(edit title) Ultimate post office idiocy Talk about anal retentive about "rules" ... Options

[byke]

When I was younger I lost my British passport in Sweden ... applied for a new one.
When I went to collect it from the post office, I was asked for ID?

I explained I didn't have any since my passport was lost and this was the replacement.
Although I would gladly let them open the letter for me, and see from the passport they would then have in their hand it was me.

/Didn't work.

So I asked them to post it through the door it was addresses to ...

/Didn't work.

In the end I had to phone up the British embassy and sort it from there.

/Did work

[David S]

I've collected a parcel where they have spelt my name slightly wrong, so my ID was never going to match. There was no drama. They applied common sense, which this other pe ... (show full quote)

I've collected a parcel where they have spelt my name slightly wrong, so my ID was never going to match. There was no drama. They applied common sense, which this other person clearly didn't have in abundance. ... (hide full quote)

Come to think of it, I've picked up mail addressed to "Stedson".

Just to be clear though, I didn't start this post by bashing Posten (or Sweden! good grief, someone is a bit touchy), merely the actions of this particular person who (presumably) is following some rule to the very letter.

[Migga]

So what did you hope to achive with the post? Raise awareness?

It sounds like a Posten employee who followed their rules and did nothing wrong. To call that person out for doing his/her job seems bitter. Sure I bet it`s a hassle but for starters the company could have used the right adress and mark it correctly.

[markusd]

I just had a parcel costing almost $100 in postage nearly returned back to the U.S. because the delivery guy said that I had refused it when, in reality, he never even came to my house. I tracked it before it left the country and finally got posten to actually deliver it.

We also had something sent from Greece last year (for 90 EUR shipping cost) that was returned to the seller without explanation. He had to re-send it for another 90 euro.

Then we get some of our neighbor’s mail at least once a month. It really seems like the postal service here has too many people who just don't give a crap about doing a good job.

[David S]

So what did you hope to achive with the post? Raise awareness?

Have a discussion with some mates about an absurd situation?

It sounds like a Posten employee who followed their rules and did nothing wrong. To call that person out for doing his/her job seems bitter. Sure I bet it`s a hassle but for starters the company could have used the right adress and mark it correctly.

Sorry, but that's not their job. There job is to serve their customers, which in this case is the package sender, who want to get this package delivered to me. The sender was less specific then they could have been, but was not incorrect, and if by some chance they'd given it to some other Steadson (there aren't any in Sweden, apart from my sons) who had miraculously managed to acquire the notification slip, then their customer, the sender, is the only ones who would have suffered.

Should they have included initials too? Would D.Steadson have sufficed? D.J. Steadson? David John Steadson?

Seriously, it's absurd.

[teslar]

It sounds like a Posten employee who followed their rules and did nothing wrong.

Actually, I do think that people who seem to operate on the "you don't need common sense when you've got rules" principle are doing something wrong. If a package is addressed to a surname only and a person with said surname (or their proxy), with the slip pertaining to the package, turns up - then I don't see why one should hold it back. Come to think of it, I wonder if there even is a rule to follow that leads to this action.

Something that usually works in these situations is to just wait until the clerk in question goes onto a fika break and then try again with a colleague.

[William Sachsen-Coburg-Go...]

This may be the rule but it certainly isn't applied everywhere. We get parcels all the time from family back home addressed in all sorts of weird ways. It's never been a problem. Last one was easter eggs addressed to 'His Royal Highness Arthur, Rightful Heir To The Throne Of Winchester And The Shire Known As Hamp'. Arthur is the dog.

[skogsbo]

particular person who (presumably) is following some rule to the very letter.

Good pun there, over looked by most folk I think.

the delivery guy said that I had refused it when, in reality, he never even came to my house.

Perhaps we are lucky, I can't fault them. I'll get a parcel today via posten/dpd. I can tell by the tracking where it is now, it's about 3 times the size of the post box, but they'll still almost certainly bring it and the sender hasn't paid for some special door to door delivery fee either.

[Essingen]

Another aspect of this topic that is unsatisfactory is that they are only keep a parcel for 14 days after they deliver the note through the door before returning it to the sender. For most parts of the year that is fine, but I think that it is unreasonable during the summer when you could easily be on holiday for two weeks.

[Mpf]

You never know this parcel might have been given to one of the only 3 people called Steadson in the whole of the country! LOL

http://www.scb.se/Pages/NameSearch.aspx?id=297753

[Puffin]

Another aspect of this topic that is unsatisfactory is that they are only keep a parcel for 14 days after they deliver the note through the door before returning it to the sen ... (show full quote)

Another aspect of this topic that is unsatisfactory is that they are only keep a parcel for 14 days after they deliver the note through the door before returning it to the sender. For most parts of the year that is fine, but I think that it is unreasonable during the summer when you could easily be on holiday for two weeks. ... (hide full quote)

If you ask them to retain all of your mail while you on on holiday (postlagring) then this does not happen and postman Pat comes with a big sack on the day of/or day after your return!!

[Puffin]

One of the problems is that there has been a lot of mail fraud where people pick up other peoples mail

There was a case in my local ICA where someone had the laptop computer that they had paid for stolen as someone with an ID in the name of Karlsson picked it up even though it was the wrong Karlsson

If someone else picked up your mail by showing an ID in the same name you would probably complain about that as well - not sure they can make exceptions just for people with unusual names

[teslar]

There was a case in my local ICA where someone had the laptop computer that they had paid for stolen as someone with an ID in the name of Karlsson picked it up even though it was the wrong Karlsson

But that's why they scan the ID, right? So when the real Karlsson turns up, they know who the wrong Karlsson was. Unless the wrong Karlsson used a fake ID in which case there's no point to the story (if you're gonna use a fake ID to steal someone else's property, you might as well make the fake ID to be exactly that person, not someone with a similar name).

Additionally - can't they see the address that the PN on the ID is associated with? Then they could easily just hand out the package if the address of the ID holder is the same as the address on the package.

That'd prevent them from handing the package out even to someone with exactly the same name (such a system must exist given the abundance of Maria Svenssons in this country). It might also explain the OPs problem since in his case, there would have been a mismatch.

[Darwinder]

I feel for you David, I mean there is rules and then there is flippin common sense, something that a few people lack in every country around the world.

I have always loved the postal service here, as I normally am buying a few bits and bobs off ebay every week I have gotten to know all the fine ladies down at my local ICA well. But just recently I bought a book from the States and for some reason it got sent to my local COOP instead of the ICA, well I went down to pick it up like normal and they refused to give it to me because my ID was a Canadian drivers license. I completely lost the plot as I have been using that ID to pick up multiple packages a week for months since I sent my passport into Migrationsverket with my citizenship application and there has never been a problem. The girl told me straight to my face that they dont accept foreign drivers licenses. I just lost it man, I tried to explain about my passport, I showed 3 banking cards, my COOP card, like 5 different things and then I remembered my permanant residence card which has my picture, my personnummer, all my info on it but it was at home. So I gave in, ran home, got the card, came back and you know what she said...this doesnt count as ID. Now, guys, I am a mild tempered guy, but I started yelling like you have never seen..."Not fucking ID, it has my picture, my perssonummer, and its issued by the highest authority of the Swedish government, and its not fucking ID". She told me just couldnt accept anything I was showing her, so I told her to F-off, that I would come back later when she wasnt working and try again. Came back the next day, she wasnt there, and a nice young lady took my drivers license, wrote something with my perssonnummer in the computer and gave me my package, seriously in under 3 minutes. Goes to show man, something I have learned in Sweden is that they have a lot of strange rules perhaps, but there are always good people with common sense that are willing to help you out.

My suggestion would have been to try again after the girl in question isnt working anymore.

[occassional]

[quote name='byke' date='25.Apr.2012, 08:35 PM' post='734073']
When I was younger I lost my British passport in Sweden ... applied for a new one.
When I went to collect it from the post office, I was asked for ID?

I explained I didn't have any since my passport was lost and this was the replacement.
Although I would gladly let them open the letter for me, and see from the passport they would then have in their hand it was me.

/Didn't work.

But that is exactly what they do when one collects one's driving licence. They open it and check that you match the face on it. Some of these people are as thick as shit.