# Why do I keep getting my brother's mail? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 17, 2010, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-keep-getting-my-brothers-mail/564446 "2010-12-17T00:10:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Faelyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c77e96/32.png) [@Faelyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Faelyn)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-keep-getting-my-brothers-mail/564446/1 "2010-12-17T00:10:49Z")
Ok, so in September I moved to an apartment that is an hour away from where my brother lives (with our mom & stepdad). He knows where I live, but has no idea of the address. I wouldn’t mind him knowing, but he just doesn’t care to, and I don’t care that he feels this way. He has never had an address change in his adult life, he’s lived at the same house since we built it in 1999. In the past three weeks I’ve started receiving mail for him. Addressed to _him_, but with _my_ address! I wonder if it has to do with our last name? It’s a very unusual name and as far as we know we’re in the only ones in this part of the state who carry it. All the mail has come from banks/businesses that he has never even contacted, let alone done business with. He has no idea why this is happening, and neither do I. Any ideas? ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-keep-getting-my-brothers-mail/564446/2 "2010-12-17T15:42:24Z")
Databases with his name are searching for potential addresses for him. You and he at one time shared an address. They find your address and put it with his, since you shared an address at one time. I’m assuming that it is junk mail, as you described. I still get mail addressed to my ex-wife mailed to my current address, even though she’s changed her name and never lived at my current address. In fact we haven’t lived together in over 9 years, and that was 3 addresses ago. This irks my current wife. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-keep-getting-my-brothers-mail/564446/3 "2010-12-17T15:44:27Z")
I keep getting mail for my brother’s ex-wife for the same reason, who I barely knew and haven’t seen since I was in college. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-keep-getting-my-brothers-mail/564446/4 "2010-12-17T15:55:56Z")
My mother has an unusual last name, through marriage. She keeps getting mail for a “Linda \_\_\_” at her address, but no one has any idea in the world who she is. Mostly junk mail, and it seems Linda was in the military, but there are no addresses, phone numbers, or any other way to track down the mysterious “Linda”. Linda, if you’re out there, your mail is in a box on mom’s back porch. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-keep-getting-my-brothers-mail/564446/5 "2010-12-17T16:56:54Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > Mostly junk mail > > \ > > Linda, if you’re out there, your mail is in a box on mom’s back porch. Is your mom seriously saving junk mail for someone she doesn’t even know? Legitimate mail should be returned to sender. ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-keep-getting-my-brothers-mail/564446/6 "2010-12-17T17:06:23Z")
You can mark it “RTS - ANK” for “Return to Sender - Addressee Not Known” and it won’t come back. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-keep-getting-my-brothers-mail/564446/7 "2010-12-17T17:25:10Z")
I still get mail for someone I rented a room to 18 years ago. He moved out, changed addresses a couple times, and died a few years later. Getting dead peoples mail is just… strange. ---
**Author:** ![Cayuga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Cayuga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cayuga)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-keep-getting-my-brothers-mail/564446/8 "2010-12-18T00:37:45Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Getting dead peoples mail is just… strange. My dad died nine years ago and I still occasionally get mail for him. Doesn’t bother me. It’s mostly junk mail from the same three or four organizations, plus his alumni magazine. I deliberately did not let his alma mater know he died. It’s not that I read the magazine; it’s just that I want to see if someday they’ll try to contact him as the oldest living (as far as they know) alumnus. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-keep-getting-my-brothers-mail/564446/9 "2010-12-18T02:52:50Z")
I sometimes get my brother’s mail because he committed identity theft against be about 11 years ago (it wasn’t a popular term then). So now my credit history has a shared, common address with him from back then (and I’m tired of refuting it on my credit history; it keeps coming back). Therefore the collection agencies somehow know that someone with my last name lives at my current address, and they send his collection notices to me. Well, knowing my brother, I’m just assuming that they’re collection notices (I throw out nearly 100% of all of my mail unopened, which includes absolutely 100% of his). Quite frankly, I wish I could just opt out of mail delivery completely. Edit: also, at least his crap doesn’t show up on my credit report, so I no longer care about fighting over false previous addresses. ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-keep-getting-my-brothers-mail/564446/10 "2010-12-18T06:12:22Z")
> [@Cayuga](#): > > My dad died nine years ago and I still occasionally get mail for him. Doesn’t bother me. > > It’s mostly junk mail from the same three or four organizations, plus his alumni magazine. I deliberately did not let his alma mater know he died. It’s not that I read the magazine; it’s just that I want to see if someday they’ll try to contact him as the oldest living (as far as they know) alumnus. If you really don’t read the alumni magazine, you probably shouldn’t bother. They’d probably run his name through the Social Security Death Index long before it gets to that point. ---
**Author:** ![Cayuga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Cayuga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cayuga)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-keep-getting-my-brothers-mail/564446/11 "2010-12-18T12:27:33Z")
> [@Erdosain](#): > > They’d probably run his name through the Social Security Death Index long before it gets to that point. Holy buzzkill, Batman. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-keep-getting-my-brothers-mail/564446/12 "2010-12-18T14:14:16Z")
I sometimes get a letter from a charity addressed to my deceased m-i-l - 24 years ago! - c/o our address (had her mail forwarded to us after her death for a while). My dead m-i-l gets more mail than I do, sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2010, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-i-keep-getting-my-brothers-mail/564446/13 "2010-12-18T18:39:25Z")
People, you can contact the senders and ask them to take these names and addresses off their mailing lists. Really. They don’t want to waste materials and labor and postage sending stuff to people that aren’t there.