# Postman filmed throwing packages into a ravine. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 6, 2014, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postman-filmed-throwing-packages-into-a-ravine/692484 "2014-07-06T17:44:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2014, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postman-filmed-throwing-packages-into-a-ravine/692484/1 "2014-07-06T17:44:52Z")
I feel the pain of the owners of these packages. I lost valuable mail last Dec and Jan. At least $250 in packages from Ebay and Amazon. I filed claims for most of it. It was a mess. I lost some mail too. Including a tax document that I had to get replaced. The nightmare finally stopped when I went to my post office and talked with the manager. I wonder how many other times this dick wad pulled this stunt? It was pure luck that someone filmed it this time. > **[Video of Birmingham postal worker throwing packages into a ravine leads to...](https://www.al.com/news/birmingham/2014/07/video_of_birmingham_postal_wor.html)** > > That video, filmed surreptitiously, lead to the resignation of postal worker on Thursday, according to Office of the Inspector General Special Agent Kenneth D. Smith. > [@](#): > > BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – There’s a video making its way around Birmingham social media that appears to show a shocking thing: a postal worker standing outside his delivery van launching packages into a kudzu-covered Southside ravine. > > That video led to the resignation of the postal worker on Thursday, according to Office of the Inspector General Special Agent Kenneth D. Smith. ---
**Author:** ![RobDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2014, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postman-filmed-throwing-packages-into-a-ravine/692484/2 "2014-07-06T17:47:49Z")
Be eternally grateful that it wasn’t a quarry. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2014, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postman-filmed-throwing-packages-into-a-ravine/692484/3 "2014-07-06T17:59:57Z")
They should be able to recover those packages. Its anybody’s guess if he dumped more in other places. I have wondered how much more difficult the job is these days for postmen and the other delivery people. I get so many more packages these days from Ebay and Amazon. I imagine thats true at most homes. I rarely shop the local stores anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2014, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postman-filmed-throwing-packages-into-a-ravine/692484/4 "2014-07-06T18:04:57Z")
Newman! ---
**Author:** ![Inna\_Minnit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Inna\_Minnit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inna_Minnit)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2014, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postman-filmed-throwing-packages-into-a-ravine/692484/5 "2014-07-06T18:50:03Z")
They should have made him go down and get them. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2014, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postman-filmed-throwing-packages-into-a-ravine/692484/6 "2014-07-06T18:50:06Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Newman! Don’t be such a Clavin. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2014, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postman-filmed-throwing-packages-into-a-ravine/692484/7 "2014-07-06T18:58:40Z")
Good lord, why did I read the comments section? :smack: I read more veiled synonyms for African-American in the first 20 comments than I thought existed. :dubious: Why can’t a lazy asshole just be a lazy asshole? ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2014, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postman-filmed-throwing-packages-into-a-ravine/692484/8 "2014-07-06T20:50:42Z")
> [@OneCentStamp](#): > > Good lord, why did I read the comments section? :smack: “There goes your fur coat, honey” was pretty funny. ---
**Author:** ![No\_Me\_Ayudes\_Compadre](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/no_me_ayudes_compadre/32/5224_2.png) [@No\_Me\_Ayudes\_Compadre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/No_Me_Ayudes_Compadre)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postman-filmed-throwing-packages-into-a-ravine/692484/9 "2014-07-07T05:19:32Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I wonder how many other times this dick wad pulled this stunt? It certainly wasn’t the first time. The postman always flings twice. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postman-filmed-throwing-packages-into-a-ravine/692484/10 "2014-07-07T05:26:14Z")
I can tell you from personal experience that this guy wont simply be fired or be allowed to just resign. The postal service has its own police force and stringent guidelines for protecting the mail. He will be facing time in federal prison. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postman-filmed-throwing-packages-into-a-ravine/692484/11 "2014-07-07T06:06:09Z")
> [@No\_Me\_Ayudes\_Compadre](#): > > It certainly wasn’t the first time. The postman always flings twice. Well played. ---
**Author:** ![Pitchmeister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pitchmeister/32/3459_2.png) [@Pitchmeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pitchmeister)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postman-filmed-throwing-packages-into-a-ravine/692484/12 "2014-07-07T07:45:40Z")
Here’s something I don’t get: if only a fraction of the customers affected reported lost mail, wouldn’t his superiors eventually wise up and say: “This guy has a 5000% higher than normal amount of mail reported missing - maybe something’s up!” If this isn’t his first transgression, there must have been a paper trail. And who could possibly be so dumb as to think to get away with it? ---
**Author:** ![tarragon918](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d26b3c/32.png) [@tarragon918](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tarragon918)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postman-filmed-throwing-packages-into-a-ravine/692484/13 "2014-07-07T08:08:47Z")
This probably happens more frequently than we hear about. I’ve never been a postal worker, but it honestly is a very stressful job in all aspects. The persons who sort the mail, for example, have quotas that must be met in certain time periods, not to mention all the perils that the delivery persons face along their routes. That being said, though, there were several times that I witnessed mail carriers in trucks convening in a parking lot for long periods of time. Once, I observed them transferring mail packages between their trucks. I don’t know what they were doing, but it seemed kind of shady to me. I do know that I had several packages around holiday times that were “lost” in the mail; I suspect that someone in my local post office took them home (food was in the packages). I don’t envy that delivery person if they end up spending time in federal prison, although if they were tossing people’s packages down the ravine they may well be deserving of what they get. Heh. That sounds bad, working for the USPS is a very stressful job, I’ll say that again, however a person should not be allowed to get away with stuff like that. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postman-filmed-throwing-packages-into-a-ravine/692484/14 "2014-07-07T09:30:35Z")
> [@tarragon918](#): > > … there were several times that I witnessed mail carriers in trucks convening in a parking lot for long periods of time. Once, I observed them transferring mail packages between their trucks. I don’t know what they were doing, but it seemed kind of shady to me… I would assume one driver was helping another with a large amount to be delivered, or bringing more mail to the carrier. My brother was a UPS driver and when he had too many packages to deliver, they would dispatch another driver to take some of them. ---
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postman-filmed-throwing-packages-into-a-ravine/692484/15 "2014-07-07T10:29:06Z")
> [@Inna\_Minnit](#): > > They should have made him go down and get them. Officer Obie is all over it! ---
**Author:** ![Hi\_Medlo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a183cd/32.png) [@Hi\_Medlo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hi_Medlo)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postman-filmed-throwing-packages-into-a-ravine/692484/16 "2014-07-07T13:00:45Z")
Retired letter carrier here… It doesn’t seem that the person in question is wearing a postal uniform, which would mean that he’s a casual or temporary employee of some sort. Using causals was really expanding when I retired eight years ago, and in my experience they tended to be less reliable than regular career employees. They felt no connection to the customers they were serving, and since they could be fired at any time for any reason the pressure to ‘be back on time’ despite being overloaded was much stronger. Sometimes you get what you pay for. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postman-filmed-throwing-packages-into-a-ravine/692484/17 "2014-07-07T13:54:21Z")
> [@Inna\_Minnit](#): > > They should have made him go down and get them. They could set up a ZIP line… ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postman-filmed-throwing-packages-into-a-ravine/692484/18 "2014-07-07T14:48:37Z")
“I had a paper route when I was a kid. I was a paperboy. I was supposed to go to 2,000 houses… or two dumpsters!” - Mitch Hedberg ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postman-filmed-throwing-packages-into-a-ravine/692484/19 "2014-07-07T14:49:54Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Newman! The mail never stops my friend! ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postman-filmed-throwing-packages-into-a-ravine/692484/20 "2014-07-07T15:29:23Z")
Better than going postal in the traditional sense, I guess. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postman-filmed-throwing-packages-into-a-ravine/692484.md?page=2)