Mailman doesn't deliver junk mail for seven years, put on probation.

[Aragorn]

Complete L.A. Times article


Mailman fails to deliver, becomes local hero

Apex, N.C. -- Pay homage, then, to overstressed, overworked mailman Steven Padgett, who has confessed to a cardinal sin among the letter carriers tribe: He failed to deliver.

"Mailman Steve" -- a pudgy, kindly 58-year-old who toiled along a route in a rapidly growing neighborhood here -- was given probation in federal court this week for squirreling away at least seven years' worth of undelivered junk mail, which he had stacked in his garage and buried in his yard.

According to his attorney, Padgett felt overwhelmed by the torrents of "direct advertising mail" he was obligated to deliver as he contended with heart problems and diabetes.

It should come as no surprise that the U.S. Postal Service did not receive a single complaint from Padgett's customers about missing mail during the years he withheld pizza circulars, oil change discount notices and Chinese menus.

But when someone noticed bins of mail stacking up, the authorities were alerted, and Mailman Steve was charged with delaying and destroying U.S. mail. The Postal Service notified hundreds of residents, but only one responded. That customer, Kenna Reinhardt, wrote not to condemn Padgett but to honor him.

.....

Readers who followed Padgett's travails in the pages of the Raleigh News & Observer responded on behalf of a grateful citizenry. They thanked him for delivering his customers from unwanted mail.

.....

U.S. District Judge James C. Dever III could have sent Padgett to prison for five years and fined him up to $250,000. Instead, the judge gave him three years' probation, fined him $3,000 and ordered 500 hours of community service.

.....

Padgett's efforts to spare the neighbors their junk mail were not much appreciated by the Direct Marketing Assn. The 3,400-member group considers such mail a boon for consumers seeking discounts and services and for small businesses seeking to target customers.

.....

 

[Trekker4747]

Re: Mailman doesn't deliver junk mail for seven years, put on probatio

Give the man a medal.

There's a trashcan inside my complex's mailbox building. That trashcan is always filled with the discarded junk/bulk mail.

 

[CommodoreKong]

Re: Mailman doesn't deliver junk mail for seven years, put on probatio

He is truly the greatest postal employee who's ever lived.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Re: Mailman doesn't deliver junk mail for seven years, put on probatio

I'm not so sure. What gives him the right to determine what's junkmail and what isn't? That's not his job. All the mailman is tasked to do, is *deliver*.

If I get junk mail, I can simply shred it. But I would not feel comfortable with my mailman deciding for me what mail I get. It should be my decision.

 

[Starseeker]

Re: Mailman doesn't deliver junk mail for seven years, put on probatio

I hope somebody sets up a paypal for this guy so people can donate to his retirement fund. Well done, mailman!

 

[tharpdevenport]

Re: Mailman doesn't deliver junk mail for seven years, put on probatio

I can tell you, as someone who was a mail carrier once for the USPS, that junk mail is a problem. In fact it was so bad that the head on the location I was at had us use postal bins for junk mail. If we were in a hurry, any junk could just be chucked in there for trash.

And then you have advertisements and flyers which you either ut in one-by-one into each slot of pick one out of a stack as you delivery, so I did what other carriers did: just stuffed them in quickly. So if you got no crappy flyers in your slot, you got none; if you got five crappy flyers in your slot, you got five crappy flyers.


There were some bitchy people along the route too. Federal law to put mail in the mail box -- can't hand it to people. I apologized and said I can't hand the lady her mail, it has to go in the box. She was a few houses away from hers, so I just couldn't believe it was her mail. "See? Taht was easy!" -- yeah, yeah -- fuck off bitch.



And then, as comedian Norm MacDonald always has a joke for something here:

Last week in Tampa, Florida, William Sntiago -- a mail carrier for 27 years -- was fired from his job and now faces up to five years in jail for keeping two magazines which had been sent to a nonexistant address. Postal officials admitt they could have let him off with just a warning, but then he wouldn't come back someday and shoot 30 people, so ..... they decided to be a little strict."

 

[Trekker4747]

Re: Mailman doesn't deliver junk mail for seven years, put on probatio

I'm not so sure. What gives him the right to determine what's junkmail and what isn't? That's not his job. All the mailman is tasked to do, is *deliver*.

If I get junk mail, I can simply shred it. But I would not feel comfortable with my mailman deciding for me what mail I get. It should be my decision.

Unless there's someone in your home actually named "Resident", "Our Neighbor" or "Postal Patron" I think it's easy to figure what is and is not junk mail.

 

[Crusher Disciple]

Re: Mailman doesn't deliver junk mail for seven years, put on probatio

I can tell you, as someone who was a mail carrier once for the USPS, that junk mail is a problem.

Agreed. Out of the armful of mail I get, 80% of it is junk mail. I probably have about 3-4 actual pieces of mail I don't chunk immediately.

Jeez, the mail carrier has enough shit to slog around; they don't need the added weight of that crap slowing them down.

 

[Amaris]

Re: Mailman doesn't deliver junk mail for seven years, put on probatio

Good job Mr. Postman. I salute you. /**


J.

 

[Trekker4747]

Re: Mailman doesn't deliver junk mail for seven years, put on probatio

Good job Mr. Postman. I salute you. /**


J.

Indeed. This Guy for Postmaster General.

 

[tharpdevenport]

Re: Mailman doesn't deliver junk mail for seven years, put on probatio

But the problem is biting the hand that feeds you. The USPS has been suffering from money loss due to the internet, and back when I was a carrier they were talking about it killing them. The junk mail people pay the USPS to distribute it's crap.

They, and last I heard, some internet providers, were talking about charging for sending e-mail. Nothing hi, like a few cents -- even just one cent. Considering how many millions and millions of em-mails are sent out each year, that would be a good thing for the USPS if they enacted their ow e-mail service. But I for one don't feel like being charged for something I would be paying for if I had my own computer and serivce like I used to. I still write letters from time-to-time because it's more personal, and because -- believe it or not -- some people don't use the internet. Their a famous composer, for example, who doesn't even owm a computer.

 

[Amaris]

Re: Mailman doesn't deliver junk mail for seven years, put on probatio

I hope he runs for PG. I'd vote for him!

Oh, and this:

Padgett's efforts to spare the neighbors their junk mail were not much appreciated by the Direct Marketing Assn. The 3,400-member group considers such mail a boon for consumers seeking discounts and services and for small businesses seeking to target customers.

This lowers my opinion of these people even further. Not only do they cause great annoyance to many people, but they have no idea they're doing it, or simply don't care.

J.

 

[Aragorn]

Re: Mailman doesn't deliver junk mail for seven years, put on probatio

I don't mind junk mail, personally. If I see something I want to use like a haircut coupon or a pizza coupon, I'll keep it and chuck everything else. Although the everything else tends to be 99.9% of all the junk mail. No harm, no foul. Junk mail isn't intrusive like spam or telemarketers. You can at least recycle this stuff.

The only junk mail I can't stand are when stores I buy stuff from sell my address to junk mailers.

 

[ria 75]

Re: Mailman doesn't deliver junk mail for seven years, put on probatio

There wouldn't be junk mail if it never worked. Sometimes people find those ads useful. I know I don't like it when the super takes away my hardware store mini-catalog.

But I agree junk mail is absolutely not environmental friendly.
And those flyers sticking out of your mailbox are a burglar-friendly telltale sign of being away for a few days. And when regular mail gets crimpled because of the room junk mail takes up...

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Re: Mailman doesn't deliver junk mail for seven years, put on probatio

They, and last I heard, some internet providers, were talking about charging for sending e-mail.

That is just an urban legend, nothing more. Linky

 

[tharpdevenport]

Re: Mailman doesn't deliver junk mail for seven years, put on probatio

Well, any mail carrier with half a brain should note when mail isn't being checked and either:

Knock on the door and check for someone.

or

Take the mail out and bring it back, leaving one letter in the box. If that letter is retrieved, then the person is back and delivery should continue.

But of course some people leave notes in their mail box to hold mail for a specificed period, which we obey.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Re: Mailman doesn't deliver junk mail for seven years, put on probatio

But of course some people leave notes in their mail box to hold mail for a specificed period, which we obey.

You can do that from USPS' own website.

Hold Mail

Or if you prefer, go down to your local post office and fill out a form.

Either way, there's really no excuse for letting mail pile up in your mailbox when you're away.

 

[Amaris]

Re: Mailman doesn't deliver junk mail for seven years, put on probatio

There wouldn't be junk mail if it never worked. Sometimes people find those ads useful. I know I don't like it when the super takes away my hardware store mini-catalog.

But I agree junk mail is absolutely not environmental friendly.
And those flyers sticking out of your mailbox are a burglar-friendly telltale sign of being away for a few days. And when regular mail gets crimpled because of the room junk mail takes up...

We have a 4 inch wide, 5 inch deep, 12 inch high apartment mailbox. I order DVDs from Netflix from time to time. When I open my mailbox, books of junk mail pour out, and in the back are my ripped envelope Netflix DVDs, crumpled into the back corner.

J.

 

[Mallory]

Re: Mailman doesn't deliver junk mail for seven years, put on probatio

They, and last I heard, some internet providers, were talking about charging for sending e-mail.

That is just an urban legend, nothing more. Linky

Yeah, but you know it's only a matter of time Baba. There's money on the table and no one's going to let it sit there forever.

 

[CaptainStoner]

Re: Mailman doesn't deliver junk mail for seven years, put on probatio

I think the USPS should go ahead and raise their postal rates to something logical. I wouldn't mind spending a buck to send a Christmas card or a hand-written letter. But as long as they have lower-than-sane postal rates, then it's profitable to send out mass mailings of garbage.

Until then, I know a heavily autistic guy who's main passion in life is doing collage work. For him, junk mail is fucking awesome.

Also, recycling has never really caught on. It never made it much past the early 80's. Most people are just throwing out junk mail in the regular garbage, for various reasons, but all that paper does have value and ought to be reused, even if it's for more junk mail.