Finland's national mail carrier Posti announced on Friday that a large amount of letters and other mail spilled from a delivery truck onto the road between the cities of Kuopio and Suonenjoki in Central Finland. The accident occurred on Highway 9 between Wednesday night and Thursday morning.
According to the statement from Posti, the spillage was caused by the failure of the delivery truck's door locking mechanism. Posti estimated that thousands of items of mail were spread across the area around where the incident occurred.
The company said that it regrets any inconvenience or possible damage caused to customers.
Markku Rajamäki, Director of Risk Management and Security at Posti, told Yle that the company attempted to collect all the spilled mail immediately after the incident was first reported.
"We collected them that night and even got help from the police. Yesterday we went through the route twice in the daylight, and no more letters were found," Rajamäki said.
However, it is possible that some items of mail are still at the site, and Rajamäki therefore asks people to return any items that may be found in the area to Posti. If a piece of mail is found, the finder can drop it into the nearest letter box or take it to the nearest service point from where it will be routed to the correct recipient.
Spilled mail was sent from Eastern Finland
According to Rajamäki, the letters that spilled from the lorry had been sent this week from Eastern Finland, and were intended for destinations in the direction of Oulu and Ostrobothnia in the west, and Pirkanmaa and Satakunta in the southwest.
"If you are awaiting mail from Eastern Finland that does not arrive by the expected date of delivery, please contact customer service. Likewise, if you have sent mail from Eastern Finland in either of those two directions on that day and the recipient does not acknowledge receipt, please contact customer service," Rajamäki said.
Although these incidents are rare for Posti, they are not unheard of. Rajamäki did not however want to estimate how many similar cases have occurred in mail delivery over the past year.
"We carry so many different types of shipments that sometimes there is damage. However, these are isolated cases," Rajamäki said.