So I've been living in my townhouse for 4 months now, and I'm still getting mail daily from the residents who lived here before. I've been doing the whole "Return to sender" and mailing it back, but quite frankly it's pretty annoying.

At what point can I just start throwing their shit away?

3/20/2008 11:48:02 AM

if you're going to throw it away, you might as well go through it

3/20/2008 11:49:16 AM

The day you moved in.

3/20/2008 11:58:03 AM

it usually helps if on the inside of your mailbox you tape a little card that has the names of the current occupents of the house

For Example
"Mail for John Doe Only"

3/20/2008 12:00:50 PM

I already have a card in there. I guess my mailman doesn't care. I just didn't know if it was like a felony or misdemeanor to throw out other people's mail

3/20/2008 12:04:21 PM

i bought my house over 2 years ago and i still get the occasional piece of mail for the former owners.

i just chunk it, unless it's a catalog, then i'll look at it, then chunk it.

i did receive a UPS package to them once, but i took it to their house. they're stupid people. how do you order something and have it delivered to your old address, when you moved over a year ago.

duuurrrrr

3/20/2008 12:20:42 PM

^ They probably ordered it off somewhere they'd used before they moved that had their address stored and didn't notice it was the old one. Still stupid, but it's not like they typed in their old address or something.

3/20/2008 12:26:02 PM

Quote :

"if you're going to throw it away, you might as well go through it"

throwing it away is fine, opening it is a felony.

3/20/2008 12:27:22 PM

I've been living at my current place for about 3 years.. and we still get mail from a guy who lived here from like 6 years ago...

3/20/2008 1:13:32 PM

I've gotten like 4 letters from the Feds or IRS for the same guy. Me thinks he ran from the country.

3/20/2008 2:31:28 PM

so you are not allowed to throw other peoples mail away?

[Edited on March 20, 2008 at 2:35 PM. Reason : .]

3/20/2008 2:35:05 PM

The day you moved in.

3/20/2008 2:39:00 PM

I've been living in my house for 5 and a half years and I still get mail from previous owners and owners prior to those going back several years since before I moved in. I also get the neighbor's mail all the time.

We have a card on the inside of the mailbox.

Conclusion - the mail people are lazy. You'd think after the millionth return to sender with the same people's name on it that they'd buy a clue.

3/20/2008 2:53:58 PM

as long as the address is on there, they will deliver it. doesn't matter who's name it is...

just keep putting "does not live here" on it and put it in the box.

Other than that, try to contact the person if you can and tell them to submit a change of address form to the postoffice

3/20/2008 2:54:04 PM

Quote :

"throwing it away is fine, opening it is a felony."

I seriously doubt opening someone elses mail is a felony.

3/20/2008 3:25:02 PM

^It is.

3/20/2008 3:27:07 PM

Quote :

"I seriously doubt opening someone elses mail is a felony."

It seriously is. & I have a serious question, say my name is on a piece of mail & below my name is the company name. Can the company open that mail?

For expample

John Doe
TWW, LLC
1 Internet Plaza
Raleighwood, NC



[Edited on March 20, 2008 at 3:36 PM. Reason : *]

3/20/2008 3:33:41 PM

^i wouldn't think so

is bill staying with you tonight??

PM sent

3/20/2008 3:49:02 PM

I have the same problem... I quit writing return to sender and just started putting it in the outgoing mail box. So when I check the mail, I take everything that is not for us and put it in outgoing. The mail carrier seemed to catch on, as we are getting far less of it now.

3/20/2008 10:32:12 PM

we've lived in our apartment for 2 years and still get mail from the previous resident. our box specifically has our last names in it.

oh well. back in the outbox it goes.

3/20/2008 10:37:39 PM

the previous owner of our house is DEAD. he actually died in the bathtub one saturday afternoon and his parents found him that night.

he's been dead going on two years and we still get his mail

i should just write "DEAD GUY" or something on it


[Edited on March 20, 2008 at 10:48 PM. Reason : m]

3/20/2008 10:47:50 PM

Post office, change of address card, forward their mail to a different neighbor... done.

3/22/2008 12:17:00 AM

i'd really like to see the statute that lists opening other peoples mail as a felony

not that i dont believe it... it seems possible, i just cant believe what i read from the tww know-it-alls without a little proof

3/22/2008 12:20:40 AM

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Is_opening_other_peoples'_mail_a_crime

Quote :

"It is not a federal crime to take, open, destroy, or hide someone else's mail unless it happens after it was mailed and "before it has been delivered to the person to whom it was directed". 18 USC sec. 1702. However, it may be a violation of a state law regarding privacy in your state."

3/22/2008 11:03:56 AM

My fiance had his townhouse built in 2006


and we get this one person's mail...The Caterniccio's...even though we are the only people to live in the townhouse.

We only get their AARP bills though. I stick it back in the outgoing mail.

[Edited on March 22, 2008 at 11:34 AM. Reason : f]

3/22/2008 11:34:11 AM

it is pretty annoying but what can you do

if it is something like a credit card sign up offer, i will shred that even if its not to me...i will shred bills too

everything else just goes to the trash

3/22/2008 12:57:23 PM

YA DOWN WITH OPM?


YEAH YOU KNOW....THEM?

3/23/2008 1:59:49 PM

if it's legitimate stuff, like credit card bills/bank statements/holiday cards from their grandparents/etc...keep doing the whole "return to sender" deal. it's a pain, but it's illegal to throw it away i'm pretty sure.

3/23/2008 4:13:10 PM

The last tenet in my apartment had the same last name

3/24/2008 8:18:19 AM