What to do with mail to former tenants?

[Sabine]

I know living in an apartment means that you will get the mail addressed to the former tenants. Normally it''s junk that the post office doesn''t bother to forward, and I just throw it out. But lately I''ve gotten mail that is more important addressed to a former tenant, and I don''t know what to do with it.

The first was a Christmas card. When it came, I wrote on it "incorrect address, please return to sender" and dropped it back in the mail. And the next day it arrived in my mailbox again. So I threw it out.

Today I got something addressed to the same person from Social Security, and it definitely doesn''t look like junk. Any ideas on what to do with it?

 

[jewelz617]

It really depends. What state is this in?

 

[kenny]

I cross a line through the old address.
Then I write NO LONGER AT THIS ADDRESS and drop it into a mail box when it is convenient for me.

 

[icekid]

Date: 12/28/2009 8:30:52 PM
Author: kenny
I cross a line through the old address.

Then I write NO LONGER AT THIS ADDRESS and drop it into a mail box when it is convenient for me.

Ditto. I''ve never had mail come back to us after doing this.

 

[ladypirate]

The reason it probably came back to you is that you didn''t cross out the bar code at the bottom--that''s what the mail sorting machines read and so it won''t always catch just the address being crossed out. We usually write "Please Forward", cross out any barcodes on the envelope and either take it to the post office or give it to our mailman.

 

[neatfreak]

We''re having this problem as the previous owners of our home apparently don''t have a forwarding address.

I also write no longer at this address, or more recently THEY DO NOT LIVE HERE ANYMORE! but we keep getting mail for them on an almost daily basis. It drives me nuts. We never get the same piece of mail back but our postman keeps delivering NEW mail for them!!! I don''t understand why they can''t just stop delivering their mail if they don''t live here...maybe it''s some kind of regulation or something...

 

[Dreamer_D]

*ssshhhhh....*

I throw it in the garbage.

 

[asscherisme]

Date: 12/28/2009 8:30:52 PM
Author: kenny
I cross a line through the old address.
Then I write NO LONGER AT THIS ADDRESS and drop it into a mail box when it is convenient for me.

Ditto.

I have owned my house for over 4 years and STILL get the occasional piece of mail for the former owner.

 

[KimberlyH]

It sounds like they didn''t put a forward order in with the post office if they''re sending the mail back after you''ve written "no longer at this address" on it. We try twice and then throw mail out (but have never received anything like social security documents, just junk and personal mail).

 

[miraclesrule]

I used to do what Kenny did, but after I bought my house, I would wait until I had a stack of mail and send them to the address where I knew the previous owner had moved. He actually wrote back and thanked me because one of the items contained a $700 escrow refund check.

You know what is really annoying? The fact that the US Postal department will not let you remove a tenants name from your address. I didn''t know this until I kicked out a roommate. He never changed his address at the post office and I would get all his collection notices, his tickets, and even had several random early morning process servers wake me up to serve papers to someone who hadn''t lived in my house for well over a year. I tried to get it changed and they wouldn''t let me. I was fired up about that.

I finally got a hold of the person who introduced the roommate to me when he was looking for a room and told him to contact the guy and change his address. It''s enough to deal with my own mail, I don''t want to be dealing with other peoples mail too.

 

[purrfectpear]

I had to face that this Christmas. I bought my condo in June from a lady that went to a nursing home. I noticed sometime in September that there was an obituary for her in the paper. Other than feeling sad, I thought that was that. In mid December I started getting Christmas cards addressed to her from all over the country. I''ve been crossing through the address, and writing Return to Sender. I just didn''t have the heart to say Deceased. I know those acquaintances would like to know, but I hated the thought of a returned Christmas card bringing the news

 

[miraclesrule]

Date: 12/28/2009 11:25:39 PM
Author: purrfectpear
I had to face that this Christmas. I bought my condo in June from a lady that went to a nursing home. I noticed sometime in September that there was an obituary for her in the paper. Other than feeling sad, I thought that was that. In mid December I started getting Christmas cards addressed to her from all over the country. I''ve been crossing through the address, and writing Return to Sender. I just didn''t have the heart to say Deceased. I know those acquaintances would like to know, but I hated the thought of a returned Christmas card bringing the news

Oh, that is so sad PP.

 

[monarch64]

Date: 12/28/2009 11:25:39 PM
Author: purrfectpear
I had to face that this Christmas. I bought my condo in June from a lady that went to a nursing home. I noticed sometime in September that there was an obituary for her in the paper. Other than feeling sad, I thought that was that. In mid December I started getting Christmas cards addressed to her from all over the country. I've been crossing through the address, and writing Return to Sender. I just didn't have the heart to say Deceased. I know those acquaintances would like to know, but I hated the thought of a returned Christmas card bringing the news

That IS really sad.

I sent a Christmas card to a really wonderful lady I had re-connected with (former co-worker) last holiday season and instead of the card coming back to me "return to sender," her longtime companion sent me a very nice Christmas card himself, along with a snapshot of her in her younger days and a note that mentioned she had passed away a few months' previously and his expression of sorrow. I don't cry often, but I burst into tears when I read it and was so glad he thought so much of her that he would take time to do something like that for me, one of HER long-lost friends. I posted a thread about it last December because I didn't quite know how to handle it. He handled me sending her a Christmas card after she died much more gracefully than I knew how. Sorry, that was totally off-topic.

I now live in a small town in the midwest and take for granted just being able to call the local post office and ask these types of questions. I'm glad PS supports a sub-forum in which we can ask and answer questions like these. Some topics may seem insignificant but I think there is such a safety net here as opposed to just googling your question as far as positive and helpful feedback sometimes. Sabine, I hope your question has been answered and you are able to resolve this. I also live in an apartment and have been dealing with this issue. I think it's important to observe the golden rule when it comes to mail and if it looks important to treat said piece of mail with sensitivity. ETA: meant to say whether it looks like a bill/statement or personal letter.

 

[reader]

Here is what to do.

Put a list of all the names of people receiving mail on a piece of paper and tape it to the inside lid of your mailbox/slot. Its the holidays, and they aren''t going to hire more replacement carriers for the folks that retire...I know some of the guys I work with are doing two or more routes a day, or helping on routes they rarely carry otherwise. I spent nine years as a sub carrier, and without my customers putting those notes inside the lids I had no idea when people would move out and back...longest I spent without working a particular route was six years. Carrier broke her leg two weeks before Christmas, and every sub was too busy in their own offices. I live over an hour from that town too! Things like this happen more often than you think.

Get a thick black marker. On the front of the envelope is a black barcode, the rear has an orange one. Cross out both! Write on it ANK or UAA. If the carrier just picks it up with the rest of the collection mail and it goes back into processing, the machines can''t read or print barcodes on black and it will have to kick that letter to a manual letter clerk. The clerks are supposed to give it back to the carrier so it can be sent via a central forwarding unit back to the sender. I am a ''bad'' clerk. I just pop it back into the slot for the zip code of the sender so they will get the letter back in two days instead of a week.

 

[Sabine]

Ugh, good suggestions everyone (and PP, so sad!) but this social security envelope doesn''t have any processing barcodes on the envelope at all! Where a stamp would be, it says presorted first class mail. So I guess if I want to get it forwarded, I''d have to take it to the actual post office, which is NOT a convenient trip for me (our mail man comes at different times every day, I don''t think I''d be able to catch him.

 

[tlh]

Date: 12/28/2009 8:36:51 PM
Author: icekid

Date: 12/28/2009 8:30:52 PM
Author: kenny
I cross a line through the old address.

Then I write NO LONGER AT THIS ADDRESS and drop it into a mail box when it is convenient for me.

Ditto. I''ve never had mail come back to us after doing this.

Ditto. I typically write "No longer at this address, please return to sender." and if my address is crossed out, I don''t get it back... I think it is because of the automated processes that it may be returned if you don''t cross out the address.

 

[LilyKat]

Return any official-looking documents to the sender (just cross through the address and write "return to sender, addressee no longer lives here"). The person it was meant for can get into a whole lot of trouble for "ignoring" official mail, so I always take the trouble to do this. Also, if it relates to a debt owed by the former tenant, if you don''t inform the debt companies that they don''t live at the address any more, you''re putting yourself at risk.

 

[reader]

Put a half inch wide strip of black marker front and back anyway. It will be forced to a manual clerk that way. It will get kicked out to a human at the plant level, not the street level

Make sure to put UAA on the front.

 

[VRBeauty]

Date: 12/30/2009 1:52:50 AM
Author: reader
Put a half inch wide strip of black marker front and back anyway. It will be forced to a manual clerk that way. It will get kicked out to a human at the plant level, not the street level


Make sure to put UAA on the front.

Ditto. Reader knows whereof he or she writes.

I had an official-looking envelope that was mistakenly delivered to me two or three times, no matter what I wrote on it. I finally took it to the post office... the clerk just obliterated the coding on the bottom of the envelope with a thick black marker and tossed the envelope into the bin. He explained to me that the envelope kept finding its way back to me because of the coding. I guess he was right... I never saw it again!

So Reader... what do UAA and ANK stand for?

 

[ringthing!]

UAA=Undeliverable as addressed
ANK=Attempted, not known


Miraclesrule: Once you let your post office know that your roommate no longer lived there, a Moved, Left No Address form can be submitted by your letter carrier. Then the roommate''s mail will be returned to sender.

 

[Bella_mezzo]

Ooohhhh, thanks for the tips, I have the same problem!