Confidential Letter opened before I received it

kerry4sam

Good Morning All,

I received a letter in the post this morning, clearly marked for me, and even had a 'Confidential' stamp clearly visible also.

Now I was up when the letter arrived (not even one hours sleep last night) and upon picking it off the floor I noticed it was already opened by someone.

The seal was broken; their was not even a slight bit of sealant left on the envelope when it reached me; and the closing-flap was just folded inside.

Who would I contact to find out who could have opened my Confidential letter this morning. It was sent from Cork; my sorting office for Kerry is also in Cork.
Now presumably, they sealed it proper before sending (I will be asking) so would it be difficult to narrow down the number of people who would have held this?

It was an Academic Reference for me! A Private & Confidential Academic Reference, clearly marked Confidential - with a stamp!

Thanks,
kerry4sam

/did I mention Confidential?!

whippet

can you be 100% sure it was sealed by the sender?

kerry4sam

whippet wrote: »

can you be 100% sure it was sealed by the sender?

Not just yet which is why I stated above that I will be asking

If it were sealed by them: presumably they, an academic, would not send a letter, stamp it Confidential, and then just leave it open for all to read

Thanks,

User45701

in my disputes it is very difficult to assign blame when there was more than one person in the chain of custody...

Anyone who would open something private would have no problem lying about it.

This is why camera's everywhere - everyone who works anywhere wears government funded Google glass - 100% accountability for everything (if only that was possible) - the amount of times Eircom Bord Gáis have dropped the ball.
ive made mistakes but I don't lie to my customers I tell them the truth like the
**** very ********ing sorry my bad.#
I don't lie and say oh it was a shipping error sorry for the delay ect

EDIT: I know it sound stupid but the reason behind the google glass thing is there would be so much data recorded from every single working person in the world that it would not be possible for anyone or any organisation to watch it all. It would only ever be used when a crime has been committed or someone has made a serious mistake and no one will own up to it

Nody

Putting confidential on a letter has no relevance to the discussion because it has no legal basis (you can replace that with top secret, for readers eyes only, country secret etc.); what you can complain about is that someone opened a letter but that's as far as it goes.

Secondly you assume the person who put it in the envelope also put it in the post man's hand were it was likely it would go to a mail room or similar, and then to sorting etc. which means there are multiple parties on the way that could have opened it at both the sender and post office and said person would not admitt to do it. So ultimatly what are you expecting to happen? A guilty person to step up and say "Yes I did something which I could be fired for, I'm sorry"?

kerry4sam

^^^ Yeah Thanks guys,

The thing is: I have received numerous correspondence from same over a number of years and not once has any envelope been opened before it reached me. None was ever marked Confidential before which is why I mentioned it in my opening post. It is the only thing that is different from all other correspondence that I have received from same.

Thanks,

Michael D Not Higgins

Worst case scenario, an An Post worker saw the stamp, figured there might be something good inside, saw it was just a reference, and closed it up again. This is why you don't send money in the post.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

A lot of college mail rooms use automatic sealing machines and some can miss. Also, someone could just not have sealed it. Also, there could have been dozens or more people who had access to that letter? Also, it could just have become unstuck due to poor sealant on the envelope? Also, who says anybody was even bothered to read it?

kerry4sam

^^^

I don't know about thinking money tbh. It has the stamp clearly identifying the sender (office) so would not think anyone could presume to find monies inside it.

Thanks,

kerry4sam

^^^

I asked for this personal Academic Reference as I need two referees for my next level in Education and one has to be Academic. This letter was not sent in bulk to varying people on this day/date as it needed headed paper. I received it via e-mail on Dec 19th, but I asked for identifying headed paper, hence the delay in my receiving it. I don't know how many other types of letters were sent out also from here on this day/time, if any.

Anything is possible right now to be fair and honest about this as I do not know otherwise.

Thanks for your advice & suggestions though,
It's just the one letter marked Confidential, over years of receiving correspondence clearly marked from same sender, this one arrives opened.

Thanks,
kerry4sam

Malarkey121

I think you have far too much time on your hands if your willing to go about finding out the history of your letter! It could be any number of people or reasons why it arrived that way.

Maybe the sender did not seal it correctly, they are going to say they did of course so what then? You call the sorting office they have x amount of letters to store and sort they aren't going to say oh yes that letter for that chap I remember that one!

If you had lost money or a registered letter had gone missing that was of value then you would have a reason to investigate but annoying people about a letter that arrived to you and is not missing anything of value with the many variables involved is a waste of time in my opinion.

Confidential doesn't mean legally delivered and watched all the way to your mailbox

Murt10

The quickest and surest way to get something read is to mark it as confidential, secret et.

People have a natural curiosity to see what they aren't allowed to see.

kerry4sam

^^^

Thanks for your reply. Yes I have some time on my hands, not alot mind, but some. It's the principle of it really to be honest. How come this one was pre-opened and not the others that arrived from this one location is what's got me thinking.

Anywhoo, some questions will be posed by me as I do not find this acceptable, as you may have guessed. I'll await replies on this issue.

Anything is quite possible right now as I have not approached any of the powers-that-be in this scenario to narrow anything down. I have to start somewhere though to make any progress.

Thanks,
kerry4sam

emeldc

So it was just a reference. No harm done. But if it was opened by someone, then maybe that person opened a dozen more as well. Maybe he/she got lucky with one or two of them. Maybe not. Maybe he/she is just a nosey fugger. It doesn't really matter. If you are convinced your letter was opened by a third you should report it to the post office.

kerry4sam

^^^

Yes it was just a reference, that I am quite proud of considering what's detailed on it to be honest (all grades listed for my First Class Honours in respective subject-topics in Psychology) , and it really is just the principle of it that a personal confidentially-marked letter was pre-opened by someone without permission.

It is even amounts to some staff somewhere being fore-warned to be more diligent in some form (be it in ensuring all envelopes are sealed proper before hitting a post-office; or in a sorting-office when sorting post etc etc), then at least that is something

Thanks,
kerry4sam

keysersoze0330

I wouldn't waste my time ringing around about this to be honest. Too many people involved to find out who, if anyone, opened an individual letter.

hfallada

It's the post. It doesn't matter if a letter is posted in India or Ireland there is the risk someone will open and read it. That's why most people use couriers for confidential letters. For 60 cent you can hardly expect an post to be flawless

kerry4sam

^^^

Thanks, perhaps.

As I said in my opening post, I didn't get even one hours sleep last night and have a surreal day ahead of me today with my loving Dads' Months' Mind Mass this evening so might put this off until Sunday and decide on Monday who to contact and what to say.

The principle of it though. I always follow-up on wrong-doings regardless of who has committed them, always.

Thanks,
kerry4sam

Plek Trum

I would say its all in the approach really - don't go in there looking for heads to roll but perhaps a personable phone-call to the relevant office, thanking them for the reference being sent and politely mention that it did however arrive to you un-sealed. Maybe this was an oversight on their part or it slipped through the system unnoticed, but if they could ensure all future personal correspondence was sealed correctly you would appreciate it & thanks very much for everything.

I know you are delighted and very proud of your results but the realistic scenario is that your letter was probably one of hundreds (possibly thousands depending on where) sent from the institution on the day it was posted. Get some sleep, put this to one side and take a rest for a few hours. You'll be less annoyed by it then and it better form to highlight the issue in a constructive manner with the place concerned. You never know when you might need an additional reference, work placement or even position of employment with the Dept you graduated from - don't cause a storm, rather see it as an opportunity to present yourself in a reasonable manner.

Congrats on your results too by the way

pleasant Co.

hfallada wrote: »

For 60 cent you can hardly expect an post to be flawless

Considering that it is illegal in Ireland to open someone else's post it's not unreasonable to expect the national postage handler to be flawless in that regard. (I am not putting the blame on An Post, if anything I give them a little more respect than the above poster)

kerry4sam

^^^

Many Thanks for the advice and suggestions thus far. I sincerely appreciate them. Some definite food-for-thought that can and will wait until Sunday by me.

Thanks again
kerry4sam

/It's just the principle of it <-- Maybe I should put that in my signature

slimjimmc

kerry4sam wrote: »

Good Morning All,

I received a letter in the post this morning, clearly marked for me, and even had a 'Confidential' stamp clearly visible also.

Now I was up when the letter arrived (not even one hours sleep last night) and upon picking it off the floor I noticed it was already opened by someone.

The seal was broken; their was not even a slight bit of sealant left on the envelope when it reached me; and the closing-flap was just folded inside.

Who would I contact to find out who could have opened my Confidential letter this morning. It was sent from Cork; my sorting office for Kerry is also in Cork.
Now presumably, they sealed it proper before sending (I will be asking) so would it be difficult to narrow down the number of people who would have held this?

It was an Academic Reference for me! A Private & Confidential Academic Reference, clearly marked Confidential - with a stamp!

Thanks,
kerry4sam

/did I mention Confidential?!

This suggests to me that the envelope was never sealed in the first place. Imo it's not easy to remove every trace of glue once it has been applied, there'd always be a stubborn bit left somewhere.

JohnMearsheimer

I have worked for An Post in the past in the Cork Mail Centre. Your letter would have come through to the Cork Mail Centre but when someone read Kerry on it (more than likely it was sorted by a machine in Cork if it was less than A4 size) it would have been just thrown into a bag/sorting box for Tralee, Killarney, Listowel or wherever your nearest reasonably sized town is. It is then sent to a local office for detailed local sorting. Most postal workers are not in the habit of reading post. There are other people and cameras everywhere. There's also thousands upon thousands of letters (many of which are marked as confidential) to get through each night so nobody really has the time to be standing around reading letters.

You'b be surprised at how much open post there is. I have come across a lot of open post that has come straight out of bags from local post offices and post boxes. Sometimes people don't do a good job of sealing envelopes. Other times the gum/glue on envelopes is poor quality and just lifts off. There's too many people and variables in the chain to find exactly what happened.

fro9etb8j5qsl2

Like John said above, you'd be surprised how many letters come through that aren't sealed properly or become damaged due to poor packaging, even from an academic or professional sender. One of our national banks used to be notorious for sending letters containing very sensitive information out to customers in envelopes with so little glue on them that 90% of the time they were hanging open by the time they got through the letterbox :rolleyes: And there's absolutely no way of finding out where along the way an envelope becomes unstuck. People are always very quick to assume that some member of delivery staff picked out their 1 letter and decided to open it for a nosey, forgetting that these people handle thousands of letters on a daily basis and have little if no interest in their contents.

An Post have a policy where if a member of staff discovers a damaged or open envelope, they are supposed to report it to a manager and it will be logged and a sticker will be put on the envelope to inform the recipient that it was discovered open in transit but with the volume of mail being processed, it is often easy to miss. Also, in the OPs case, the closing flap being folded inside would be considered as a closed envelope as many people do send envelopes like this.

January

kerry4sam wrote: »

^^^

I asked for this personal Academic Reference as I need two referees for my next level in Education and one has to be Academic. This letter was not sent in bulk to varying people on this day/date as it needed headed paper. I received it via e-mail on Dec 19th, but I asked for identifying headed paper, hence the delay in my receiving it. I don't know how many other types of letters were sent out also from here on this day/time, if any.

Anything is possible right now to be fair and honest about this as I do not know otherwise.

Thanks for your advice & suggestions though,
It's just the one letter marked Confidential, over years of receiving correspondence clearly marked from same sender, this one arrives opened.

Thanks,
kerry4sam

Having worked in a big corporate mail room before, post is collected by the people who work in the mail room and put through the sealer en masse. Sometimes some didn't seal, sometimes some got jammed, sometimes some got horrible black marks on the envelope because of the rubber wheels used to guide the letters through the machines.

I doubt someone actually opened your letter, just that it wasn't sealed properly.

MagicMarker

This really is a non issue.

emeldc

MagicMarker wrote: »

This really is a non issue.

For you maybe, you might elaborate.

dudara

Posters - please, don't goad each other. Stick to helpful comments please.

dudara

Wyldwood

I agree with the posters who said that the envelope was probably never sealed properly in the first place. My daughter was sending off some important academic results last week and had prepared all the documents and sealed the envelope the night before. As she picked the envelope up the following morning she discovered it wasn't sealed and had to use sellotape to seal it.

Some envelopes just don't have enough glue.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

Miaireland

Op I wonder was the envelope your item put in old envelope. I work in a place that the owner bought envelopes in mass bulk a good while ago. Over the last couple of months we noticed that they appear to seal when you close them but the don't seal really. The only reason it was spotted was when I tried to reopen one the seal just lifted off. They are in a press near a heater and I would say the glue dried out.

Sellotape is my friend at the moment.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

I just don't get the issue here. Many an envelope doesn't stick properly and requires sticking tape. A college mail room would use a franking and sealing machine and they are notoriously unreliable. To even suggest somebody in an Post opens envelopes because they are stamped confidential is ludicrous. What is the consumer issue? What harm has been done?

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Fred Swanson wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Now Fred, that is not exactly what I said and I am not getting dragged down that road. Suffice to say the OP is looking for conspiracy where in all probability none exists.

emeldc

Alison Wrong Genie wrote: »

Now Fred, that is not exactly what I said and I am not getting dragged down that road. Suffice to say the OP is looking for conspiracy where in all probability none exists.

I think the OP just wants to know who opened his envelope.
How can you say 'in all probability none exists'.
Maybe it was sealed, maybe it was opened ?

JohnMearsheimer

Fred Swanson wrote: »

Are you suggesting that there is zero possibility of there being a dishonest postman working in An Post?

Are An Post employees subject to Garda vetting?

Yep, they are subject to Garda vetting.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

emeldc wrote: »

I think the OP just wants to know who opened his envelope.
How can you say 'in all probability none exists'.
Maybe it was sealed, maybe it was opened ?

And he can never know. You know that, I know that, and surely he knows that!

sawdoubters

I blame the postman

they could have used cheap envelop

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

sawdoubters wrote: »

I blame the postman

they could have used cheap envelop

The postman didn't provide the envelope.

D3PO

seriously OP let it go. Some people really do have too much time on their hands.

pleasant Co.

D3PO wrote: »

seriously OP let it go. Some people really do have too much time on their hands.

I think OP has...maybe don't post if you haven't the time to read about what you're commenting on.

D3PO

pleasant Co. wrote: »

I think OP has...maybe don't post if you haven't the time to read about what you're commenting on.

I will post if I feel like it. Go back seat Mod elsewhere.

pleasant Co.

D3PO wrote: »

I will post if I feel like it. Go back seat Mod elsewhere.

Some people.... :rolleyes:

dudara

Thread closed. Enough off topic posting.

OP - drop me a PM if you want this reopened.

dudara