JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A local mail carrier clearly had no idea he was being watched and recorded by cameras outside a Southside home when he threw the homeowner's package into her driveway.
The package cracked open and even though it was a sunny day, as seen on video, the homeowner was out of town and by the time she returned to retrieve her package, it had rained.
"My box was soaked and cracked open and a lot of the plastic containers and it was running down my driveway," describes Sarah who does not want to give her last name out of concern that the mail carrier may try to retaliate against her.
Sarah says she and her husband thought it was kids in the neighborhood. "A punkster who came in and got our package and threw it aside," said Sarah. That was until they looked at the video.
"We were shocked. I probably sat there with my mouth open for 10 minutes. I fully expected to see a kid throwing it, not my postal service worker throwing it out of his car," remembers Sarah.
Sarah and her husband installed cameras outside her home after someone tried to break in two years ago.
The video shows the mail carrier pull into her driveway and tossing the package out of the driver's side. It doesn't appear he ever put the car in park, let alone get out of his seat.
UNCUT VIDEO: Surveillance video shows mail carrier tossing package
Sarah says the package contained a six-month supply of make-up and is worth between $135-150.
She says she thinks the mail carrier didn't want to take the effort to walk to her front door. "I honestly think he was just being lazy," said Sarah.
Sarah called the U.S. Postal Service regional office and says she was immediately asked if she had purchased insurance.
"I don't usually purchase insurance when I buy things online, so I said "no". I said I didn't realize I was suppose to and she said, "yeah, there's not much we can do for you because you didn't purchase insurance,"" recounts Sarah who told the postal worker, "I didn't realize I was going to have to purchase insurance for your postal worker to throw something out of his car."
Sarah says a few days later she received a call from a woman who told her she was the manager at the post office in Atlantic Beach that services Sarah's neighborhood and asked Sarah to email her the video.
Sarah says during the conversation she told the manager she had talked with someone from the news and that the postal employee told her, in so many words, that she wished Sarah had not alerted the news media. She told Sarah she would send her a money order to reimburse her for the contents of the damaged package.
"I think they were just trying to keep me quiet and here's the money and we'll take care of it," said Sarah.
She says the manager told her they had received complaints about that particular carrier, but they never had any proof until now. She says the woman told her the mail carrier did not typically service Sarah's neighborhood, but was filling in for someone the day her package was delivered.
"I asked the lady to call me because I said, "Look I want to know what happens to this individual because I think he should be severely reprimanded,"" said Sarah.
She says she never heard from anyone from the postal service again, but received a check in the mail for $135.
She is upset that no one ever followed up with her.
We went to the Atlantic Beach Post Office to speak with the manager to find out if the mail carrier had been reprimanded, but we were told the manager was not there that day and that all comment has to come from a media spokesperson.
Dionne Montague, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Postal Service agreed to meet with us. We asked her how she explains the video showing the postal carrier throwing the package.
"As an organization we were very disappointed to see the actions of this one individual." said Montague.
"This is not by any means an accurate description or representation of how we handle our mail each and every day. The majority of our carriers take great care in handling the mail and we deliver thousands of packages every day," she said.
We asked if the postal worker who threw Sarah's package had been fired, Montague responded, " we addressed the carrier and he is no longer delivering mail." When pressed, she repeated, "he no longer is carrying mail."
Montague did tell us the mail carrier has worked for the U.S Postal Service for about a year, but was not aware of whether there had been previous complaints made against him.
She also said mail carriers are trained to never leave mail in someone's driveway. As you can see in the video, that training was disregarded. Sarah says she's just relieved the contents of her package were replaceable.
There are several websites containing video of postal and delivery workers mishandling packages, including dontthrowmypackage.com.