Postie ensures 90th birthday card with no address is delivered to intended recipient

A 90th birthday card sent without an address has ended up in the hands of its rightful owner thanks to a Colac postie who went above and beyond.

This birthday card was delivered to Margaret in time for her 90th birthday, thanks to postie Wayne Ladhams.

WE’VE all heard the groans and gripes about Australia Post, but here’s a good news story to warm the cockles of the heart on this chilly Melbourne day.

We’ve tracked down the Colac postie who went out of his way to ensure a befuddled wellwishers 90th birthday card was received by its intended recipient.

The card included all the right details including Margaret’s first and last name and her suburb and postcode, but left out one important detail — her address.

“Don’t know the street but she just turned 90 and everyone should know her,” it read.

With 45-years of service under his belt, postie Wayne Ladhams says he’s a bit overwhelmed by all the fuss — and says it’s part of his job.

Postie Wayne Ladhams made sure Margaret of Colac got all her birthday cards before her 90th.

“It happened a couple of months ago, I think she turned 90 back in January or February — I dropped it off and completely forgot about it,” he said.

He said the card ended up in one of the postie rounds and when the call out for anyone that might know the Margaret it was intended for — Wayne put his hand up.

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“I thought that I knew a Margaret that had got a lot of cards lately and she was turning 90 soon,” he said.

“I knew of her, said hello every now and then, and I went to school with her son, who is now a priest, so that’s how I knew her last name — I was hoping it was her.”

Cryptic puzzles are often part of a postie’s job, according to Wayne, who says receiving mail with wrong addresses isn’t unusual — especially around Christmas time.

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“It happens often — sometimes it’s addressed to number 95 when you know the people live at number 50 — we do our best to ensure it gets there,” he said.

“It’s nice to hear that something good about Australia Post is out there, you always hear about the bad things.”

Margaret’s granddaughter Stephanie agrees.

“With all the bad publicity surrounding Australia Post, it is good to see them doing something right,” she said.

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