Postal Deliveries

[scoobydooby]

Do postmen (or women) have to deliver post to the exact address on the envelope. For example, if someone's misread the house number and written it down wrong and the postman (who knows everyone in the road) knows the person against your address lives several doors away, does he still have to put it through your postbox? I'm finding this increasingly common and at least once a week am playing postman myself - re-delivering mail to the correct people. Is my postie following rules or is it because he can't be bothered to work out there's been a mistake? I get enough junk mail of my own, I don't need other people's too!!

[THECORBYLOON]

From the Royal Mail's website (about receiving another's
post)

"There may have been a previous occupant at the address who has not redirected their mail or changed their address. By law we have to deliver the mail to the stated address (not the named person). You can, however, mark the item �Return to sender� and put it into a postbox"

so the postie is following the law.

[Loosehead]

Refreshingly, my postman at least, does think independently and I have had letters delivered to me with the wrong house number and in one case the wrong street name. I regularly get letters with Hampshire on them when I live in Dorset so they can even be a county out!

I imagine though there are plenty of jobsworth pedants too!

[gary baldy]

What if two people share the same name in the street, members of the same family live in different houses or you yourself have moved to another house in the same street?
All not unheard of.
I am heartened by the fact that some posties actually follow the rules and dont just make things up as they go along.
I would rather they followed what seems a very sensible rule that just post things where they think might go.

[ChilliSpice]

I thought Postie had to deliver to the actual address as well. However, there are some very clever Posties out there - I once sent a postcard to a friend whose exact address I couldn't remember - I knew the main road and town but not what house number or the name of the side street she lived down. I drew a little sketch plan in the address half and added "Please deliver to my friend XYZ at the house marked with a cross (which has a green RangeRover parked outside) on this side street which is off ABC Road, Township, many thanks xxx CS"

Yes, she got the postcard !!!

[Grunty]

Not quite as difficult as ChilliSpice's, but I knew a policeman who went on holiday abroad. He sent a postcard addressed to "The BT men, Down the Hole, Outside the Albert Hotel, etc."

[Postdog]

As a postie, I can just give you my views. Yes, we ARE supposed to deliver to whatever address is on the item, even if we know it;s wrong. As an example of why we should, let's suppose one family is having strife, and one spouse gets something sent to a neighbours' so the other half doesn't see it it .

With me, if I have doubts, I'll deliver it as addressed and wait till it's sent back not known before I post to where I think it should go, but there are examples (say a postcard or junk mail) when I'll just take it to where I know is right.

All this will change in a few years of course when we no longer have postmen. The mail will be sorted from start to finish by machine, and the only bit of human interaction will be the housewife delivering it to make a bit of pin money after she has dropped her kids off at school.

[THECORBYGOON]

Loosehead point out that she NOW lives in Dorset, but gets post addressed to Hampshire. This is not surprising since her address used to be in Hampshire before boundary changes. Why, oh why does this stupid women insist on confusing the issue on every answer? Does anyone know?

[what..the?]

I think my postie is asleep every morning because he makes loads of mistakes once he even posted a recorded delivery through my post box for next door. He must have not had anyone sign it or signed it himself????

We had a phonecall for nextdoor worried as the envelope contained the keys for her car parked out side her house nice BMW a believe. That could have been a good morning ha ha .....birthday came early!!