# Old USPS ads saying you can keep misdelivered mail **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 20, 2021, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-usps-ads-saying-you-can-keep-misdelivered-mail/954674 "2021-11-20T15:50:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Zarquon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Zarquon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zarquon)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2023, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-usps-ads-saying-you-can-keep-misdelivered-mail/954674/42 "2023-03-14T19:03:50Z")
Well, you’re committing the same Federal crime if you open your own mail, so… ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2023, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-usps-ads-saying-you-can-keep-misdelivered-mail/954674/43 "2023-03-14T19:37:20Z")
Often junk mail will say “or current resident” or something like that. You may be in the clear. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2023, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-usps-ads-saying-you-can-keep-misdelivered-mail/954674/44 "2023-03-15T08:04:06Z")
Strange that this thread pops up on the same day I find two items in my mailbox that are addressed to the tenant before me. One is from a nonprofit organization and the other appears to be fan mail to a former actress from The Waltons. I’m bringing it them to the leasing office in the morning. ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2023, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-usps-ads-saying-you-can-keep-misdelivered-mail/954674/45 "2023-03-15T20:52:52Z")
Speaking of misdirected mail, I had a weird incident happen to me many years ago. I received a letter addressed to me at my address. I did not recognize the sender. But since it had my name and address I opened it. Well it was a form letter to someone else about a court date in another jurisdiction. I’m totally puzzled as to why someone would mail me someone else’s letter. So being curious I googled the name on the actual letter. It was a relatively common name and got lots of hits. I added my town name to the search. I see a hit with my street in it. But the house number is wrong. But, it’s like mine, but with two digits transposed. I theorize that the sender had some sort of lookup software that took the mistyped address and looked it up got my name, and used it as the addressee. So I call the sender and tell them what happened. They asked me if I could bring it to the correct house. It was about a quarter mile down the street so I agreed, but, I put it in a new envelope correctly addressed with correct return address and left it in their mailbox. Never heard a thing about the incident again. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2023, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-usps-ads-saying-you-can-keep-misdelivered-mail/954674/46 "2023-03-15T21:17:49Z")
We don’t usually see misdelivered mail here but sometimes there’s a person being lazy with their Amazon deliveries. One time, they missed the intended recipient by about 300 feet; I was able to track down the recipient via Google, called them, and met up to hand off their package. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-usps-ads-saying-you-can-keep-misdelivered-mail/954674.md?page=2)