Postbox or porch?

[japitts]

We moved into a new house just before Christmas, and have been trying to "persuade" our postie to use the letterbox ever since.. I hope I can explain this.

We're in a residential street, typical semi-detached with short driveway etc. We have an outside unlocked porch with a sliding door, leading to a small tiled "indoor" bit big enough for 2 people, then the locked front door with postbox.

The internal postbox is on the opposite side of the porch to the "slide" door opening, which has its own postbox on the outside (which obviously just dumps in the porch). Sometimes if it's nice outside we'll leave the porch open so the internal door open to the elements, if it's bad weather or we're away then both get shut.

When we first moved in, the internal letterbox had been taped up by the previous owners - we hadn't realised this until a few weeks after. We have now blocked up the outside letterbox with a message, and put a bright yellow post-it note on the inside front-door, pointing at "POST BOX ---->"

The regular postie here tends to just leave the mail left in the porch, usually away from outside view but not always. Some of the stand-ins, and other deliveries - it's all a bit hit & miss really. This is a bit irritating, but not the end of the world if we come home each night or one of us is in - but when we go away for periods of time, as has just happened, it has almost caused a break-in.

Needless to say, something's gotta give now - but I want to know, before I do battle with CS, what is RM policy? Should the delivery people be using the internal letterbox? It's visibly marked, and will add about 5-10 seconds to the delivery. Is this just policy, or laziness?

Thanks

[skull]

Would going into your porch be classed as trespassing ? . If the answer is yes then we posties have to be careful . One of our posties nearly had a finger ripped off by a dog , she put her finger through the letter box to push mail through and the dog attacked .She can't claim any compensation because she was technically trespassing .

[TrueBlueTerrier]

There is no policy to go to war with the CS over.

With 28,000,000 delivery points in the UK it would be extremely difficult to cover every circumstance in any policy. Each Postal Delivery Operative AKA Postie would be expected to assess the situation and apply common sense.

There is one rule which may be affecting why the Postie is not using the internal letter box and that is that they should never leave their pouch (the big red bag) in an unsecure location. This is in fact an offence which for you can be dismissed immediately even if you have no prior history or problems.

My guess is that the gap between the front door of the patio and the internal door may not be wide enough for the Posties to be able move around inside in (Making the way to the letter box, turning round and exiting you actually need quite a lot of space even if you can fit 2 people in) and so to put the mail in your internal letter box they may have to remove the pouch from their shoulders. If this means they may not have the bag in sight for even a few seconds then they may elect to do what you describe. I appreciate it only takes a 8 - 10 seconds to do as you ask, but in the scenario I have just described it takes 1 or 2 seconds for an opportunist to steal the bag, and then the postie is 95% sure to be SACKED.

I am also guessing that the reason the outside letter box was installed is exactly for these reasons, it might be worth bringing it back into operation.

[clashcityrocker]

The mail has to be secured.
Leaving mail in the porch shouldn't be an option for the postie.
When you go away, you could have your mail held at the Delivery Office until your return (though you have to pay for the service)

[Lounge Lizard]

Change the glass in the outer porch door to frosted and there shouldn't be a problem.

[not me]

There is no policy to go to war with the CS over.

With 28,000,000 delivery points in the UK it would be extremely difficult to cover every circumstance in any policy. Each Postal Delivery Operative AKA Postie would be expected to assess the situation and apply common sense.

There is one rule which may be affecting why the Postie is not using the internal letter box and that is that they should never leave their pouch (the big red bag) in an unsecure location. This is in fact an offence which for you can be dismissed immediately even if you have no prior history or problems.

My guess is that the gap between the front door of the patio and the internal door may not be wide enough for the Posties to be able move around inside in (Making the way to the letter box, turning round and exiting you actually need quite a lot of space even if you can fit 2 people in) and so to put the mail in your internal letter box they may have to remove the pouch from their shoulders. If this means they may not have the bag in sight for even a few seconds then they may elect to do what you describe. I appreciate it only takes a 8 - 10 seconds to do as you ask, but in the scenario I have just described it takes 1 or 2 seconds for an opportunist to steal the bag, and then the postie is 95% sure to be SACKED.

I am also guessing that the reason the outside letter box was installed is exactly for these reasons, it might be worth bringing it back into operation.

i pulled a muscle in my back in that very set up
twisting to fit me and the bag in a tight little porch
total PITA
I also do flats that have double doos on the main entrance,but its a double door ofr a standard sized door
so when you open the one door(others bolted) you need to squeeze through with the bag
its my best walk but i hate those doors!

[arnold cheshire]

i had a case like this 18 yrs ago the occuppier rung in to say id left his mail on the doorstep ! i opened the porch door and left it in there nothing wrong in my eyes

[NewPostieUK]

it's all a bit hit & miss really.

You are making life hard for yourself and for your postman.

All a postman wants is a nice big letterbox to put all the mail through. He doesn't, and should have to, be messing about sliding doors and going into peoples homes.

You are expecting him to enter your porch and use a letterbox in another door? Sorry thats not right. You should have a letterbox (or delivery point, such as a box) on or near the outer door.

If mail can be seen in your porch, and your porch isn't locked, that 's your problem, do something about it.

[fishtank]

Harsh but true.
The correct procedure when presented with a "blocked up" letter box would be to return the mail endorsed with "inaccessible"...it would not be to enter the property looking for alternative delivery point..
The sensible solution as has been said would be to fit an exterior secure post box.

[japitts]

Harsh but true.
The correct procedure when presented with a "blocked up" letter box would be to return the mail endorsed with "inaccessible"...it would not be to enter the property looking for alternative delivery point..
The sensible solution as has been said would be to fit an exterior secure post box.

I can see both sides of this, but in our defence we moved into this house around Christmas, and there are more than a few "bodges" that the previous owners left us with. This is one - long term the outer door will not stay as it is, it's far from ideal. On the flip side, it's not as if we're asking the postie to "enter the property" - although the point about carrying and leaving their pouches is an interesting one.

As it happens, the postie had to knock to deliver a small packet last week - and an amicable chat was had.. as is so often with these things!

[Stormproof]

Porches are a pain in the arse........you have a bundle of mail in one hand, the mail for the property in the other, then you have to open the door and negotiate the porch with a delivery pouch on your back, then try and turn round or back out without knocking anything or falling over.

[George door to dawes]

couldnt you just put a lock on the porch door and then unblock the outside letter box? Imagine if everyone wanted us to open their door, go inside their porch post the letters, exit the porch and close the door again. Doesnt sound like a lot of hassle but say it took 10 seconds extra, times that by 500+ houses and suddenly we are spending 83 mins extra per day messing around with people porches! Obviously not everyone would want that but surely you cant expect special treatment?! Not unless you give your postman a nice tip iam sure he wouldnt mind so much then!

[Darren Bent]

If you want postman not to drop the post in porch put up a note. Otherwise we will think it is ok to do this. I don't like using letterbox inside house due to dogs.