“Mailman Steve,” as he’s known to the children on his route, got 3 years probation yesterday for failing to deliver years worth of junk mail that was found stacked in his garage and buried in his backyard. He’ll also have to pay a $3,000 fine and serve 500 hours of community service.
Some consider “Mailman Steve” an anti-junk mail superhero — but it seems that Mr. Padgett was just overwhelmed.
It wasn’t a conscious stand against waste or a junk mail protest that spurred Padgett to hold onto the mailers, according to Andrew McCoppin, his attorney. Rather, it was the inability to meet the demands of a job in a growing part of the county while contending with heart problems and complications from his diabetes, McCoppin wrote in a memo in advance of the hearing.
Not sorting and delivering the third-class mailings became a way to save time and make sure other mail got delivered on time.
Padgett could have received jail time for his actions, which were discovered when utility workers spotted the undelivered mail at his home. The U.S. Postal Service did not receive a single complaint about the missing junk mail, some of which dates back to 1999.
“I don’t think he was being malicious,” Shelley Cole, a resident of Apex’s Jamison Park subdivision, told the News & Observer. “We got all the mail that we needed to get.”
‘Mailman Steve’ gets probation [News & Observer]
Judgment day arrives for ‘Mailman Steve’ [News & Observer]
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He can come work my route. I’ll even tip him
@exo: I think I’d go so far as to call him an American hero. It would have been nice if he had recycled it though…
@nataku83:
Then he would have been busted in ’99 when the recycling center would have wanted to know where he was getting all this mail. :/
@Lucky225: I know, I said it would have been nice, not it would have been a good idea. Also, since Houston refuses to actually pickup recycling, we have private recycling facilities, mostly outside grocery stores, where you can dump your recycling. I’m guessing that Raleigh is a bit more progressive than Houston, though. I think we’re the worst city in the country for recycling…sigh
@nataku83: They just started pickup again two weeks ago. Probably not all areas yet.
@jabryel: They never picked up in my area even before the storm. I requested a bin when I moved into my house in April, they delivered it within about a week and I put it out every week for two months and no one ever emptied it, so I gave up. Something about no one else in my neighborhood recycling so they weren’t going to bother to send a truck. I don’t really see how you can expect people to start recycling when no one comes to pick it up though…
@nataku83: *singing* “Real American Heroes…”
Anyone remember those commercials?
@domesticdork: Yep, but after 9/11 they flipped to Real Men of Genius.
@exo: Federal employees can’t accept tips. They CAN accept gifts.
@Con Seannery: I’ll give him a gift in the form of a cash tip.
@exo:
Tip him?
Hell’s Bells, I will put him on the payroll.
@exo: Yeah, I would say his hours of community service have already been completed as part of his “crime spree”. Unless he had too many false-positives.
He has to do community service?
Wasn’t burying the junk mail a community service in it’s self?
hate junk mail so much, any time I get any I just put it in the outgoing mail part. (We have “Super Boxes” here with a ton of compartments for each person, then one mail slot at the top for out going)
@WEGGLES90: My thoughts exactly. I’d say he can transfer to Michigan any time, but I don’t know how long the poor guy would last in our climate.
@WEGGLES90: You could argue that, but technically it is still mail theft, which is what he was charged with.
@WEGGLES90:
this is exactly one reason some carriers don’t bother delivering this g.d. spam. I do a mail route, and whenever I deliver to this apartment complex that PAYS the timewarner cable bill for their residents, all the residents throw it in the outgoing mail. This annoys me because there is a SECOND mail carrier, who in turn hands all of that damn spam right back to me to redeliver as there is no return-to-sender endorsement, and even if the spam doesn’t have YOUR name on it, it does say ‘OR CURRENT RESIDENT’, which means you. PEOPLE PLEASE, THROW THE SPAM AWAY, DO NOT PUT IT IN OUTGOING, IT ANNOYS THE PISS OUT OF US.
@Lucky225:
Calm down, mate. Either quit your job or adjust your actions. My job has its blow-ee parts but so what.
@Hamtronix:
I have no problem with it, just don’t be pissed at me when the spam keeps getting re-delivered as you keep putting it in the outgoing. I hate spam just as much as the next person, but the outgoing box is not a trash can, and since the spam is still addressed to you, it’s gonna keep coming back. Just as you’re annoyed by receiving it, we’re annoyed by having to deliver it, but apparently if we don’t, someone’s gonna b1tch and try to put us in federal prison.
…I hate spam just as much as the next person, but the outgoing box is not a trash can…
@Lucky225: I wish my mailbox wasn’t a trashcan.
@Rectilinear Propagation:
Touche, I highly sympathize with you on that one.
@Lucky225: I’m with you on that. It’s not the USPS’s fault for getting this junk mail and sticking it back in the slot won’t automatically get it back to the person who sent it to you. You’re killing the messenger by doing this.
@Lucky225:
I’m not too concerned about annoying the piss out of my mail lady.
I’ve told her time and time again “Don’t crease my magazines, could you please roll them” and every month it arrives with a big crease in it. It seems like quite a deliberate act, as I don’t see how it could possibly be easier to crease the magazine then put it in instead of rolling it as you out it in.
@WEGGLES90:
LOL, I wouldn’t be concerned either then, I always roll the magazines, sheesh.
@WEGGLES90:
Technically, he can put in jail 2 years for each one of those mail crates or fined like 20k per. Lucky225, do you know off the top of your head?
Anyway, this guy got lucky. He could have gone to Federal PMITA prison.
@Suttin:
I don’t know off the top of my head, I’m a private independent contractor for a rural area, I’m not a federal employee. But yea, those crates are property of the USPS as well.
@WEGGLES90: Off-topic, but I appreciate your avatar. Rather fitting for such a site.
What a shame. Maybe some environmental group or something will be able to help pay his fine. 95% of all the mail I get goes right in the trash.
@mbz32190: You could at least recycle it.
Anything with my name on it gets shredded and recycled. Once I move back into a house I’ll be using it for compost.
@zigziggityzoo: use it to start a wood stove!
@zigziggityzoo: sort of hard to recycle something that you could get busted for…..
@zigziggityzoo:
Some of the stuff you get CAN’T be recycled. Paper that has too high a gloss/waxy print can’t be recycled. AFAIK credit cards can’t be recycled. The plastic bits that function as a “window” on some envelopes may or may not be recyclable.
The community agrees with you exo. The folks on his route loved him and many were willing to go to court in his defense.
The united states post office is having money problems right now. They should offer a service, $5 a month to filter your mail, and recycle the spam. I’d pay.
@Bladefist: I find myself in the odd position of agreeing with you. Obama really did cause change!
sorry, couldn’t help myself.
@Bladefist: They get more money from spammers.
A paying customer is a paying customer. If it weren’t for spam the USPS would shut down.
@zigziggityzoo: Yea, I thought of that. I bet there is an easy solution where everyone wins
@Bladefist: …find some other mass mailers to have on contract? Become a bank (don’t a couple of countries do this already)?
@zigziggityzoo: “If it weren’t for spam the USPS would shut down.”
Bullshit. Through and through.
@Bladefist: My mailman told me that all I need to do is write a note telling him to toss all 3rd class mailings and he’ll do it when he sorts it. Stupidly, I haven’t written that note yet.
@homerjay- Smiling politely: Is that legal or is he doing that under the table as a favor?
@Bladefist: I have no idea and I don’t really care.
@Bladefist: There are ways to stop junk mail (more or less), just FYI.
[www.reddotcampaign.ca]
[www.obviously.com]
MAILMAN STEVE YOU ARE MY HERO. A perfect combo a lazy federal employee that acomplishes a good thing. Now if we can just find a dot employee who will just give you your licence and forget the red tape and next line.
@frodo_35:
Exactly. How about those Tax Attorneys start going to sleep instead of auditing middle America?
@frodo_35: If he’s truly working his route (getting all of the non-junk mail delivered) while dealing with both a heart condition and diabetes, I don’t think I’d call him lazy.
one man’s junk is another man’s backyard
Did he compost it?
If so, he deserves a medal.
My junkmail goes straight into my outdoor wood furnace for incineration. Not the most environmentally friendly approach but I refuse to have people mail me garbage to manage and haul to the transfer station.
I wonder if they’re going to try to deliver the backlog of junk or just trash it. But if they were to trash any of it, would they become guilty of the same crime?
@nytmare: Good question. Can you imagine the day when 9 years of old junk mail gets piled up at your front door?
It’d be interesting to see how many of these companies are still in business.
In my opinion, he did the Community a Service by hording all the junk mail.
Vigilante Mailman. Get. It. Gurl.
I was lucky enough that the previous tenant at my place decided to skip out on her bills and not leave any kind of forwarding address with the post office. That means that not only do I get all of my mail and junk mail, I ALSO get all of her mail and semi-junk mail. Despite being told multiple times (and my mailbox being clearly labeled) they keep giving it to me. For the past month I have started to put absolutely everything without my name on it in the outgoing mail slot until they get the hint.
@SarcasticDwarf:
Depends on where you live, if you’re in an apartment complex you could have 2 different mail carriers, one that delivers, one that picks up the outgoing. If you are not endorsing the letter with “RETURN TO SENDER, UNDELIVERABLE ASS ADDRESSED” OR “RTS/UAA” OR “UNABLE TO FORWARD/UTF” the receiving carrier could be taking all of the outgoing mail, including yours, right back to the post office to be redelivered the following day, which will go right back to your delivering carrier who probably won’t remember that he already delivered this to you yesterday. As people move IN *AND* OUT of apartments quite frequently, we must deliver all mail to your apartment number unless we KNOW that that particular name is no longer there, so the easiest solution is to write THEIR last name below yours on the box and draw a line through it indicating they are no longer there, THAT will let him/her know not to deliver the mail for that name to your box.
@Lucky225: I have the same problem as this guy, only I’m getting mail for like 5 different families who no longer live there. What is the best method to stop this?
@Lucky225: I actually did write that the person no longer lives here on every single piece of mail for about three weeks after moving in. Additionally, I left a note in the mailbox and the mailbox label inside reads “LASTNAME only at XXX.” I would assume that between all those things they would have figured it out. Oh, and the same person picks up the mail as delivers it. I live in a mobile home part with a centralized set of mailboxes.
It has tapered off quite a bit but I still get the occasional item (mostly collection notices).
@SarcasticDwarf:
WOW, well in that case I don’t know what to tell you, your route carrier must just be so lazy that he doesn’t care to even check
@exo:
write all 5 of those names or try to catch the carrier when he’s delivering and explain the problem to them.
If all else fails you can rent a private mail box, that is what I personally do, since the mail is delivered to someone who knows only you are renting that box, they will only put in mail for you to that box. I know it’s not the best solution as it costs you money, and your carrier should know just not to deliver when those names are present, but I personally do this because hey, when you move, even if you put a change of address in, some mail falls through the cracks, and the next person is going to be getting your mail. With the private mail box, as long as you live in the same area, no matter how many times you move, your address stays the same, and you only get YOUR mail. (Dont get a post office box, b/c you’ll run into the same problem.. you have to get a private mailbox, they cost more, but you can get UPS/fedex deliveries too)
@Lucky225: You wouldn’t believe the hassle I have to endure in order to return an “UNDELIVERABLE ASS”. This is what I get for wanting my mail addressed to “UNBELIEVABLE ASS”!
@FuryOfFirestorm:
LOL that must have been a freudian slip, I meant UNDELIVERABLE AS ADDRESSED
@Lucky225: Modifying the name on the box hasn’t worked with me yet. At my first place, they wrote a card that had my name and the name of the previous three tenants. I crossed out the other three, but kept receiving their mail. After a while, on one of my impatient days, I turned over the card to the blank side and wrote only my name.
Next week I notice that the three names have been rewritten above mine. What the hell? I removed the card and slotted a new one with only my name. Other names rewritten again. I do this a few more times and it always comes back with all four names. WHAT THE HELL!
I called the post office a couple times and they said they’d do something about it, but that never changed anything. So I eventually just accepted the others as junk mail. I should have known about the RTS/UAA thing. That may have helped.
And yes, I committed a federal offense several times by opening someone else’s mail. By the end I was beyond pissed, so I figured if they were so adamant about me possessing four different identities, I’d fall in line. Turns out other people’s mail is extremely boring.
@chrisjames:
LOL, that is just, bizzare. In that case I don’t even think RTS/UAA would work, for some reason your postman seems to think they live there and by god he’s gonna deliver it lol
@chrisjames: same problem here – for two years that USPS has ignored by request to stop delivering mail for a previous tenant… 2 years I have been receiving his mail, including daily life insurance policy offers…
I get one piece of mail with my name on it for every 5 with his name… unacceptable.
@SarcasticDwarf: Ensure that you mark it “NO LONGER AT THIS ADDRESS” before you chuck it in the mail slot, or they’ll just redeliver. Seriously.
For the past month I have started to put absolutely everything without my name on it in the outgoing mail slot until they get the hint.
@SarcasticDwarf: I thought that’s what you’re supposed to do with mail going to the wrong address.
@SarcasticDwarf: I am not surprised some people are saying “There’s no problem with what he did” but you need to look at this from a business perspective.
Yes, we all hate junk mail, but businesses PAY the USPS a a ton of money to get that stuff delivered out. You don’t stay in business by failing to provide a service that’s been paid for.
That’s how the USPS is looking at this and that’s why he got punished.
@SarcasticDwarf: One secret that keeps the same piece of mail from being delivered to you again and again. Black out the line bar code at the bottom of the envelope. The USPS doesn’t read address any more…computers sort most of it and they can’t read English well. Even if you write “MOVED” in big letters, it will come back to you again and again because of the bar code.
@RandomHookup:
No one will probably see this, but that is absolutely correct! And if it’s first class make sure you black out the barcode on the front *AND* the orange barcode on the back, you’ll never see that piece of mail again!
@SarcasticDwarf:
Reading these stories make me really appreciate my postal carrier.
I have lived in a 500+ apartment complex for almost 8 years. I will on occasion get some random piece of mail that is not mine – usually addressed to whom I assumed lived here before me. My carrier has a photocopied note they always place in my box asking if “_” is now receiving mail at my address, and asks me to complete the form and leave it in the box. I do, and won’t see mail from that name for several years. I don’t expect the carrier to keep track after a few years, so I happily fill it out again. We also have a box in the mailroom for “MAIL NOT YOURS”. I just write on it “NO SUCH PERSON AT THIS ADDRESS”, and never see it again.
My carrier also places DYMO labels with names in each box.
I will say, I can tell if there is a sub carrier that day. I get other people’s mail (totally different apt numbers and names) for a few days, then its back to normal.
I really appreciate my postal carrier. Unfortunately in the 8 years I have never been able to thank them because of the weird shift I work…
As cute as this story is, companies and charities paid for a service. Some of these ‘Mass Mailings’ might have been from worthy charities. He wasn’t noble he was lazy. He wasn’t trying to help the community. Even his attorney didn’t try for the Robin Hood defense.
@joeblevins: No, sorry. A charity wanting to send me something in the mail makes them UNworthy in my opinion. We have the internet, and you can easily build and maintain a website there. If I want to donate, I research this stuff online. If any charity that I have never done business with mails me something, calls me, or comes to my door, they immediately get put on the “I will not donate to” list.
@samurailynn:
Regardless, however little postage..someone PAID for thoe mailings: paid for them to be produced and paid for them to be shipped. I hate junk as much as the next carrier (things like “Why the hell does Bed, Bath, and Beyond send that coupon out EVERY friggin week?,”) it’s hard to argue with money in the bank. I would prefer it to be magazines and packages, and not coupons and Macy’s sales flyers – but c’est la vie.
So where can we donate to this guy’s legal fund?
@timmus: Amen to that.
Even though he did a nice thing, this still constitutes mail fraud. And how is he to know what exactly is spam and what may be an extremely important bill or notification?
@Oranges w/ Cheese: the phrase “to so-and-so or current resident” is a good clue. Also, a flimsy notebook of papers covered in takeout chinese and pizza ads is a pretty damned good clue.
@Oranges w/ Cheese:
Spam is presort standard, bills are first class mail. A lot of the times the spam is bounded and separate from all the other mail we have to deliver, that is probably what he didn’t deliver.
Screw that, we should apply to Bush and demand a pardon before he gets out of office.
As wonderful as he is, companies paid a lot of money for their mail to be delivered. If he really had health problems, there were other avenues besides taking matters into his own hands. He could have talked to HR or eaten a low-carb diet.
@Maulleigh:
meh, presort standard is only like 7 cents/piece. They get a bulk rate.
But yes, they did pay for it to be delivered. What annoys me though is when they send bulk mail to an entire apartment complex that they know already provides their service, like timewarner cable delivers bulk to this apartment complex that is already paying for the residents to have tv and internet, so their ‘tripple play for $99.99/mo’ bulk that they deliver really isn’t realing them in any new customers when everyone who lives there is already a customer and doesn’t pay anything as it’s included in the resident’s rent.
Smells fishy.
Since when does a ‘utility worker’ give a rats ass?
@zentex: That’s what I was wondering. He had to be a jerk for snooping around anyway. Live and let live. It wasn’t hurting anybody.
I think we should all pitch in and each send this man a dollar (or 5) to help him pay the fine. Maybe the press that this would generate would give the powers that be a subtle hint as to what we all think of junk mail.
@HelenCarnabon: you have my email, I have 10 $$ to contribute to his fund. seriously. come on people, let’s help this guy out. He’s my hero of the week for what he did, even if it was for self serving reasons — the ends do justify the means, or the hows/whys.
Funny, I’ve always thought it’d be nice if the post office would offer that as a service.
Burning the stuff would’ve been a lot easier than burying it in the backyard, plus leave less evidence behind.
@Blitzgal:
Except for the whole bonfire show in the backyard. Isn’t burning items in your backyard illegal in many urban areas?
At my last apartment complex, the mail carrier would just leave all the “dear current resident” junk mail in a box right by the mailboxes. They were mostly fliers and coupons. So if you wanted one, you can grab one.
But after a while that stopped. And the junk mail made its way back into our mailboxes. I’m guessing he got caught somehow. My guess is that someone snitched. I mean, who the hell would report something like that? Most people I know hate junk mail.
@LatherRinseRepeat:
Or another carrier took his place
@LatherRinseRepeat:
Either the carrier changed jobs, or my guess is someone really lonely wanted his junkmail. You’d be surprised by the amount of people out there who need to see any kind of mail with their name on it to feel “important”.
@LatherRinseRepeat:
The building custodian was the snitch, ’cause he/she got tired of picking up the trash, oops I mean mail.
@LatherRinseRepeat: More than likely a Postal Inspector nailed him for it, not a snitch.
Hero.
seriously
I knew a mailman like this once, but the one I knew was worse. Because not only did he not deliver the junk mail he also only delivered mail 4 or so times a week. He was holding the mail until he thought they had enough to make the delivery.
@arstal:
But you forget: it’s his buddies’ companies that are “saving money” by force feeding us these mass junkings. A majority of Red business owners only support Red ideals until they no longer benefit them (as this recession proves). Ideals such as less government waste are rarely raised by the Reds unless it is election time.
Shouldn’t the header on this story be “ABOVE AND BEYOND”?
Now, the really interesting part of this story will be:
Who delivers all the leftover mail they found?
Because, technically, shouldn’t it still be delivered?
So when Comcast blocks my spam is ok… when the mailman blocks the spam is a crime?
Where’s the equality on this?
@classic10:
I guess the issue is, Comcast doesn’t get paid by anyone to send/receive e-mail (unless you use comcast mail as outgoing and pay for a comcast account of course)…And “VI@gra @ 50% savings” is slightly different than “ABC Lawn Service/Supermarket/etc..”
My only problem is that some of my junk mail has my name on it, not just “current resident” – I don’t mind it being filtered, but I really don’t want someone taking it or looking through it and seeing my name and address.
Also, how would we differentiate the types of junk mail…I hate the countless spam that Verizon sends me to try to sell me on FiOS TV and I hate the Cox spam that tries to get me to switch to cable, but I like the Val-Pak coupons because sometimes we need that oil change and coupons are helpful.
Junk mail is the only mail I get; it makes me feel loved.
@ bladefist… you are a genius
At least it is a renewable resource and creats jobs. Although it is a pain.
Mailman Steve is my hero!
Can we promote the guy to Postmaster General?
I imagine that maybe nice in people’s eyes, he did “voluntarily” not complete his job. I know that companies use the bulk mail route, (no pun intended) but some of those are small business owners. I were one, I’d be peeved that this marketing strategy, (I hope I have others) was being sabotaged by this guy. I would be marching up to the USPS for a refund of all services prior.
If you’re working for a company that provides the DELIVERY of advertisements, you should honor that. If it gets read, that’s another issue. Think of it like billboards, You don’t get to choose if it gets to be put up simply because it’s an advertisement for a claims lawyer, or a GAP ad.
@Slow2Whine:
obviously sabotaging this method wasn’t hurting business, the businesses who sent the mail weren’t complaining about lost revenue, and continued to send bulk mail after the first failed attempt using their profits that they were already receiving. If anything, I think this story only serves to prove that bulk mail marketing doesn’t work.
I think this carrier deserves the Presidential Medal of Freedom. This man is a hero.
That mailman must be rewarded for saving Americans 1000s of hours of going through crap.
not a single complaint with 9 years worth of letters, and he gets probation. He should be named Postmaster General.
those utility workers need to mind their own f’ing business and STFU.
Sounds like he couldn’t DO his job, which means, even though he is a Federal Employee, he should have been put in another position or let go.
My dad’s mail carrier filters out his junk mail. But that’s with his knowledge and permission.
The only problem with what he was doing is that he may not have been properly identifying every piece of junk mail. There’s no problem for my dad…all his important mail goes to a PO Box. But if you’re not doing that, well, you can’t be sure.
I want this guy to be my mailman! it’s a REAL live spam firewall!
@Rectilinear Propagation:
me too. But How else is the USPS going to keep afloat?
I hate Junk mail. Hate it with a passion….
here is an interesting bit of church junk mail I got when I first moved into my place.
[img167.imageshack.us]
Note: have you ever gotten a PO box…. the amount of junk mail those get is obscene! MUCH more than the average residence. And the post office clerks are REAL assholes about making sure you check it every single day (because the obscene amount of junk mail is too much for the average PO box…. if you skip a few days … the thing is jam-packed with that shit.).
@forgottenpassword: I guess that depends. I have a PO Box, but I still check the lockbox at my residence once a week. I get more junk in my box at home. I only check the PO Box every other day. No problems here. I’m diligent about getting off of junk mailing lists, so I don’t get all that much, I guess. Some, but not that much.
They should promote this guy to the head of the postal service.
He was just trying to help.
Hey, I’d bury the junk mail in MY back yard, but it’s really too small.
Utility workers intending to be heroes…
You guys have it easy. My real name is “Resident Occupant”, and I all the junk from everyone in my ZIP code…
I join many here thinking he should be given a medal for not delivering junk mail. Since the USPS is having trouble making a profit (or even staying in the black), they seriously need to boost the rates on junk mail to make more from what they deliver and discourage so much of it being put into the system.
Unfortunately, I believe that even at cut rates they make more from mass mailing than from first class mail if they are delivering to rural routes. The thing that’s killing them is having to deliver to any far-flung area no matter how out of the way it is.
Someone give this man a blowjob!