# Mail being delivered to wrong address



## Lizard (18 Jul 2016)

My elderly parents are not receiving all their post to their address anymore. It appears that the postman is incorrectly delivering their post to OTHER addresses, for several weeks! My parents are now depending on the good will of people they dont know to deliver their post to them! Some very important and sensitive documents have been delivered this way. 

We have complained by phone to An Post and were reassured that the problem would be resolved. But it hasn't, and we dont know how to proceed. ComReg? Has anyone had this problem, and how was it resolved? 

The problem lies with the postman not reading the name/address on the envelope properly, ie just scanning the address, or picking out words or letters and making the wrong assumption. I dont want to get anyone sacked, but myself and my sister (who look after my parents) are quite worried and alarmed at this stage.


----------



## elcato (18 Jul 2016)

Have you talked to the postman personally ? I'd say a quiet word should do it.


----------



## snowyb (18 Jul 2016)

This happened a few weeks ago when the regular postman was on holidays.   The temp postman didn't realise that the odd and even numbers were
on opposite sides of the road.   Everyones post was mixed up.   Also,  we got post from a different road altogether,  no similarity in name.  Just the 
house number was identical.   One of the neighbours mentioned it directly to the postman and it didn't happen again.   Glad to see the usual postman
back on the job. 
Try mentioning it to the postman in a friendly manner. 

Snowyb


----------



## Branz (18 Jul 2016)

I went to our local sorting office as that is where they start from and where the postman is based. They sorted it for me.
HTH


----------



## Lizard (19 Jul 2016)

Branz said:


> I went to our local sorting office as that is where they start from and where the postman is based. They sorted it for me.
> HTH


That sounds like a good plan.


----------



## Lizard (19 Jul 2016)

elcato said:


> Have you talked to the postman personally ? I'd say a quiet word should do it.


How do you catch the postman? I'm in work all day.


----------



## Lizard (19 Jul 2016)

snowyb said:


> This happened a few weeks ago when the regular postman was on holidays.   The temp postman didn't realise that the odd and even numbers were
> on opposite sides of the road.   Everyones post was mixed up.   Also,  we got post from a different road altogether,  no similarity in name.  Just the
> house number was identical.   One of the neighbours mentioned it directly to the postman and it didn't happen again.   Glad to see the usual postman
> back on the job.
> ...



Thanks.


----------



## amtc (19 Jul 2016)

Go back to An Post customer service. Ask for a supervisor. Pm me if you want a name. Ask for it to be lodged as a formal complaint. Your mail will be monitored then for a period of time. 

Alternatively write directly to the Mail Operations Director.


----------



## PMU (19 Jul 2016)

Lizard said:


> My elderly parents are not receiving all their post to their address anymore. It appears that the postman is incorrectly delivering their post to OTHER addresses, for several weeks!.


 Do you parent specify the relevant Eircode in their address?


----------



## Leper (19 Jul 2016)

Just a few thoughts from somebody who used to work for Dept P & T some years ago and before the formation of An Post.
1. I understand An Post having lost the tender for coded addresses does not recognise Eircode (please correct me if I am wrong).
2. Talking to An Post management might help, but could lead to even more problems.
3. Comreg might get in the way also.
4. The commonsense option is to contact the postman directly and explain the situation. The matter is important to you but, you work, so make the effort; it will be worth it. If this fails then contact An Post management.
5. From my experience many many postal items are addressed incorrectly. A small example of this would be for the correct address as Main Street to be inserted as Upper Main Street, Lower Main Street, Middle Main Street, Main Street North, Main Street South etc. Furthermore, a trawl through Eolaí and Phoist (Post Office Bible) will inform you that there is no need to place the county in the address.
6. The correct house number is important also.  Strange how many people manage to insert unreadable numbers on written addresses. Some opt not to insert any number at all.
7. Even the position of the letterbox on the front door is important.  Some opt to put the letter box on the bottom of the door or even none at all. Now you are a postman and start work at 6.00am and find yourself bending like a scrum-half at every second house. Think! The postman is human also. From experience my postbox is hip high to make it easier for the postman.
8. I could bring you to streets of say 100 houses to (a) See no house numbers displayed (b) Numbers skipped (c) even numbers on part of one side and uneven numbers on the other side or a combination of both. Some residents don't like numbered houses and opt for names of saints etc. I know of one road in a particular city in Ireland that has three number ones, twos etc.
9. Then you have the real address as So-and-so Lane which some residents refuse to use and give So-and-so Avenue, Mews, Heights, Downs, etc as their address.


----------



## Leper (20 Jul 2016)

In my earlier post I should have added that since my days in P & T (forerunner of An Post) we had a different Ireland.  People used to communicate verbally with each other much more than now. Back then we used to talk to each other, share life, help, be friendly, etc.  Take a look around you today and you can see humans (well some sort of humans) having love affairs with their mobile phones. Now our main contacts are by text, facebook, email and the like.  We as a nation have forgotten on how to talk and get our message across in a personal way. Word of mouth is a strong aid in everyday living and we have lost it.  Now we have roads, streets, avenues, lanes sorry boulevards stocked with people who could not give a whit about anyone and see no reason for any kind of personal contact. Perhaps the postman is a victim of this?


----------



## Jon Stark (20 Jul 2016)

Leper said:


> In my earlier post I should have added that since my days in P & T (forerunner of An Post) we had a different Ireland.  People used to communicate verbally with each other much more than now. Back then we used to talk to each other, share life, help, be friendly, etc.  Take a look around you today and you can see humans (well some sort of humans) having love affairs with their mobile phones. Now our main contacts are by text, facebook, email and the like.  We as a nation have forgotten on how to talk and get our message across in a personal way. Word of mouth is a strong aid in everyday living and we have lost it.  Now we have roads, streets, avenues, lanes sorry boulevards stocked with people who could not give a whit about anyone and see no reason for any kind of personal contact. Perhaps the postman is a victim of this?



Or maybe this particular postman isn't doing his job properly...


----------



## Leper (21 Jul 2016)

Jon Stark said:


> Or maybe this particular postman isn't doing his job properly...



Yes Jon, you are probably right.  I was just pointing out reasons why much post does not get delivered or just delayed and omitted the obvious.


----------

