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Mailman fails to deliver, becomes local hero
L.A. Times ^ | 11/22/2008 | David Zucchino

Posted on 11/22/2008 7:42:43 PM PST by BuckeyeTexan

Overwhelmed by piles of junk mail, 'Mailman Steve' quit bringing it to the people on his North Carolina route. Customers are grateful. The Direct Marketing Assn., however, is not amused.

Sick of junk mail?

Pay homage, then, to overstressed, overworked mailman Steven Padgett, who has confessed to a cardinal sin among the letter carriers tribe: He failed to deliver.

"Mailman Steve" -- a pudgy, kindly 58-year-old who toiled along a route in a rapidly growing neighborhood here -- was given probation in federal court this week for squirreling away at least seven years' worth of undelivered junk mail, which he had stacked in his garage and buried in his yard.

According to his attorney, Padgett felt overwhelmed by the torrents of "direct advertising mail" he was obligated to deliver as he contended with heart problems and diabetes.

It should come as no surprise that the U.S. Postal Service did not receive a single complaint from Padgett's customers about missing mail during the years he withheld pizza circulars, oil change discount notices and Chinese menus.

...

(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events; US: North Carolina
KEYWORDS: communityservice; junkmail; mailman; usps
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To: babygene
“it’s called CAPITALISM!!!!!”

No it’s not, it’s called spam... The only reason it’s allowed is because the post office likes the money.

False. That completely misses the point of why spam is odious and why it can be legally prohibited. Junk mailers pay for the privilege, and support the postal service. Spammers use your resources -- the servers and storage space you and your ISP pay for -- while not supporting them at all. Junk e-mail is parasitic.

81 posted on 11/24/2008 9:44:47 AM PST by ReignOfError
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To: dcwusmc

Hey, after you take care of that rectal-cranial inversion thing:

1. Do a Google search to find out how to keep direct mail out of your mailbox.

2. Contact the organization(s) that take your name off the direct mail lists.

3. What I do is legal and ethical. I abide by all postal laws and laws regulating my industry. So quit whining like a liberal and STFU....


82 posted on 11/24/2008 8:03:54 PM PST by freebilly
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To: freebilly

Hey yourself. My mailbox is MY property, not yours. I do NOT invite you to put your garbage in MY mailbox and it should NOT BE UP TO ME to beg you to stop. It’s like you coming to my house and crapping on my porch. You are one loathsome piece of work. What you do may be legal but it’s hardly ethical. It’s as ethical as the above example of you and my front porch.


83 posted on 11/24/2008 9:10:35 PM PST by dcwusmc (We need to make government so small that it can be drowned in a bathtub.)
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To: The Shrew

“I wonder how many absentee ballots were in the stacks of discarded mail.”

He probably either voted them or sold them.


84 posted on 11/24/2008 9:13:33 PM PST by dalereed
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To: dcwusmc

Sue me.


85 posted on 11/25/2008 5:12:42 AM PST by freebilly
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To: dcwusmc

BTW, it must be the 25% of you that’s liberal ethically that making you respond irrationally....


86 posted on 11/25/2008 5:15:23 AM PST by freebilly
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To: freebilly

Agree absolutely. Do the job you’re paid to do or quit. Can’t wait till these guys take control of health care. They can decide who gets cancer surgery and who’s undeserving.


87 posted on 11/25/2008 5:15:42 AM PST by Lonesome in Massachussets (The Democratic Party strongly supports full civil rights for necro-Americans.)
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To: BuckeyeTexan
t should come as no surprise that the U.S. Postal Service did not receive a single complaint from Padgett's customers about missing mail during the years he withheld pizza circulars, oil change discount notices and Chinese menus.

Isn't the person paying for the postage the "customer." Seems those "customers" were not to happy about this persons willful refusal to do his job.

88 posted on 11/25/2008 5:21:06 AM PST by CharacterCounts (1984 was supposed to be a work of fiction, not a how-to manual.)
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To: antiunion person
By all the comments I've read so far on this story, they neglect to mention NO ONE on this mailman's route complained to the Post Office about missing ‘important’ mail.

I worked for a gas marketer in Ohio and was in charge of mailing about one million annual renewal contracts for our deregulated gas customers. Since the renewal contracts were not bills, they were not required to be pre-sort first class, but could be standard pre-sort. The enclosures stated what the next contract price was and included instructions on requesting a change or canceling.

You might want to reassess what is junk. Sounds like this fellow was doing the thinking for his 'customers'.

89 posted on 11/25/2008 5:23:51 AM PST by GreenAccord (Bacon Akbar!)
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To: antiunion person
Good job mailman Steve.

When "conservatives" start celebrating government slackers refusing to do the job they were paid to do, we are in for trouble. This guy had a choice if he did not want to deliver "junk mail", get another job.

90 posted on 11/25/2008 5:25:46 AM PST by CharacterCounts (1984 was supposed to be a work of fiction, not a how-to manual.)
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To: fella
To heck with their discount everybody should pay the same rate, there should be no special privilege from the government or else we are not all equal before the law

Junk mail arrives at the post office presorted for delivery, hence the cost of delivery to the post office is reduced and this is passed on to the mailer.

91 posted on 11/25/2008 5:30:04 AM PST by CharacterCounts (1984 was supposed to be a work of fiction, not a how-to manual.)
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To: dcwusmc

OK, friend, I’m going to explain how Direct Mail works. The Post Office breaks each zip code into mail carrier routes. The carrier route is comprised of anywhere from 10-1000 addresses. The Post Office supplies carrier route info to companies that sell this info to people like me.

Let’s say I order 10,000 addresses from inside a given zip code. I order all of them sequentially in order to get the best rate. If you haven’t contacted the organization that takes you off the mailing list then you will get my mail.

You need to take responsibility for what shows up in your mailbox. There’s an old saying— Do not complain about what you permit....


92 posted on 11/25/2008 5:31:17 AM PST by freebilly
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To: dcwusmc
My mailbox is MY property, not yours.

Actually, I think you are incorrect. When you put a mailbox out, you agree the box must abide by Postal regulations, one of which is accepting the mail the post office delivers. If you don't want mail, don't put out a box.

93 posted on 11/25/2008 5:39:23 AM PST by CharacterCounts (1984 was supposed to be a work of fiction, not a how-to manual.)
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To: JRandomFreeper
All my bills and invoices are via email.

I'm with you. I go through my mail once a month and throw out 85-90%.

94 posted on 11/25/2008 5:43:17 AM PST by 6ppc (It's torch and pitchfork time)
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To: freebilly

I’m a little more direct than that with trespassers and people who want to crap on my property... as a retired Marine and Second Amendment champion. So you just bring your crap in person and we can settle things. For keeps. Spammer.


95 posted on 11/25/2008 8:36:44 AM PST by dcwusmc (We need to make government so small that it can be drowned in a bathtub.)
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To: freebilly

Save your keystrokes... and save your trash. Keep it OUT of MY mailbox. Or else bring it over personally so we can get the matter settled once and for all.

And, no, it’s YOU who needs to be held accountable for what you attempt to put in MY mailbox. Why would I have to expend MY time and effort and money to keep away from me what YOU should not be sending me in the first place? Your SPAM does not have any place on MY property and I do NOT want to have to sort it and have it take up space in my trashcan. KEEP IT YOURSELF. (BTW, I never, ever patronize establishments that do direct spam-mail marketing. Nor will I.)


96 posted on 11/25/2008 8:43:02 AM PST by dcwusmc (We need to make government so small that it can be drowned in a bathtub.)
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To: dcwusmc

You’re insane....


97 posted on 11/25/2008 9:36:14 AM PST by freebilly
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To: freebilly

And you are a low-life SPAMMER.


98 posted on 11/25/2008 9:44:58 AM PST by dcwusmc (We need to make government so small that it can be drowned in a bathtub.)
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To: dcwusmc
Keep it OUT of MY mailbox

OK. What's your address?

99 posted on 11/25/2008 9:45:20 AM PST by freebilly
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To: dcwusmc

Gee, no address...? Guess I can’t remove you from any Direct Mail lists....


100 posted on 11/25/2008 9:52:55 AM PST by freebilly
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