Mail Carrier Says She Was Fired For Delivering Harry Potter Book Early

yahoo ^ | Fri Jun 20,11:39 PM ET | KMBC

[Brown Deer]

A mail carrier said she was fired for accidentally handing out the latest Harry Potter book one day too soon.

Kenia Cooper said she was just doing her job when she picked up the daily mail from the Westport post office where she worked, sorted her deliveries and left. But inside the stash was a single copy of the new Harry Potter book that had slipped past whoever divided up the mail.

The book was marked with a notice that said not to deliver it until June 21, but Cooper apparently didn't see it.

The woman who ordered the book, Connie Fifer, thought the early delivery was a mistake, but she opened it anyway. One of Fifer's coworkers read two chapters, but a few hours later, the fun was over. Fifer got a call that the post office wanted the book back.

"They said they delivered it early and made a mistake, and would I mind bringing the book with me to the front desk," Fifer explained.

The mail carrier eventually got the book back, but not without repercussions. Cooper was told to go home and not to return, KMBC's Emily Aylward reported.

Cooper said she missed hearing about the hype, which is why she never noticed the book among her deliveries.

"I'm paid to do a job; I did a job," she said. "It's a book -- it's fiction -- and this is my real life. This is not fiction. Me having to fight for my job is not fiction."

The post office claimed Cooper was only suspended, and that something like this likely wouldn't warrant firing. Union leaders were out of town and unavailable for comment.

Aylward reported that Cooper's husband was recently laid off from Sprint.

[Brown Deer]

maybe they will send her to Azkaban...

[Laura Earl]

She's lucky. Had she done that with Living History, she would have turned up dead!

[sarasota]

That is just ridiculous. Don't we have more important things to fire people over?

[SouthernFreebird]

How retarded.

[r9etb]

Hmmmm. I'd like to see a more balanced report of this before I draw any conclusions.

[rs79bm]

A guess Potter casted a spell on her.

[PatrioticAmerican]

That doesn't make any sense.

Does USPS actually hold mail for a specific delivery date?

[PBRSTREETGANG]

I thought the Potter book was delivered directly by owls?

[Mamzelle]

Absolutely crazy. The PO and its carriers are under no obligation to fall in absolutely with publisher hype--if the publishers want absolute compliance with delivery date, let them hire elves.

[Mamzelle]

re: directly by owls)))

Good one!! Let's send the supervisor a HOWLER.

[BluH2o]

Kenia Cooper said she was just doing her job when she picked up the daily mail from the Westport post office where she worked ...

Curious ... Westport, CT, Westport, NY? There are several Wesports dotted around the country.

[js1138]

Does USPS actually hold mail for a specific delivery date?

Interesting question. I think they do for advertisments in bulk mail. Fedex pretty much invented the Saturday deliver of books for the previous Potter book. The Fedex books did have this warning on them. I don't know of any bookseller that uses USPS.

[Brown Deer]

good one. I agree. Send a HOWLER!

[Wolfie]

I don't buy it. But then, I don't believe for a minute that any Harry Potter books were stolen either. Its just great marketing.

[Rebelbase]

She was doing the devil's work.

[Xenalyte]

Hap got hers Saturday - it has on every visible surface, in very bright large green letters, "DO NOT DELIVER BEFORE JUNE 21."

[Brown Deer]

I believe that this Westport is somewhere near Kansas City. There was a Kansas City link on the article.

[DB]

Since when is the post office obligated to not deliver mail it receives for delivery BEFORE a given date???

[krb]

Kenia Cooper said she was just doing her job...

Oh yes, the ol' "I was just being a good Nazi" excuse. Spare me, lady.

:-)

[SoDak]

Perhaps they've been building a file for quite a while and this was the straw that broke the back. I wish my mail lady had done this. She has anger problems.