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USPS carrier caught throwing package, swearing at teenager

Posted at 4:16 PM, Dec 27, 2017
and last updated 2017-12-28 00:51:47-05

A USPS carrier is not only tossing packages on tape, but a homeowner says she’s delivering bad behavior.

Back in September, Lynda Burton began noticing her packages were showing up broken, damaged and sometimes even opened.

That inspired her to install a RING doorbell to capture carriers on film.

“I wanted to see who was doing it. Was it FedEx, UPS, a mail carrier? How are they getting damaged, how?” Lynda Burton said she wanted to find out who was responsible, and it didn’t take her long to discover it was her USPS carrier.

“My mouth was just open, I could not believe someone could just wing a package like that and it hit your door and damage it,” Burton said.

In the video, you can see the carrier looking at the fence preventing her to get to the front door, look at the package and then yell “Knock, knock,”. When no one answers the door she tosses the package, it hits the front door and almost like a victory, she pumps her fist and says “from the post office."

Moments later the front door opens, when Lynda’s 13-year-old son confronts the carrier saying “Ma’am I think your threw that.”

It’s what happened next that has Lynda the most upset. 

“If you listen real close she mumbles SOB as she walks away from my home down the driveway,” she said.

Lynda’s teenage son called her at work, hysterical that a strange woman had yelled at him. 

ABC15's sister station ABC Action News knocked on several other neighbor’s doors and none seemed to have an issue with their mail carrier. 

“We’ve never had any issues with any of the postal people, they’ve always been good to us,” Laurene Monet, who lives across the street said.

When we showed her the still frame of the mail carrier throwing the box, she was surprised.

“It’s horrible. If they are throwing things, something could get broken and you always want to trust they are being gentle with your packages. You don’t know what’s in the box so you don’t know it could be medicine could be something that needs to be refrigerated it could be fragile,” Monet added.

ABC Action News reached out to USPS and we were sent the following statement:

“The Postal Service strives to provide the best possible service to our customers each and every day.  We apologize for any inconvenience the customer may have experienced in this specific instance. This is clearly unacceptable behavior that does not reflect the efforts of the thousands of professional, dedicated carriers in our workforce.  The Postal Service cannot discuss specific employee disciplinary actions or comment on personnel matters that may impact personal privacy.  That said, we can report that local postal management reviewed the situation and appropriate follow-up action was taken.  We will continue to provide excellent service to this customer, as we do for all of our customers.”

Since the incident, Lynda says the packages have not been damaged, they have been delivered on time. Now she says the issue is the carrier is threatening to kick her off the route and bad mouthing her to other people.

“You got to protect your home and your house and where you live when you’re not there,” she said.

USPS provided this information to those who may have complaints: 

Customer Care line at 1 800-ASK-USPS (1-800-275-8777), or call 1-800-ASK-USPS or visit us on our website at usps.com/help.”