# 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:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postman-filmed-throwing-packages-into-a-ravine/692484/21 "2014-07-07T16:02:52Z")
> [@tarragon918](#): > > 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. The convening in a parking lot may have just been a lunch break. As for transferring packages, a lot of times if someone is running behind on their route, the office will authorize them to transfer half an hour or an hour (routes are pieced together by time it takes to deliver them) to another carrier. That is almost certainly what you saw – a carrier taking some packages from another one because the first one was behind deadline. Source: Husband is a mail carrier. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postman-filmed-throwing-packages-into-a-ravine/692484/22 "2014-07-07T16:05:44Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Better than going postal in the traditional sense, I guess. Yeah, that really drives the postal rates up. High cost of ammo, you know. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postman-filmed-throwing-packages-into-a-ravine/692484/23 "2014-07-07T17:57:52Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > 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. If that’s true, Wow. In what world do we live in where Postal Service guys are subject to more scrutiny and more sever consequences than your average cop? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postman-filmed-throwing-packages-into-a-ravine/692484/24 "2014-07-07T18:02:36Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#): > > If that’s true, Wow. In what world do we live in where Postal Service guys are subject to more scrutiny and more sever consequences than your average cop? Your average cop is a city or county employee. Postal workers are federal employees (or near enough). ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postman-filmed-throwing-packages-into-a-ravine/692484/25 "2014-07-07T18:16:43Z")
> [@OneCentStamp](#): > > 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: Seriously. Some asshole threw some mail in a ditch, and these people are seriously giving us the [Thanks, Obama!](http://knowyourmeme.com/photos/489946-thanks-obama) routine. Good god. ---
**Author:** ![syncrolecyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@syncrolecyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/syncrolecyne)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postman-filmed-throwing-packages-into-a-ravine/692484/26 "2014-07-07T21:14:26Z")
At least he was only dumping packages… [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/dTc_ax5f4Q4/hqdefault.jpg "Mailman Poops On Yard (BUZZFEED.com)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTc_ax5f4Q4) ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postman-filmed-throwing-packages-into-a-ravine/692484/27 "2014-07-07T22:14:48Z")
> [@Hi\_Medlo](#): > > 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. I was a summer substitute carrier a long time ago, and I know the postal inspectors watched me - I got a report on what I was doing. Which was not throwing away mail. Back then anyhow I knew that this stuff was treated very seriously, though even back then you read about one or two people who just stashed all the mail someplace without delivering it. It wouldn’t surprise me that with the current budget problems they had to cut back on inspectors, another great example of how Congress makes things worse by supposedly saving money. The guy who trained me spent the first part of the morning eating breakfast and the last part of the afternoon in a bar, but he sure as hell delivered all his mail in between. ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2014, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postman-filmed-throwing-packages-into-a-ravine/692484/28 "2014-10-05T02:13:34Z")
[At least this guy knows who to blame.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdES7hAjAxc) ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2014, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postman-filmed-throwing-packages-into-a-ravine/692484/29 "2014-10-06T20:14:27Z")
> [@No\_Me\_Ayudes\_Compadre](#): > > It certainly wasn’t the first time. The postman always flings twice. Wonderful! > [@Kinthalis](#): > > If that’s true, Wow. In what world do we live in where Postal Service guys are subject to more scrutiny and more sever consequences than your average cop? Tampering with the mail is a federal offense, even if you are a postal worker. Not only did he not deliver it, but he potentially destroyed it. I’ve seen other videos of postal workers dumping mail into dumpsters and other places. So I wouldn’t be surprised if most lost mail and packages disappeared this way and weren’t genuinely misdelivered or damaged by the machines or ended up in the dead letter office. ETA: I thought this seemed familiar, just noticed it was a few months old. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2014, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postman-filmed-throwing-packages-into-a-ravine/692484/30 "2014-10-07T09:51:38Z")
> [@tarragon918](#): > > 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). FWIW, I worked in a post office one Christmas, and the undeliverable-mail sack was full of food items that had lost their mailing labels. It all went to the undeliverable-mail office: none of it stayed with us. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2014, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postman-filmed-throwing-packages-into-a-ravine/692484/31 "2014-10-07T16:28:50Z")
I’m not surprised. My uncle works for the Post Office, and he says that, on his first day, one of the older employees was assigned to show him the ropes. This employee told him, “Here’s your first and most important lesson- see this?” He pointed to a package marked FRAGILE. My uncle said, “Yeah?” The employee picked up the package, held it over his head, and slammed it as hard as he could on the ground. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2014, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postman-filmed-throwing-packages-into-a-ravine/692484/32 "2014-10-09T13:54:20Z")
> [@Hi\_Medlo](#): > > 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. I’ve heard that too, from my former postal employee stepfather. One of his colleagues was also once taken to court for throwing packages away, caught on film; no idea what sentence he got. All his former colleagues hated him because he caused them a ton of extra work in superfluous checks for two years afterwards and it would not have been nice to have been him. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postman-filmed-throwing-packages-into-a-ravine/692484.md?page=1)