wall mounted boxes? Surely it destroys any mail it gets its teeth into whether that be SD autographs or not?

Dorset Plodder · Post by **Dorset Plodder** » 29 Mar 2022, 23:34

Obviously not the dogs fault at all!

Here's an idea your dog has a history of destroying the mail... bloody do something about instead of just whingeing on social media expecting to get some compo!

Woody Guthrie · Post by **Woody Guthrie** » 30 Mar 2022, 08:07

It's kinda amazing how long this goes on, every day you put the mail through, every day Fido tries to have your fingers then tears around the hallway shredding the mail.

Day after day, week after week, month after month.
Bank statements, hospital appointments, birthday cards, everything shredded.

No sign of a lightbulb going on above any of the occupants heads.

Eventually I suppose every dog must die and nature resolves the issue in some sort of karmic way.

Post by **HTPostman** » 30 Mar 2022, 08:43

Woody Guthrie wrote: ↑
30 Mar 2022, 08:07
It's kinda amazing how long this goes on, every day you put the mail through, every day Fido tries to have your fingers then tears around the hallway shredding the mail.

Day after day, week after week, month after month.
Bank statements, hospital appointments, birthday cards, everything shredded.

No sign of a lightbulb going on above any of the occupants heads.

Eventually I suppose every dog must die and nature resolves the issue in some sort of karmic way.

What makes it more ridiculous is when day after day you hear the owners shouting ‘Fido Fido leave it.’ After all these months/years, it’s very unlikely Fido is going to stop.

I’ve delivered driving licences, photos, university certificates into the dogs awaiting jaws. Things which can’t be easily replaced or in some cases (old photos) can’t be replaced at all.

Dorset Plodder · Post by **Dorset Plodder** » 30 Mar 2022, 12:30

HTPostman wrote: ↑
30 Mar 2022, 08:43

What makes it more ridiculous is when day after day you hear the owners shouting ‘Fido Fido leave it.’ After all these months/years, it’s very unlikely Fido is going to stop.

I’ve delivered driving licences, photos, university certificates into the dogs awaiting jaws. Things which can’t be easily replaced or in some cases (old photos) can’t be replaced at all.

I remember a women having a go at me years ago. Her dogs always used to rip the mail out of my hand as it was going through the letter box. I decided to hang onto it instead of just letting go ( I get these ideas when I'm bored) obvious result ..... the letter was in two pieces.

After several days the women opens the door and has a go at me, "Just put the f***ing letters through the door instead of holding onto them it just a game HE likes to play collecting the mail".

Mr Rush · Post by **Mr Rush** » 30 Mar 2022, 23:10

Norfolk 'N' Chance wrote: ↑
29 Mar 2022, 22:10
as you have rightly pointed out the poor distinguishing features on a printed B&W prepaid slip, further set people up for failure.

Long time ago I sent a no access Amazon special back through the return pouch. Without the blue and silver sticker it didn't register in my mind as a special and so I didn't hand it to the Post Office and get the card stamped. Luckily I was on good terms with the PHG who slipped it back into the system. That was back when colour-coding the product range was usually consistent. Now it's a free for all.

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