We get a lot (A LOT) of mail with our address but to a name of someone that has never lived here. We get everything from credit card bills to car appointment verifications. Usually, it’s to one of three people named Parsons but recently we’ve been getting credit card applications and bills from a new name. That one seems a little fraudulent. As if someone is using our address to apply for cards.

Also, I have a PO Box for the business and I get late tax payment notices for someone with the last name Williams.

For years now, I’ve been marking them ANK (Attempted, Not Known) which I think is the correct mark to use but I’m over it. How many years does it take for these people to stop sending me other people’s mail? Is it my duty to return these since they aren’t addressed to my name? Can I toss the stuff?

I'd say if it is your address on the mail and the name is not yours you can toss it. I don't know how returning it is going to help anyone. The USPS can't pull another address out of their you know what and magically make it deliverable.

If it's for a neighbor and was an address number mistake, I usually take it to them. Otherwise right into the trash can.

I'm still getting stuff for the previous owner who has been dead since mid 2017.

We did 'return to sender' for about a year after we moved in. Now it's all off to the bin.
Neighbors, I'll walk it over to them.

quote:

Originally posted by Skull Leader:
I'd say if it is your address on the mail and the name is not yours you can toss it. I don't know how returning it is going to help anyone. The USPS can't pull another address out of their you know what and magically make it deliverable.

Doesn’t it go back to the sender so that they can fix the address, which they never do. You’d think the tax office would try to find the person that owes them. Guess they don’t care.

My seller rented the house for 2 years before we bought so a solid ~4-5 years since they lived here. I wrote return to sender for a year as well. It kept coming. Occasional bill or notice from a local intown company. Dentist or similar I have taken to their office at night and and written on the envelope “has not lived here 4+ years. Please google their new address” and shoved in their door. If it’s a national company and they cant be bothered then into the shredder.

I still get a lot of mail addressed to a previous occupant. He actually came by here almost a year ago looking for a package that he'd had shipped here by mistake. I had already marked it Return To Sender and sent it back. I told him he really ought to update his shipping address with all of his online vendors. A month later I got a phone call from the realtor who handled my purchase. She said the same guy had called her and asked her to call me and request that I bundle up all of his mail and packages and leave them on the front porch, and he would come by and get them. I did as requested and that bundle of stuff sat out there for six weeks. He never did come to get it. After that I just toss anything that comes here with his name on it in the trash.

Stuff addressed to other houses in the neighborhood, I usually walk over there.

quote:

Originally posted by mark123:

quote:

Originally posted by Skull Leader:
I'd say if it is your address on the mail and the name is not yours you can toss it. I don't know how returning it is going to help anyone. The USPS can't pull another address out of their you know what and magically make it deliverable.

Doesn’t it go back to the sender so that they can fix the address, which they never do. You’d think the tax office would try to find the person that owes them. Guess they don’t care.

I think it only goes back to the sender if it says, "return service requested"?...but I could be wrong.

quote:

Originally posted by 1967Goat:

quote:

Originally posted by mark123:

quote:

Originally posted by Skull Leader:
I'd say if it is your address on the mail and the name is not yours you can toss it. I don't know how returning it is going to help anyone. The USPS can't pull another address out of their you know what and magically make it deliverable.

Doesn’t it go back to the sender so that they can fix the address, which they never do. You’d think the tax office would try to find the person that owes them. Guess they don’t care.

I think it only goes back to the sender if it says, "return service requested"?...but I could be wrong.

Almost all of it does say “Return Service Requested”.

There is no "duty", but this is what I do.

If it's for my next door neighbor, I take it to them.

If it's for people elsewhere, I put it back in the mailbox and raise up the flag for them to pick up the next day.

If it's for someone else who lived here years ago, in the trash it goes.

Have live at this address since june 2006.... Still get mail for previous owner several times a year... No longer try and foward the mail.. just put in trash can after shredding unless it looks like junk mail then place back in box with the box flag up.. Also get mail with same last name but 1st names unknown which also goes in the trash can after shredding. If neighbors mail then I will take it to them .. Not my responsibility to fix.. .............................. drill sgt.

I handwrite "return to sender addressee unknown" and put it back in my mailbox.

That way the sender knows the person does not live at your address.

we used to get mail from another address that is similar to ours.

I had a clothes pin attached to my box so I clip them there. The mailman picks it up the next day.

Only happened for a couple years so I assumed it was just the one mailman messing up.

I guess if its a lot and continues longer, Maybe make a trip to the post office and talk to the postmaster.

Avery (or compatible) return address labels, 80 per sheet.

I print a sheet or two a a time:

Not At This Address
Return To Sender

Stick a label on the piece of mail and dump it in the outgoing mail slot in the cluster.

Week ago a letter arrived from the Municipal Gas Company to my mailbox at the house where I’ve lived for 24 years. It was addressed to a former owner who died in 1982.

Maybe they should update their records.
I took it over to their office.

I live on a cul de sac with 5 homes on it and we are always getting each other's mail. Both Saturday and today my mail was put in another neighbor's mail box and they either put it in my mail box or brought it over. I always do the same for them.

I just write "no such person" on the envelope and leave it for pickup. No duty other than that. Not my problem if the sender's info is outdated.

After we moved in , we continued to get mail for the previous owner . I would write " MOVED . No longer at this address " , and put it back in the mailbox . After about a year I started trashing it . It finally stopped except for the occasional piece of junk mail .

I think the rule is "don't ask, don't tell".

We've been in the new house about two years, and will occasionally get something for the previous owner. I'll text him and he'll come get it. Got something that looked like an invitation a couple of months ago. I don't blame him for not notifying everyone he knows of his new address.

Now that I think about it, I didn't do that either. Business stuff, accounts, yes, but not all of the cousins, etc. I guess someone could send me an invitation to the old address and I'll never get it. But a lot of things are by email and evites these days. I don't even have an "address book".

I still received mail for someone who hasn’t lived here for 40 years, yes 40 years.

I trash it.