# Pensioner Posts Letters in Dog-Poo Disposal Box for 2 Years **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 7, 2011, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pensioner-posts-letters-in-dog-poo-disposal-box-for-2-years/595470 "2011-09-07T03:53:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pensioner-posts-letters-in-dog-poo-disposal-box-for-2-years/595470/1 "2011-09-07T03:53:14Z")
Story [here](http://xmb.stuffucanuse.com/xmb/viewthread.php?tid=7880). A 91-year-old pensioner has been posting his letters in a dog-poo disposal box, which resembles a mailbox, in England for two years and only recently realized his mistake when someone saw what he was doing and pointed it out to him. This is either very, very sad or very, very funny, not sure which. The story seems to originate from one of those oddball British tabloids, but I can’t seem to find the original one. It’s been appeared in quite a few places on the Web so far. ---
**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pensioner-posts-letters-in-dog-poo-disposal-box-for-2-years/595470/2 "2011-09-07T07:59:24Z")
[The Sunday Sport](http://www.sundaysport.com/) is about as low as you can get. ---
**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pensioner-posts-letters-in-dog-poo-disposal-box-for-2-years/595470/3 "2011-09-07T08:13:36Z")
> [@NineToTheSky](#): > > [The Sunday Sport](http://www.sundaysport.com/) is about as low as you can get. If you can pick up your dog poo with it, this story gets cyclical. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pensioner-posts-letters-in-dog-poo-disposal-box-for-2-years/595470/4 "2011-09-07T10:39:02Z")
Colour me an extremely sceptical shade of dog-poo-bin red. Possibly based on a genuine occurrence but the “quotes” are clearly made up. “I walked down to the postbox, like I do every week, and began placing our Tommy’s third birthday card in the little slot.” Nobody talks like that. Also, the bins have a lid that lifts up, not a slot. Finally, and most damningly, it’s in the [_Sunday Sport_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunday_Sport): > [@](#): > > It prints plainly ludicrous stories, such as a double-decker London bus being found frozen in the Antarctic ice, or a World War II bomber found on the moon. Defenders of the paper pointed out that it was not intended to be taken seriously. A nonagenarian dropping a birthday card in dogshit perhaps doesn’t display quite the level of inventiveness as those stories, but maybe they’d had an especially long lunch that day. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pensioner-posts-letters-in-dog-poo-disposal-box-for-2-years/595470/5 "2011-09-08T03:25:41Z")
Ah well, I suppose it’s too god to be true. As for the language, I just figured that’s how Brits talk. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pensioner-posts-letters-in-dog-poo-disposal-box-for-2-years/595470/6 "2011-09-08T07:50:35Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > Colour me an extremely sceptical shade of dog-poo-bin red. Possibly based on a genuine occurrence but the “quotes” are clearly made up. “I walked down to the postbox, like I do every week, and began placing our Tommy’s third birthday card in the little slot.” Nobody talks like that. Also, the bins have a lid that lifts up, not a slot. > > Finally, and most damningly, it’s in the [_Sunday Sport_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunday_Sport): > > A nonagenarian dropping a birthday card in dogshit perhaps doesn’t display quite the level of inventiveness as those stories, but maybe they’d had an especially long lunch that day. Spoilsport. I refuse to believe that somewhere on this great big strange world of ours there isn’t _some_ old pensioner posting his letters in the dog doo bin. It’s just too good a story not to be true. And if there isn’t one now, it’ll probably be me someday! ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2011, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pensioner-posts-letters-in-dog-poo-disposal-box-for-2-years/595470/7 "2011-09-09T03:05:26Z")
> [@Alan\_Smithee](#): > > Spoilsport. I refuse to believe that somewhere on this great big strange world of ours there isn’t _some_ old pensioner posting his letters in the dog doo bin. It’s just too good a story not to be true. > > And if there isn’t one now, it’ll probably be me someday! Hear hear! I am inspired to mail some dog poo to someone. Oh, wait. That’s not the same thing, is it? ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2011, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pensioner-posts-letters-in-dog-poo-disposal-box-for-2-years/595470/8 "2011-09-09T04:23:32Z")
Posting = mailing? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2011, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pensioner-posts-letters-in-dog-poo-disposal-box-for-2-years/595470/9 "2011-09-09T04:32:58Z")
Yes. It may be British usage, but I’m used to it from over here. ---
**Author:** ![Mtgman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2011, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pensioner-posts-letters-in-dog-poo-disposal-box-for-2-years/595470/10 "2011-09-09T18:05:29Z")
I’m having trouble believing this too. Firstly, postboxes don’t normally smell of dogshit. Secondly, there is someone, presumably not an elderly pensioner whose mental state may be reasonably suspect, who empties that bin. If they saw mail in it week after week they’d presumably check the return address and return the letters to the sender, or transfer them into the regular post. Thirdly, any pensioner who put their mail in the dog poo bin would rapidly find themselves without water, electricity, phone, etc. because their bills wouldn’t go through, two years makes it just unbelievable. If a pensioner is so out of it that they can’t tell the difference between a dog poo bin and a post box, their electric company is surely not so far out of it that they can’t tell the difference between a paid account and an unpaid account. Enjoy, Steven ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2011, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pensioner-posts-letters-in-dog-poo-disposal-box-for-2-years/595470/11 "2011-09-09T18:31:48Z")
I _did_ enjoy that. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2011, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pensioner-posts-letters-in-dog-poo-disposal-box-for-2-years/595470/12 "2011-09-09T19:43:55Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > As for the language, I just figured that’s how Brits talk. 😉 Are you kidding me? There wasn’t a single “Pip pip cheerio old chap” anywhere in there. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2011, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pensioner-posts-letters-in-dog-poo-disposal-box-for-2-years/595470/13 "2011-09-09T20:16:15Z")
> [@Mtgman](#): > > Thirdly, any pensioner who put their mail in the dog poo bin would rapidly find themselves without water, electricity, phone, etc. because their bills wouldn’t go through, two years makes it just unbelievable. Not necessarily, if they use online banking. I can’t remember the last time I actually mailed a bill. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2011, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pensioner-posts-letters-in-dog-poo-disposal-box-for-2-years/595470/14 "2011-09-09T23:58:06Z")
> [@Mtgman](#): > > Secondly, there is someone, presumably not an elderly pensioner whose mental state may be reasonably suspect, who empties that bin. If they saw mail in it week after week they’d presumably check the return address and return the letters to the sender, or transfer them into the regular post. I doubt it. The bins are usually lined with a tough black sack - the operative working the dog shit collection round isn’t going to rummage in the bag to see what’s in there this week. Not that I believe the story, at all. ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2011, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pensioner-posts-letters-in-dog-poo-disposal-box-for-2-years/595470/15 "2011-09-10T00:01:35Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I doubt it. The bins are usually lined with a tough black sack - the operative working the dog shit collection round isn’t going to rummage in the bag to see what’s in there this week. You mean they haven’t gotten the tips I’ve been leaving at Christmas??? ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2011, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pensioner-posts-letters-in-dog-poo-disposal-box-for-2-years/595470/16 "2011-09-10T00:02:07Z")
> [@Mtgman](#): > > If a pensioner is so out of it that they can’t tell the difference between a dog poo bin and a post box, their electric company is surely not so far out of it that they can’t tell the difference between a paid account and an unpaid account. > > Enjoy, > Steven Not that I believe the story for a minute, but very few people here pay bills by post any more. The usual way for someone who doesn’t want to pay directly through a bank is to go to a shop, with a card issued by the utility company, and pay the desired amount there.