Worker suspended for taking a stand against junk mail
March 10, 2009 by Shane BorerPosted in: "Seemed like a good idea at the time", "Would you want this person in Finance?", In this week's e-newsletter, Latest news & views
Whether it’s in the office or at home, no one wants to deal with it. So why is this employee being punished for trying to put an end to junk mail?
Businesses and residents alike on Steve Padgett’s mail route in Apex, NC, couldn’t be happier with his service. For at least seven years, he’s refused to deliver junk mail to any of the residents. He says he started hiding the mail in his garage and burying it in his yard because he was overwhelmed by the amount of direct advertising he was supposed to deliver.
But Padgett, who has diabetes and heart problems, has never received a single complaint about any missing junk mail. After a utility worker noticed bins of mail stacking up in his yard, Padgett was given probation in federal court.
His customers may be rallying to his cause and calling him a hero, but the Direct Marketing Association, representing more than 3,400 advertisers, wasn’t pleased with his actions.
What do you think? Is Padgett a hero, or just an employee who found a way to slack off on the job?
Popularity: 3% [?]
Tags: Advertising, Direct mail, Hero, Junk mail
March 13th, 2009 at 8:17 am
Another example of an employee giving no thought whatsoever to where the money comes from to pay his wage, benefits, pension, paid time off and other expenses associated with his employment. His type is also the first to gripe that it’s not enough. And the kicker? He won’t be fired for this. The revenues from direct marketers, businesses, and individuals will continue to be used to support slugs like him.
March 13th, 2009 at 9:06 am
The type of mail going undelivered should not be considered. It is NOT the employee’s place to decide which pieces to deliver. His/her job was simply to deliver the mail, ALL of it!!!
March 13th, 2009 at 9:25 am
I’d be rallying to his cause too. I’d be thrilled to not have half of my trash can full of cards, envelopes and catalogs that I never even bother to open. Why should I have to pay to dispose of that crap? I never wanted it, I didn’t ask for it. And even more annoying is the three ads per week that I get for comcast written solely in MEXICAN!
March 13th, 2009 at 9:31 am
I believe that language is called Spanish.
March 13th, 2009 at 10:31 am
Regardless of what that language is called, this is “AMERICA” and if you can’t speak and read English then you need to go back where you came from.
March 13th, 2009 at 10:36 am
I had received a “fun” email idea a few years ago…you could always try this to dispose of your unwanted junkmail…..when the junk mail includes self addressed prepaid envelopes, send them the junk from a different company…(just don’t include anything with your name on it)….that way you’re helping to keep America working by having mail for the post office to deliver and also the people that sent you the junk had to pay for the outgoing mail they sent and the incoming junk they received. I have been known to also send back the advertisements along with payments that I receive with my utility and credit card bills when paying by snail mail.
March 13th, 2009 at 10:37 am
Shelley, an absolutely fabulous idea!!
March 13th, 2009 at 11:47 am
An employee of a company is not supposed to cherry pick which duties he wants to perform.
The post office is paid money (postage) to deliver that junk mail and if the postal carrier doesn’t deliver it, he is failing in his job.
Would you think it is acceptable for FedEx to refuse to deliver a package to a recipient because the recipient doesn’t particularly want it?
That is simply a non-performance in service, in my book.
March 13th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
While I appreciate his concern, it is not up to the carrier to choose what to deliver. The service was paid for and should have been carried out.
I have sent the reply envelopes back with a quick note to remove me from their mailing list. If I have had to do this multiple times, I have also been known to add weights to the envelope to increase their postage rate. This works nicely in stopping unwanted “junk” mail while continuing to receive ads that I might actually be interested in. I always ask nicely before resorting to the latter tactic.
March 13th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
Lynn, your comment is “RACIST” and uncalled for in this forum.
March 13th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
The misconception that you are seeing is that it’s junk mail and you didn’t want it ever! If people did not read and respond to this type of advertising companies would not do it as it would be a rediculous waste of money. What you thought of as junk, is something that someone else was glad to receive and what you received and wanted was jusk to someone else. Ask yourself, how did I obtain the credit cards that I currently have? How did I go to a website and decide to purchase anything online the first time? This employee was a lazy jerk that just didn’t want to do his job. I’m sure it was his attorney that came up with the protest idea for his defense. If you don’t want to receive something, contact the Direct Marketing Assn. and request that your name not be sold by list companies and they can assist you in makeing that happen. Lady, Contact the people that sent you the mailer and requeat that they take you off their list and I’m sure they will be glad to save the expense, unless of course you’re too busy and don’t really care that much.
March 13th, 2009 at 2:10 pm
Ben,
You are out of line.. in this day and age it is becoming more and more important that everyone speak english, rather than the other way around.
When a spanish, or other speaking person comes to your door with an emergency and you cannot help because you cannot understand them then it is a major problem.
People who immigrated here in the past, learned english as fast and the best they could to better blend in and become part of the community.
Now days so many imagrates hold on to thier mother tongues and it is causing problems beyond belief.
So learn to converse and write in english, become part of the solution rather than the problem!
March 13th, 2009 at 3:26 pm
I don’t see how this guy could be labeled a “lazy jerk” when it would seem that it takes more time to sort and separate the junk mail from the non-junk mail, than it would be to just deliver it all. Plus, maintaining bins of this stuff when he could have just destroyed it. Overzealous or misguided, maybe but not a slacker. Anyway, I agree that it’s not his place to decide what should be delivered and what shouldn’t, no matter how “noble” the intent is. In essence, he wasn’t doing his job and was disciplined accordingly.
March 13th, 2009 at 3:38 pm
I hate junk mail. The employee should not have left it undelivered. I wish our mail person would put as much effort into delivering our mail as this one put into sorting out the junk. But all junk mail, and junk faxes should have a way to remove yourself from their list. And not in lettering so small as to take a microscope to see it.
March 15th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
He should loose his job. It wasn’t his decision whether it was junk mail or not. Anyone want to bet that because he is in a union that is he is on suspension with pay and that he won’t loose his job and will probably end up getting paid more than if he was actually on the job during the time of suspension because of the union? That is another issue…unions and how they protect people that don’t deserve to keep their jobs when there are so many unemployed that would be more than happy to actually perform the job without whining about it and having the union protect them from getting a paper cut…
March 16th, 2009 at 7:49 am
This thread has gone the way of many meetings I’ve been in. No wonder nothing gets accomplished. The topic of a postal worker neglecting his duties has disgressed to a debate about immigration and language!
March 19th, 2009 at 5:17 pm
Credit cards come in plain envelopes very sketchy return address. I have missed my new ones.