I used to live in a two story house that had been converted to apartments.  I lived directly at the top of the stairs.  At the bottom of the stairs was the common mailbox that the postman visited most days.  I had a lot of packages coming in on a regular basis, and it wasn't unusual for me to hear a loud *thump* on my door followed by a strange skittering noise.  The postman used to stand at the bottom of the stairs and chuck my packages at my door. 


He was a terrible postman even without that.  We must've been one of the last houses on his route or something.  It was a very rare thing to get my mail before 7pm.  He once came by after 10pm.  And some days he just didn't come by at all.  We wouldn't get mail for a day or more, and then one day at 8am there'd be a PILE of mail from the last however many days he didn't deliver sitting out.  I eventually found out why this was.  I went to a local pizza place for dinner one night and saw him sitting at one of the tables, chowing down on some pizza and chatting with the owner.  His mail cart was right next to him, still relatively full.