# Rejecting Certified Mail **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 19, 2004, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rejecting-certified-mail/240778 "2004-04-19T04:47:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kegg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Kegg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kegg)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2004, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rejecting-certified-mail/240778/21 "2004-04-24T11:11:10Z")
I’m sure glad I put the notice that spelling and grammer may change without notice. I think that was the worst typing I have ever botched!!! * * * Spelling and grammer subject to change without notice. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2004, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rejecting-certified-mail/240778/22 "2004-04-24T12:07:40Z")
We got a certified letter recently. I always get nervous about those things. I signed for it, opened it, and it was a piece of junk mail offering to refinance our house!! WTF??? ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2004, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rejecting-certified-mail/240778/23 "2004-04-25T23:04:15Z")
Just to add on to what others have stated: In my business (environmental engineering), we are required by law to inform property owners of certain scheduled governmental hearings. We send the letters by certified mail with signature cards. We get about 80-90% of the signature cards back, and about 10-20% of the letters are returned unopened. It makes no difference to us; the law only requires us to attempt to send the notices by certified mail. The postmarked, unopened, returned letters are filed away along with the signature cards as proof of meeting the requirements of the law. ---
**Author:** ![iamme99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/57b2e6/32.png) [@iamme99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamme99)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2004, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rejecting-certified-mail/240778/24 "2004-04-26T07:06:49Z")
> [@Random](#): > > I wish the USPS were this diligent. I used to have to send out certified letters fairly regularly. There’s a green card with the adressee’s signature that should be returned to the sender. There’s an option (at an extra charge) that the sender can check for addressee only delivery. I paid for this option. > > At that time (and I doubt it’s changed), about 25% came back with someone else’s signature, 25% came back refused/failed to pick up/can’t find, and 25% never came back at all. The remaining 25% came back with the required signature. > > By my count, that’s a USPS screw-up rate of better than 50%. (I’m confident that many of the 25% that came back undelivered were because the mail carrier couldn’t be bothered to get a signature.) > > I’m in Chicago, which has some notoriously bad post office branches. It’s possible that I would have had a better success rate elsewhere. Ha! I had a run-in with the PO a few months back on this issue. I was notified that I was part of some class action suit against the big bad telephone company. I had to fill out a form stating that I had experienced one of the problems mentioned in the suit and would get $50 for this. I filled the form out and returned it certified with the green card for a signature on delivery. 4 weeks later, I hadn’t yet received the card back, so I filled out a PO form to trace the letter. 5 weeks later, they still were unable to produce either the letter or a trace locator. I had a number of conversations with the local asst. postmaster. She tells me that when they deliver certified mail to large companies, that their contract states that they leave the certified mail for the company to sign and return to the PO delivery person at their convenience. Huh? I pointed out that this procedure violated all known rules of maintaining control over the mail for which someone had paid a fee for special handling. I said, once you let the letter out of your control, you have lost all control. She basically shrugged and said that’s the way it was done. I demanded my money back, stating that they had violated the implied contract to maintain control of the mail and get a signature from someone before leaving it. I asked her to tell me what it was that I was paying for? She tried to dance around the issue and refused to give me a refund. She tried to maintain that since they hadn’t been able to get a trace, then it was still possible that the mail was waiting to be signed somewhere in one of those big gray trays they stack the mail in (sort of like GWB’s logic that although WMD’s hadn’t been discovered in Iraq by anyone yet, doesn’t mean that they aren’t there. :D). I told her she was crazy, that even if she was correct, it wasn’t my problem and again demanded she refund my money. I asked to speak with the postmaster. She said he would call me. I waited a couple more weeks, but no call. I went back, spoke to her again, said I was very pissed off and threatened to take this all the way to Washington, D.C. I said I would also file a small claims suit not only for the total cost of the mail delivery and certified fee, since it was clearly lost because of their negligence, and would also sue for all the hours I had wasted to-date fighting with them (something like 12 hours including writing up documentation 😉 ). She was adamant that the PO does not refund money, ever. I demanded to speak to the postmaster. She says he is not in but she will discuss the matter with him. I tell her I will be back in next week. I go in next week and she was not there but the postmaster was! I speak directly with him about the issue (meanwhile I have a long page of notes, documenting the times and dates and content of the conversations I have had over the last few months on this issue). He asks to make a copy of my notes. OK. I remind him of what I plan to do if he doesn’t refund my money. He says will get back to me next week on this. Next week comes and goes and I don’t hear from him, so I call him up directly. He says that he has gotten approval to refund my money (all $4.83 of it 😃 ). Damm. I was really hoping to take this to court. This was all about principle. Whatever, I fought the PO and I won! Two morals: One, don’t let them stick it to you. Two, certified mail (at least to big companies) is a rip-off. What are you paying for if the PO let’s the mail out of their control before they have a signature? ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2004, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rejecting-certified-mail/240778/25 "2004-04-26T07:29:46Z")
> [@Joey P](#): > > To say pretty much the same thing as the other posters, declining or ignoring a certified letter really is the same as accepting it. This only counts if _the addressee_ refuses. For example, last month my wife and I went to Vegas for 2 weeks. We had her mother stay at the house to watch the dogs. Should a letter have come in my name, and she refused it, would that count as me accepting it? To the OP, if you refuse a letter from the USPS, it’s the same as refusing a process server. Don’t get your fingerprints on it, and you legally never accepted it. Though the USPS ususally isn’t such hardasses, as long as the postage is already paid. ---
**Author:** ![Random](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/57b2e6/32.png) [@Random](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Random)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2004, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rejecting-certified-mail/240778/26 "2004-04-26T12:37:40Z")
> [@duffer](#): > > To the OP, if you refuse a letter from the USPS, it’s the same as refusing a process server. Don’t get your fingerprints on it, and you legally never accepted it. Wrong and wrong. One cannot “refuse” a process server by not touching the summons and complaint. If he holds out the summons and complaint and announces that you are served, you are served, even if you refuse to take the papers, or run away, or claim to be someone else. Also, as others have said, in most legal situations, the law requires that the notice be sent by certified mail. If it comes back refused, you are considered notified, and the bad check prosecution, zoning change hearing, or whatever can proceed. Please don’t try to answer legal questions if you have no idea what you are talking about. ---
**Author:** ![stock\_sniffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@stock\_sniffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stock_sniffer)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rejecting-certified-mail/240778/27 "2017-02-02T03:46:11Z")
I am going to give you people some very important legal advise! What is worse than signing for Registered or Certified Mail is opening it. The reason is should it be a performance contract from a government entity or the first contact from an attorney of a plaintiff you are a had lad! They have got you by the throat! Best advise is never sign for such mail. Should someone sign and give you the mail do not open it! Take it back to the Post Office or letter carrier as refused. You are not under any legal obligation to have to open it and read the performance contract inside from an attorney or government entity! That is what freedom is about! You cannot be forced into a contract but once you open the letter you are bound by the one-sided quasi-contract inside and will pay through the nose defending yourself with high priced attorneys who can do little of nothing for you! Only sign for such mail if you know something important is coming to you from a source you want! In other words you open such mail at your own risk! ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rejecting-certified-mail/240778/28 "2017-02-02T03:52:38Z")
> [@stock\_sniffer](#): > > I am going to give you people some very important legal advise! What is worse than signing for Registered or Certified Mail is opening it. The reason is should it be a performance contract from a government entity or the first contact from an attorney of a plaintiff you are a had lad! They have got you by the throat! Best advise is never sign for such mail. Should someone sign and give you the mail do not open it! Take it back to the Post Office or letter carrier as refused. You are not under any legal obligation to have to open it and read the performance contract inside from an attorney or government entity! That is what freedom is about! You cannot be forced into a contract but once you open the letter you are bound by the one-sided quasi-contract inside and will pay through the nose defending yourself with high priced attorneys who can do little of nothing for you! Only sign for such mail if you know something important is coming to you from a source you want! In other words you open such mail at your own risk! Cite? (Can SovCit Zombies cite? I wonder…) ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rejecting-certified-mail/240778/29 "2017-02-02T09:10:25Z")
Gosh … isn’t that true for _all_ mail … what a lonely existence … ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rejecting-certified-mail/240778/30 "2017-02-02T09:11:32Z")
> [@Kegg](#): > > However, you must be carfull. I lived in an apartment house that was going to be torn down, and the owner notified the tennents by registered letter, as is the law. Some of the tennents refused dilevery because they thought that it would be > they werent notivied. They received a regular letter which said the the law only said that they had to SEND the registered letter, and even if the letter was regected, the law was satisfied > > * * * > > Spelling and grammer subject to change without notice. I’m in love … “regected” … [sigh] ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rejecting-certified-mail/240778/31 "2017-02-02T09:23:17Z")
Gotta love those sov-cits. Dare I ask what a _" a performance contract from a government entity"_ is. ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rejecting-certified-mail/240778/32 "2017-02-02T13:20:04Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > Gotta love those sov-cits. > > Dare I ask what a _" a performance contract from a government entity"_ is. That’s when they hire an orchestra to play at the municipal auditorium. It’s a pay for play arrangement. ---
**Author:** ![howye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9adbd/32.png) [@howye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/howye)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rejecting-certified-mail/240778/33 "2017-02-02T13:23:02Z")
> [@stock\_sniffer](#): > > I am going to give you people some very important legal advise! What is worse than signing for Registered or Certified Mail is opening it. The reason is should it be a performance contract from a government entity or the first contact from an attorney of a plaintiff you are a had lad! They have got you by the throat! Best advise is never sign for such mail. Should someone sign and give you the mail do not open it! Take it back to the Post Office or letter carrier as refused. You are not under any legal obligation to have to open it and read the performance contract inside from an attorney or government entity! That is what freedom is about! You cannot be forced into a contract but once you open the letter you are bound by the one-sided quasi-contract inside and will pay through the nose defending yourself with high priced attorneys who can do little of nothing for you! Only sign for such mail if you know something important is coming to you from a source you want! In other words you open such mail at your own risk! As an actual government attorney, thank you for starting my day off with a smile. If I send you a certified letter and it goes unclaimed, then I get to send a regular letter with a return receipt and move on to the next step. The next step is issuing an order denying or revoking some property interest. You of course have appeal rights in court but your refusal to claim the letter will make that appeal laughably short. On the other hand if the original letter is undeliverable, I have to either have it served through personal service or by publication. Neither of which is a great thing. Of course, the entire post I am replying to is nonsense but I have to pick one place to start pulling it apart at. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rejecting-certified-mail/240778/34 "2017-02-02T15:45:44Z")
Are SovCits like cicadas where they come around every 13 years to rise from dormancy and make mindless noise? Will this goof be back in 2030? In this case enquiring minds really don’t want to know. Climb back under the bark and hush up please. ---
**Author:** ![Mike\_Yanczysin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Mike\_Yanczysin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_Yanczysin)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2017, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rejecting-certified-mail/240778/35 "2017-03-09T20:35:09Z")
My advice is to stop worrying about it. A lot of certified mail is just routine crap that bureaucratic agencies use because they can. I received a notice from the P.O. about a certified letter that I had to sign for, which caused me to start fretting over whether some state office was persecuting me for some offense from years back. I used the USPS tracking system to try to find out who sent the letter, but could only discover that it came from a PO Box in Columbus. Called the local PO to see if they would give me the name of the agency that sent it, but they refused. So, after worrying about it for a week, I ingested a few brewskis to screw up my nerve and told the postal people to deliver it. After going through all the rigamarole and signing for it, I recklessly ripped open the letter to find that it was nothing more than a piece of paper I had sent to a state department as part of an application for home energy assistance. The agency had returned the document to me a few weeks before with a stern notice that they could not accept “originals.” The thing was actually a copy that I had made, so I sent it back to them with a snarky criticism that it was in fact a copy. Apparently, some jerk at the state office decided to engage in a childish game of one-ups-manship, and sent it back to me under official state imprimatur and certified mailing just to try to throw a scare into me. I guess he/she won. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rejecting-certified-mail/240778.md?page=1)