A postman will be facing disciplinary action for leaving an HDB block's mailbox master door unlocked.

SingPost shared this with Mothership in a statement on Thursday (Jan. 30), after being alerted to the scene on Wednesday night.

The postman's failure to secure the mailbox door led to residents' mail being strewn all over the floor at Blk 182A, Woodlands Street 13.

The resultant scene was witnessed by Instagram user @van.dollbeast, who shared it on her Instagram Stories on Wednesday (Jan. 29) at around 9:20pm.

Speaking to Mothership, Van said she was just passing by the area and did not know what happened afterwards.

The same message was also posted to a subsequent Instagram Story:

Case of carelessness

In response to queries from Mothership, SingPost's Group Chief Brand and Communications Officer Robin Goh said that a staff member was immediately dispatched to the location after they were notified of it.

All affected mail was returned to their respective letterboxes within the hour.

Investigations revealed that the postman had neglected to lock the door after completing his deliveries.

He will face disciplinary action for his carelessness, Goh added.

Police report made

However, SingPost also suspects that the mail was removed from the mailboxes and deliberately scattered on the ground in an act of mischief, possibly carried out by a member of the public.

The matter has been reported to the police as the tampering of mail items is an offence by law.

Those who impede a delivery are committing an offence under the Postal Services Act.

SingPost apologised for the incident and says that they are working on a "smart letterbox" that will prevent future similar occurrences.

You can read Goh's full statement here:

"SingPost would like to thank Mothership as well as Ms Van Dollbeast for alerting us to the incident.

Upon notification, a staff member was immediately dispatched to the location. All affected mail was secured and delivered to their respective letterboxes within the hour.

Our investigations indicate that the postman had neglected to lock the letterbox master door after completing his deliveries and will be facing disciplinary action for his carelessness. However, we highly suspect that the mail was removed from each letterbox and deliberately scattered on the ground as an act of mischief by a member of the public. As the tampering of mail items is an offence under the law, we have therefore reported the matter to the police for further investigation.

SingPost would like to offer our sincerest apologies for the incident. Our postmen deliver an average of 3 million mail items on a daily basis, and open approximately 48,000 letterbox panels while doing so. Incidents like this, while rare, are still of utmost priority to us, therefore members of the public who spot them can report them to us via our 1605 hotline or the MyPostman platform. We are also working on a next-generation “smart letterbox” with advanced security features that will hopefully make such issues obsolete in time.”

Top image via @van.dollbeast on Instagram and SingPost's Facebook page