Italian postman found with 400kg of undelivered mail said he stopped deliveries because he 'wasn't paid enough'

REUTERS / Alessandro Bianchi / Files

A Poste Italiane mailbox is seen in central Rome, Italy in this October 9, 2015 file photo.

• A former postman in Italy is facing charges after police found more than 400kg of undelivered mail in his home.
• The 33-year-old complained he "wasn't paid enough," so stopped delivering mail three years before he quit.
• Weirdly, this isn't the first time this has happened in Italy - this year.

Residents in Turin, Italy, may receive some backdated correspondence after a former postman was found with over 400kg of undelivered letters and packages, The Guardian reports.

The 33-year-old postino was stopped by police during a routine road check. The police's suspicions were aroused when they discovered 70 letters in the back seat of his car and a 20cm long folding knife.

Police went to the man's home where they found another 40 boxes of hoarded mail. The postman had quit his job in 2017 but hadn't delivered any mail for some three years by that time.

REUTERS / Stefano Rellandini / Files

A postwoman standing beside a scooter uses a device in front of the headquarters of Poste Italiane in Milan, Italy, October 22, 2015.

"I wasn't paid enough and so I quit," the man reportedly said. The negligent delivery man faces charges of theft, misappropriation of correspondence and for carrying a weapon.

Bizarrely, this is not an isolated incident in Italy. In January, a 56-year-old postman from Naples hid more than half a tonne of undelivered mail in his garage. Investigators reportedly said it was the biggest stash of undelivered mail ever discovered in Italy.

In 2013, a postman in Sardinia was found with 400kg of hoarded post. "I think he just didn't want to work," a local hairdresser said.

According to The Local, The "violation, misappropriation or destruction" of someone else's post is a criminal offence in Italy, punishable by up to one year in prison.