Community Chat

[CelticCrafter]

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!

[hoosieroriginal]

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!

[DoneTryin]

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.

[chrystaltree]

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

[on the bay]

@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!

[kdgn]

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@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!

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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. 

[CelticCrafter]

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.

[Scooby Doo]

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.

[Venezia]

@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.

[chickenbutt]

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.