Postman boycotts ‘rude’ house which accused him of pretending to try to deliver parcels

A Royal Mail postman has vowed to boycott a home after a ‘rude’ note was left telling him to ‘not even think about’ leaving an attempted delivery card again

A family have found themselves on a naughty list this Christmas, after leaving a “rude” note for their postman, accusing him of just pretending to attempt to deliver their parcels.

Postman Dave, whose name has been changed for his privacy, found a handwritten note on the front door of one of his customer’s homes, warning him to “not even think about” leaving an attempted delivery card.

“Royal Mail. Don’t even think about putting a card through the door without ringing the doorbell and pretending that the delivery was attempted but no one was in – as happened on Saturday,” the passive aggressive note read.

“We were in all day and we’ll be in today, Tuesday. RING THE BELL AND DELIVER THE PARCEL.”

It’s fair to say that Dave was not happy with the message, and later posted a photo of the note on a social media group of postmen and women, saying he hopes the family “enjoy collecting their mail from the post office over Christmas.”

Enraged postmen and women rallied behind their colleague, condemning the resident’s “cheeky and awful attitude” pointing out that no postie would want to hold onto someone’s mail longer than necessary.

Dozens backed Dave’s stance and suggested he issue P739s from here on – Royal Mail’s code for their ‘sorry we missed each other’ attempted delivery red note.

“Don’t know about anyone else but I love carrying parcels around with me all day making my bag heavy,” one postie joked, while another questioned: “Why do people never think that it’s actually much easier for us to get packets delivered and not have to take them back to the office.”

Dave, who had been completing that round for the past decade, says it’s the second time he’s been spoken to like this and that he has no plans to deliver there again in the future.

In a series of comments responding to questions from other postal workers, Dave said: “[I’m] not planning on delivering there in the future, it’s the second time I’ve been spoken to like this along with the van share guy. [They] stopped tipping a few years ago after accusing one of us of theft and speaking to us like sh*t.

“It wasn’t me [who left the attempted delivery note], probably a parcel driver but it’s my delivery I’ve had for the last 10 years. [But it] would have been one of the parcels we left for someone else to do, either way it’s aimed at us.

“On the positive side, I got a nice tip from one of the decent customers not long after.”

Later on, Dave gave an update, claiming his employer Royal Mail has backed his stance, telling him not to deliver to the home until the situation is investigated.

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He wrote: “[I’ve been] told not to deliver to them and ignore them for now until it gets looked into.”

But, this isn’t the first time Dave has found himself clashing with customers, having previously bragged about writing a naughty list, with anyone who leaves notes for posties going straight on there.

In June 2020, he wrote: “I’ll gladly stand in the p***ing rain and cold to write out a 739 for someone like that, they will never get off the naughty list as long as I’m on the duty.

“Any note left on door saying waiting for a Christmas present or passport leave with neighbour or some other place, no can do bud, enjoy your trip.”

Meanwhile, other postal workers were quick to comment sharing their own experiences with rude customers, with one writing: “There’s always one idiot. I had someone swear at me because I rang the bell three times because I knew she was in. ‘I was in the f***ing shower, I heard you the f***ing first time.’ Form left after that.”

A second said: “It’s psychological, I have someone on my round always thinking I’m holding back their parcels, it’s personal. Usually stuff from China, cheapest postage. They don’t understand the journey their thing has taken. I reckon virtually every round in the country has at least one of those.”

A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “Every single item of mail is important to us. Our postmen and women work extremely hard to deliver to mail to customers across the country, six days a week, in all weathers.

“Thankfully the vast majority of items are securely delivered to customers, but if we believe a customer is not at home, we will attempt to deliver the item to a neighbour and leave a card.

“If we can’t deliver to them, we’ll leave a card and take the item back to the Customer Service Point where customers can either collect it or arrange a redelivery. We would advise anyone who has delivery concerns can contact the Royal Mail customer service team.”

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