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.

[Flyer]

I thought the Potter book was delivered directly by owls?

I'm catching on to the Owl Post thing.

[Mannaggia l'America]

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

I agree. I have some friends who are carriers with USPS and they say it is nearly impossible to fire anyone for incompetence.

[wideawake]

There is no way a USPS worker can be fired for something like this. The most that could happen is a suspension pending a review by a union rep.

Methinks Kenia isn't telling us the whole story.

[Larry Lucido]

NEWMAN: That was the Vice President of the post office. I didn't get the transfer.. They knew it wasn't me doing my route!

JERRY: How did they know?!

NEWMAN: (Stands up) Too many people go their mail! Close to 80%. No body from the post office has ever cracked the 50% barrier! It's like the 3-minute mile!

JERRY: (Pleading) I tried my best!

NEWMAN: Exactly. You're a disgrace to the uniform.

[Brown Deer]

I disagree. It is very easy to fire someone at the PO.

I was there 30 years ago. If someone at the PO wants to get rid of you, then it can happen. I was given 3 months to learn a zip code scheme with 95% accuracy and finished in only 3 weeks. Because I finished early, I lost the remaining time and had to learn the same scheme with 98% accuracy on the letter sorting machine. In the mean time, one of my fingers was smashed, but I could still work. With nine fingers, the best you can key is 90% accuracy. The doctor that they sent me to agreed, but told me that was not what they paid him to say. I was fired the same week that they gave me a cash award for outstanding service.

Unions only help the ones that follow their rules. I was not liked by the unions because I worked harder than others. When I delivered mail, I was done 2-3 hours early, but when others delivered the same route, they required 2-3 hours overtime. Does anyone ever wonder why the cost of postage is so high? It is because of the unions.

[TC Rider]

No way is she fired.

My wife is in administration. The only way to get fired is violence in the workplace or downloading porn.

[Reverend Bob]

Amazon shipped nearly all their pre-orders via USPS Priority/Delivery Confirmation. While the post office dosn't always hold firm to the delivery dates set by the mailer, they will often make an extra effort for a big mailer that asks for it. In the case of Harry Potter, the books were at the local post offices days in advance.

This case has something wrong with it though. A carrier (at least a full time one) can't be sent off the clock, on suspension or otherwise, without advance written notification, unless it's an emergency situation (ie -- a physical assault, intoxication, etc). There's either more to this story or we'll dealing with an idiot postmaster who will soon be paying out backpay.

[dd5339]

That would be the Westport in Kansas City, Missouri.

Semper Fi

[tm22721]

Can't let the witches out too early.

BUMP

[saquin]

The publisher has been completely paranoid about enforcing the June 21st date for this book. I work in a library and we got a call Friday from the publisher because they saw that the book was already catalogued in our computers and wanted assurances we weren't making it available to the public yet. A library in Patterson, NJ was sued by the publisher for making the book available before June 21st. I don't know how they have the time to check the online catalogs of every library in the country, but that's what they seemed to be doing.

[newgeezer]

NEWMAN: (Stands up) Too many people go their mail! Close to 80%. No body from the post office has ever cracked the 50% barrier! It's like the 3-minute mile!

Too many people what their mail?

Hoping to find the answer myself, I searched and found the script all over the Web. Whoever transcribed it is downright lousy with the English language.

[TSgt]

Interesting story...

I have a couple people in my Air Guard Unit who work or have worked for the USPS and they have similar stories. Especially about not getting done early. If you get done early you get punished by having to do someone else's work.

The USPS is a model of an un-efficient, political, over-unionized system.

Did I mention that it is a broken system?

[Chancellor Palpatine]

Its my favorite book of the series so far. My only comlaint is that I was cheap, bought one copy, and have to share it with my oldest daughter.

[kevkrom]

I don't know of any bookseller that uses USPS.

My copy arrived at 8:45 Saturday morning from Amazon, via USPS. The package was clearly labelled to not be delivered prior to June 21.

[SarahW]

Ridiculous. And if I were the one who had received MY OWN book in the mail, I would not have returned it to the post office.

[SarahW]

Ridiculous. And if I were the one who had received MY OWN book in the mail, I would not have returned it to the post office.

[zx2dragon]

I received mine on Saturday. It had in rather small print the do not deliver before line. I did not notice it when I first received the package.

The PO accidently sent out the Grand Opening Wal-Mart flyers a week early, talk about a mess. I had to help out by standing outside in 10 degree weather to tell ticked off locals that it wouldn't be open for another week. That store never had a "soft" opening, you couldn't see the tile on the floors for the first two weeks.

[petitfour]

We bought two copies for our household last week. We ordered via Amazon and got free shipping. We expected the books would arrive around Wednesday. To our surprise, the package was on our doorstep Saturday as if we had asked for one day delivery.

What I want to know is how they knew who got the book early and which postal worker had a missing package. Did they keep inventory down at the post office, including WHO the packages were going to? (That is scary. And makes my conspiracy-prone mind work overtime.)

[kevkrom]

While the post office dosn't always hold firm to the delivery dates set by the mailer, they will often make an extra effort for a big mailer that asks for it.

And, more importantly, pays for it. Even if there was no extra $$$ involved here, do you think the USPS wants to lose all that business to FedEx or UPS?

[Uncle Sausage]

Yes, for at least three days after it should have been delivered.