Odd you say that, as once and once only did I catch this very tactic, the postie put a card through my door to say I was not in and could I collect, except I was in and I opened the door and before he got the end of the path I asked him for the package, which he did not have.
I got his name and straight away phoned a complaint in, asking for the manager and saying I will be following up with a written complaint, just so he is aware as the complaint will be addressed above his head to include the postie's name and the local office supervisor to which I had just telephoned.
A pretty severe approach you might think, but I happen to believe people who reduce the integrity of others best efforts need to be dealt with as to allow services to be eroded by not caring only ruins that service for ourselves.
I never saw that postie again and I got a letter of apology with a couple of books of free stamps included, so making me understand my course of action was the correct one, not because of the freebies, but because I had received a written apology and the offender was no longer delivering my mail and since then five years past, I can quite honestly say I have received satisfactory service from Royal Mail.
In fact recently I had to go to the sorting office to collect a parcel and as I arrived late, within five minutes of it closing the chappie about to close up asked me what time it was on my watch, I said twenty five past the hour, and he let me in and dealt with my inquiry, now experience has it, that was unusual, as they went by my time not theirs, they put the customer first.