One of the problems of renting my house is that several people have used it as an address in the last few years. Sometimes I get junk mail addressed to them, which I promptly toss. However, the state just mailed out rebate checks and the guy living here previously got one. As I said, I have no forwarding address, my landlord has no forwarding address, and I’d like to do the right thing with this bit of mail, though I don’t know what it is. I suppose I could write return to sender on it and send it back up to Santa Fe, but do I have any other options? What should I do with it?
That’d be the thing to do, write “No longer at this address” on it and get it back in the postal system. They will either have an address for him or return it to sender.
The state will have a fiduciary duty to attempt to track him down as part of their audit process. Even if they can’t find him, they will have it on account for him if he figures out he’s entitled to the money.
That’s what I’ve been doing with all of the letters delivered to the town house across the courtyard from me, whose tenants moved out about 6 weeks ago without leaving any forwarding address. I’ll keep it up for another 2 weeks perhaps - then I’ll just thow any mail into the bin.
Don’t know what the position is in Australia, but that’s illegal in the UK, and (I think) in the States, too. Those letters are the property of the people they’re addressed to - by throwing them away, you’re (technically) stealing them.
Just board up the mail box, so that the postal service can’t deliver any letters. Or, if you’re not the landlord of the vacant property, let him deal with it instead. (He should be around before long, assuming his tenants have stopped paying the rent, in any case).
In the USA you need to fill out a card that states the names that are to be included under your address. Anything else should be forwarded or handled by the USPS. I work for the USPS and that is how we handle it.
In the meantime put it back in the box with something to the effect of “no longer at this address”.
BW-G
Eh, we’re talking junk mail here. Sales catalogs, preapproved credit card offers, that kind of stuff. This is the first piece of real mail I’ve seen in the last two months, otherwise I would’ve done something sooner.
A lot of junk mail will say “or current resident”. You would be safe to do with those as you wish if you are indeed the current resident.
You should always fill out a change of address form with the post office when you move so that they can properly forward your mail. Most of the businesses that send out junk mail will scrub their lists against the USPS NCOA (National Change of Address) registry and will send the piece along to the person’s new address instead of the old one if they want the piece to follow a specific person. If they are just blanketing an area then they may not bother.
As others have said, just mark it accordingly and put it back in the box for the postman.
The guy who lived here before me doesn’t want to be found. Seems that he (and several of his aliases) owe money to quite a few places. Most of the bills and collection agency calls have stopped, but recently I started getting a cable bill for him, for service at my address. The bills started almost two years after I moved in, and I don’t subscribe to cable myself. Weird, eh?
See if you can catch your mail carrier and advise them as well as hand them the peices of mail with the ‘No longer at this address. Left no forwarding address.’ on the parcel for them.
You can call the PO and advise them as well and get instructions on what further measures to take.
New Mexico is a fairly small state, population-wise. Think they might still be around? Unless the name of the tenant was a NM equivalent of “John Smith,” like “Rudy Gallegos” or “Chuy Montoya,” you would think that they’d be easy to find. Does the DMV make their information public?
Do NOT just toss a pre-approved credit card out, make sure you cut it up first.
I once asked our mailman about throwing out mail sent to someone else at your current address, and he told me it was perfectly legal. You are not under obligation to forward it or send it back.
YMMV
I know. That’s why I bought a shredder.
Has anyone ever tried to legally change their name to “Current Resident” and go around stealing mail (presumably with little chance of successful prosecution given that it’s “your” mail)?
I went upstairs just now and asked the Better Half, veteran 22-year letter carrier, what the OP should do. He said, “Just write ‘No longer at this address’ on it and put it back on the mailbox for the letter carrier to pick up.”
Just the first class mail, though. Throw away the junk mail.
What would be the point? It only says that on junk mail (ie, the stuff the sender doesn’t much care who ends up getting it). You don’t get credit card bills or IRS refunds that say “or current resident” on them…
The last time a thread like this came up, I called the USPS and asked and they confirmed that the person can either mark it “No longer lives here” and stick it back in the mailbox, or throw it away. It’s the recipient’s responsibility to forward their mail. With the rebate check, I’d just stick it back in the box. Maybe one day he’ll be one of those people who finds their name on the “Unclaimed Property” lists.
By recipient, of course, I meant the person who the mail is addressed to, not the current person actually getting the mail.
Will “not at this address” actually stop further mail? If not, what would I do to for each of these:
[ul]
[li]Previous owner’s mail. I’ve been throwing it out, and I feel bad that I just threw out something from the friend of the court* – it may have been important. But… I was only home for two days and couldn’t have done anything better.[/li][li]My loser brother’s bill collection notices. I just throw these out, too. I don’t know how they keep getting my address, and it infuriates me to get this kind of sht in my mail box. Not a rational feeling, I know, but it makes my blood boil.[/li][li]Some business apparently registered using my address! And now I get targeted junk mail (i.e., not “current resident”) with this crappy business name on it. I know it’s a real business; I got a copy of their business license sent to me.[/li][li]Any way to get the post office just to stop sending all bulk junk mail, e.g., the “current resident” crap? It sucks being out of town for a year and having to sort through all that crap every time I come home, plus the idea that it’s taking up valuable mailbox space for real mail. None of the stuff at junkbusters seems to apply, and I’m too lazy to do the porno-mail form every, single time I get junk.[/li][/ul]
*I normally assume that what’s in my mail box is mine, so I don’t normally fastidiously check the addressee on most things I open. Does the “opening other people’s mail” law make allowance for intent, or am I a federal felon?
Went upstairs and ran all this past the Better Half.
It depends on whether you have a regular carrier, or a series of temps, and what kind of mood they’re in. If you have a regular carrier, who is conscientious and who cares about customers, yes, it will stop eventually, because he/she’ll intercept it for you back at the office while sorting mail for the day. However, if you’re stuck with some poor timeserving mope, or a series of part-time flexibles, who aren’t familiar with you and wouldn’t care about you even if they were, then you are probably S.O.L.
No. The bulk rate purveyors have paid for the privilege of sending it to you, and the Post Office must give them value for their money; this is known as “capitalism”. Short of revamping the entire Western economy, nothin’ you can do.
It all depends on your intent. If you open other people’s mail that comes to your house with the intent of seeing whether there’s any money inside and if so, stealing it, then yes, it’s a felony. But if you open other people’s mail that comes to your house with the intent of finding out whether there’s a return or forwarding address so you can send it along, then no, it’s not a felony.