HOUSTON – Snow, rain, sleet or hail, you know the rest. But one mail carrier's not-so-careful handling of a package was caught on camera and it has the man on the receiving end left with a box of damaged goods.
In a five-second video clip captured from Martin Garret's home security cameras in Sienna Plantation, you kind of get the feeling the mail carrier caught on camera is not having a very good day. She walks up to the edge of his yard and throws a package on his concrete driveway.
"She seemed to have a little bit of an attitude by the way she threw that box on the driveway," said Garret.
What you don't see on the video is Garret's Fort Bend County deputy constable cruiser, a marked SUV that was parked in his driveway Saturday. It's the vehicle the woman reaches over to toss the box onto the cement.
"It could have been crystal. It could have been an heirloom. It could have been something you couldn't replace," said Garret.
What was in the box? A spill-proof cup for Garret's child and a bottle of hair product. Both were slightly damaged and the styling gel was leaking.
Garret said he'd like to ask the USPS worker what she was thinking.
Since Local 2 couldn't ask her, we sent the video to the U.S. Postal Service. USPS spokeswoman Dionne Montague emailed this response:
"The Postal Service condemns, in the strongest possible sense, the actions of any employee who mishandles mail or packages. The behavior on the part of the employee shown in this video is not only unacceptable to the Postal Service, it threatens to tarnish the reputation and high level of trust that the vast majority of our employees work so hard to uphold. In no way does this one individual's action represent the usual care and attention we strive to provide every day, when delivering our customers' mail and packages. Postal officials have been notified and are conducting a full investigation of this incident."
You may have seen the video clip last week from Ohio of a mail carrier there tossing an armful of mail into the trash. Garret says it seems the postal service needs a lesson in customer service.
"My goal is to have the packages delivered with a little bit more care so that the items are not damaged and then we have to go through the trouble of getting them replaced," Garret said.
The USPS says it's still investigating this incident.
It's not all bad news on the customer service front -- a USPS worker came by his house to apologize in person.
Garret says the box was from Amazon and they are replacing the styling product that cracked and leaked.