topic Re: Mail Situation in Community Chat

Mail Situation

CelticCrafter — Thu, 26 May 2016 21:01:00 GMT

About a month ago, we started getting mail for an unknown person with our address on it. It's a mix of junk and first class.

After the third day, I was able to catch the mailman on the other side of the street and gave it back to him. He told me he thought it was strange but had to deliver it.

I taped a note to the inside of our box that they weren't to deliver mail addressed to that person and all was good for a few weeks. I took the note down and it started again yesterday.

I know it wasn't our regular mailman yesterday by the way the stuff was shoved into the box and again today because it was delivered in the morning and we don't usually get it until late afternoon.

I put the note back up and will see what happens.

It's annoying and I just don't want to be the one responsible for having to mark it and put it back in a mailbox or drop it back off at the post office.

We have lived here 36 years, so it's not like it's the previous owners and the change of address hasn't caught up!

Re: Mail Situation

hoosieroriginal — Thu, 26 May 2016 21:02:50 GMT

I would also check your credit report and make sure no one has made purchases in your name, with your address also. It's kinda weird that someone is giving out your address as theirs. Again, I'm always suspicious!

Re: Mail Situation

DoneTryin — Thu, 26 May 2016 21:06:08 GMT

Call your post office & talk to someone about it. I had just the opposite problem for about a week last summer. My mail suddenly started getting returned to sender, for no reason. It took several weeks for all my mail to find its way back to me. I wasn't impressed with the "excuse" I got from the man I talked to at my PO, but not much I could do about it. He said "somebody probably put it in the wrong bin." Really, for 7-10 days?

Anyway, I hope you get it resolved soon. Be sure to check your own mail closely just to make sure it isn't some kind of scam.

Re: Mail Situation

chrystaltree — Thu, 26 May 2016 21:20:39 GMT

Just call your post office and ask for the supervisor. Explain the situation.

Re: Mail Situation

on the bay — Thu, 26 May 2016 21:35:21 GMT

@CelticCrafter

wow-I just wrote a note to the postmaster about this same thing!

For almost 4 years I have written on each piece of mail-"moved, return to sender" esp for this one person.

I have spoken to the postmaster, put notes inside my mailbox, to no avail.

I also wonder about people who don't change their address.

I thought just yesterday, I really don't want half my mail to be this guys and I am tired of writing a note on them all.

Most people just leave them outside their box. And there is so much mail that is just all over the mailboxes outside just sitting around.

I don't know what else to do either.

Just like you said, it may help for a little while, then a different mail carrier comes along and you start all over.

Not the biggest problem for sure but definitely annoying after 4 years.

And I never would have thought about someone addressing their mail to your address? Why would they do that do you think? I guess I only thought that people just don't bother to change anything or left the country or something!

Re: Mail Situation

kdgn — Thu, 26 May 2016 21:42:03 GMT

@hoosieroriginal wrote:
I would also check your credit report and make sure no one has made purchases in your name, with your address also. It's kinda weird that someone is giving out your address as theirs. Again, I'm always suspicious!

I agree. Receiving someone else's mail with YOUR address on the envelope is highly suspicious- If you were receiving someone else's mail at your home with their address it would be a different story and one the Post Office would be able to resolve.

It could be identity theft with a bill to your address, ship to another address or it could be nothing more than a mixup on someone's part.

Re: Mail Situation

CelticCrafter — Thu, 26 May 2016 21:54:44 GMT

I have checked our credit reports and do keep a mental note that we are getting our utility bills.

I tried google and can't find any such person in the neighborhood - thinking maybe it was just a mistake. We have a double digit address so it's not like they even transposed the numbers.

Just strange.

Re: Mail Situation

Scooby Doo — Thu, 26 May 2016 21:54:52 GMT

So throw it away.

You've done your job of informing the post office of the error and they've had ample time to correct the problem. Not your job to fix the problem that you didn't cause and have no investment in.

Re: Mail Situation

Venezia — Thu, 26 May 2016 22:15:11 GMT

@CelticCrafter - Yes, we've had this problem, too. About a year or so ago we suddenly started getting mail for someone else - not even a name we recognized as "neighbors". At first, it was for a man; then it was for that guy and a woman and so on; all with the same last name.

We built this house and our address didn't exist until then, so we know we're the only ones who've ever lived here!

I tried putting the mail back in the box with "Return to sender - no such person at this address"...didn't make any difference.

I finally went to the post office to discuss it with them (odd mail in hand) and was told there was nothing they could do about it and that any mail I put back in the box just got dumped!

I checked on Switchboard.com and found this whole other "family" associated with our address and the only other place I saw their names listed was somewhere in Florida (about a thousand miles away).

Switchboard allows you to remove anyone not associated with your address and I haven't done that yet, but you've reminded me.

In the meantime (knock on wood), the mail has simply stopped! My thought was also "identity theft". Creepy.

Re: Mail Situation

chickenbutt — Thu, 26 May 2016 22:18:53 GMT

The unfortunate reality is that they have to deliver it to the address.

The only choices are to either cross it out and write 'not at this address' and have it go back (so maybe that would stop each sending from sending stuff to your address), or just toss it.

But there is little to nothing that they can do at the post office or carrier level in terms of deciding which piece of mail should or not be delivered.

I know it's a pain, but it's really not on THEM. It's on the senders who addressed it to your address erroneously, or whomever gave them your address.

Re: Mail Situation

SundayMonday — Thu, 26 May 2016 22:57:30 GMT

I agree, throw it away and quit worrying about it. We had a whole apartment complex start using my address by mistake last year. I complained , wrote letters and hand delivered the mail for 6 months. I finally did just that, I started throwing the whole mess away. Finally a girl that lived there and had ordered a pair of pretty pink tennis shoes (yes they were delivered to me , I opened them and kept them , just to wait and see the outcome) solved it all. One evening our postmaster showed up at my door wanting to talk about pink tennis shoes. I went and got them, gave them to him and told him this had been going on for 6 months. He about choked when I told him I had been throwing the mail away,, totally forgetting that I had talked to him about the problem 6 mo before. I used to work at the post office and I knew that anything that has your ADDRESS on it and is delivered to you is yours. You have no obligation to track down someone else or if a bookclub is sending you free books, or samples etc. you are under no obligation to "return to sender" or anything else. The post office delivers to the address, not the person, for regular mail. Hope this helps

Re: Mail Situation

Love my grandkids — Thu, 26 May 2016 23:02:00 GMT

Junk mail NEVER gets returned to the sender. A postal supervisor told me this years ago. It's too expensive which I completely agree with.

Re: Mail Situation

alliswell — Thu, 26 May 2016 23:12:57 GMT

@SundayMonday

Thanks for the info, I'm surprised.

Re: Mail Situation

missy1 — Fri, 27 May 2016 00:01:08 GMT

@SundayMonday wrote:
I agree, throw it away and quit worrying about it. We had a whole apartment complex start using my address by mistake last year. I complained , wrote letters and hand delivered the mail for 6 months. I finally did just that, I started throwing the whole mess away. Finally a girl that lived there and had ordered a pair of pretty pink tennis shoes (yes they were delivered to me , I opened them and kept them , just to wait and see the outcome) solved it all. One evening our postmaster showed up at my door wanting to talk about pink tennis shoes. I went and got them, gave them to him and told him this had been going on for 6 months. He about choked when I told him I had been throwing the mail away,, totally forgetting that I had talked to him about the problem 6 mo before. I used to work at the post office and I knew that anything that has your ADDRESS on it and is delivered to you is yours. You have no obligation to track down someone else or if a bookclub is sending you free books, or samples etc. you are under no obligation to "return to sender" or anything else. The post office delivers to the address, not the person, for regular mail. Hope this helps

Are you saying your name and address is on the mail, but the item (shoes) are not yours? If it's someone else's name and your address you have have return to the sender?

Re: Mail Situation

Eileen in Virginia — Fri, 27 May 2016 00:11:35 GMT

@kdgnI agree. We had our identity stolen years ago and the first thing they did was change our address on our credit cards. Then they tried to open new cards in our name with the bills going to the new address. If everything looks OK for your credit report, maybe talk to someone at the credit bureau to see if they have an alert for the name of the unknown addressees. You mention that you've lived at your house for 36 years. Do you "snowbird" somewhere else for part of the year (so someone's sending mail to your address because they think you're at your other address)? Hopefully, it's just a SNAFU and not identity theft. Good luck!

Re: Mail Situation

september — Fri, 27 May 2016 00:23:04 GMT

I can relate. I also get mail, usually junk of some type, for a person who is listed at my address. We've lived here for 24 years. I throw it away.

Re: Mail Situation

RedTop — Fri, 27 May 2016 01:58:49 GMT

Have you Google'd that person to see what comes up as his address?

Re: Mail Situation

SundayMonday — Fri, 27 May 2016 02:05:20 GMT

Are you saying your name and address is on the mail, but the item (shoes) are not yours? If it's someone else's name and your address you have have return to the sender?

My name was NOT on the package, but my address was. Thus the shoes got delivered to the correct ADDRESS, but not the correct person. I kept them because I knew they were expensive and someone, (the vendor, the buyer or the post office) would do a followup. If I had thrown them away, I would have been within my rights. Someone, probably the vendor or her credit card would have reimbursed her. You would be sooooo surprised at what gets thrown away at the post office. Or I could have worn them and nobody could say anything. I am sorry to burst your bubble about the rules of the po, but they actually have an auction site that they auction off the more expensive stuff that is undeliverable.

And as a couple of other people have pointed out it is not the publics job to deliver the mail. The real culprit in my situation is the apt. office manager who gave the wrong address to 50 apts. And I talked to them twice in person before I started throwing things away.

I certainly did my part, talked to the apt people twice and the postmaster once. Neither cared enough to do anything about a big mistake. And no, I did NOT have to return them to the sender.

Re: Mail Situation

missy1 — Fri, 27 May 2016 02:06:26 GMT

@SundayMonday wrote:

Are you saying your name and address is on the mail, but the item (shoes) are not yours? If it's someone else's name and your address you have have return to the sender?

My name was NOT on the package, but my address was. Thus the shoes got delivered to the correct ADDRESS, but not the correct person. I kept them because I knew they were expensive and someone, (the vendor, the buyer or the post office) would do a followup. If I had thrown them away, I would have been within my rights. Someone, probably the vendor or her credit card would have reimbursed her. You would be sooooo surprised at what gets thrown away at the post office. Or I could have worn them and nobody could say anything. I am sorry to burst your bubble about the rules of the po, but they actually have an auction site that they auction off the more expensive stuff that is undeliverable. And as a couple of other people have pointed out it is not the publics job to deliver the mail. The real culprit in my situation is the apt. office manager who gave the wrong address to 50 apts. And I talked to them twice in person before I started throwing things away. I certainly did my part, talked to the apt people twice and the postmaster once. Neither cared enough to do anything about a big mistake. And no, I did NOT have to return them to the sender.

I return all mail etc to the sender/put wrong address on it (give it to mailperson). Junk mail, I toss. (when it's someone else's name and my address)

I couldn't have kept the shoes.

Re: Mail Situation

SundayMonday — Fri, 27 May 2016 02:21:36 GMT

I didn't keep the shoes either. I hope you aren't acusing me of trying to steal them. I knew enough about the rules of the po to know what the outcome would be. The shoe situation was solved within a week. The bigger problem was solved within about 2 weeks, when the postmaster went to the apt complex and told the office mgr about THEIR screwup.