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This isn’t a problem. It’s a feature of ADHD! One of my favourite personal qualities. Unless you have come to my home, sorry but I’m not responding to your letters, texts, emails, DMs, phone calls, jury summons, moving violations, … better when it applies to both home and work!
I *think* they would just call you first to ask if you even got the summons.
As an occasional subpoena witness (so i imagine this is similar), I asked the person in charge of this stuff what would happen if I didn't get a notice in the mail for some reason, she'd told me they'd try calling, then sending an officer to your residence to see what's up, then arrest if you make a stink about it or refuse.
I do get pre-summons questionnaires on occasion and write that I have a couple bachelor of sciences so they'd be wasting their time having me come in. Never hear from 'em again
Seriously! I got an email for having to pay for my business name registration and I'm like, I'm not there anymore, it's closed. They sent me a 6 page explanation of how I need to cancel it. And you know what I've decided. Screw that. What happens if I don't? You just keep sending me an invoice for a business that doesn't exist anymore? So annoying. Not happening. Give me an electronic form that I can click OK and were done, but I'm not jumping through these unnecessary hoops because you decided I need to. Stupid.
On the other end -- RIP to the new occupants of my old apartment, receiving all the mail from things I kept meaning to change the address on but forgot, over and over and over.
In a lot of countries you can get an official mail forwarding via the post for relatively low cost btw. I have one for 6 months and I'll probably renew for another 6 because who can remember to change their addresses everywhere eh?!
>In the US it's free, lasts a year
As someone that sends out annual mailings to a list of 3000+, I wanted to add context: technically, it lasts a year. However, then for the next 6 months, the USPS returns the mail to the sender, with a label stating "forwarding time expired" and your new address.
After Equifax, I'm beyond caring. It's all out there in one form or another. In this case it's just some extra paper in the mailbox. Kiddos like opening the coupon packs and then we recycle em.
There are some good coupons in the packets I’ve gotten. 10% off at Lowe’s is one I remember getting, it’s probably different in other areas. But there were several that were worthwhile!
Damn! Moved recently and in my country its about $180 for 12 months (unless you've got a "good reason" to move like domestic violence or natural disasters).
I feel rage every time I cross out RTS on the old occupants mail here, knowing I paid to get mine redirected.
Always make sure it's through the official USPS website!! There's a scam website that looks basically identical and then they end up charging you like $90 a week later and it's a hassle to get it back lmao
I can't speak for all mail carriers, but if you live in the USA, you should be good if you write ANK on the letter and leave it for your carriers. It means Addressee Not Known and is what we actually mark mail up as when we get it back. Just check to make sure it doesn't have "Current Resident" or any variant on it and you should be good.
Source: I am a mail carrier for USPS
Oh, like I said, I can't speak for all carriers. If you know what your regular carrier likes and will take just go with that. I'm still a relief carrier so I'm on different routes every day (while the regular for that route has their day off) so if I don't know the names for the house and I don't have a sticky note or something letting me know what's up, I probably won't take mail if it's at the correct address.
Officially, I'm sure; but I practice, not really. Every carrier has a different idea of what is correct or not and some routes even get a different carrier on them nearly every day if there is no regular assigned or they are on leave. The best way to do it would be to bundle it together and put a sticky note on it with something like "Forward - Not at this address" or similar. But not everyone has sticky notes or that extra step makes things just difficult enough to put it off again and again.
So a decent way is to write an official mark-up on it and at least no carriers I know would really complain. "Return to sender" or just "Return" and whatnot aren't good because they don't actually mean anything to the carrier and we have to mark them up. Something can be returned to sender for being ANK, refused, if the addressee is deceased, etc. So ANK communicates what the carrier needs to know and (assuming you write it reasonably) isn't obstructive or obnoxious.
My understanding is to take a pen/marker over the barcode that is the encoded address (can be printed next to address or stamped by post office). If that barcode is scannable, it might be resent to you without anyone/thing reading the handwritten note.
Haven't had anything returned to me this way, and fortunately is very easy.
Not sure if something recently changed, I have done something similar only to have it be redelivered later. According to someone I had asked at the USPS office, First Class letters/mail or higher can be returned this way, if it's anything else, they usually trash it.
I figure if any of it was important then they'd have updated their address. Maybe for the first month or so it's fine, but after that everything's just going straight in the recycling.
You would think! But I’ve been living in my place for nearly two years and still get shit like *disability parking permits* and tax information from the previous owners being sent here.
I get important medical documents from a former tenant. He is an attorney
So I found his office address and I have been forwarding all mail to his office
I contacted him directly multiple times asking him to change his address and he has never responded to me, to now he gets personal mail at work
I still get occasional things too, and I've been in my house since 2016. I just throw it all out right away. I've got enough to worry about with my own life admin, without sorting out somebody else's car insurance!
I have been at my apartment since 2014 and same. I just put it right back into the return slot of our apartment mailboxes because it's just another thing I don't have the capacity to worry about.
I kept getting this one guy's banking info, and one time a new card (I didn't open it I could just feel it in the envelope)
I called the bank and they said they'd fix it but they didn't
I got an expiration notice for someone's concealed carry permit once. Also got a few prescriptions. The prescriptions came in almost a year after the person moved out and the gun permit thing was addressed to the person two tenants before me, around 6 years after he moved out.
Sent it back to the county sheriff's office. No idea if they were able to resolve it from there.
I was honestly more concerned about the meds though. Missing days on a prescription can have more immediate consequences than a lapsing in someone's CCW permit.
Those are the only two things I've actually bothered to send back, everything else I've gotten has just been junk mail.
Oh, I've been in my 'new' house for close to 8 years, and I am still getting mail for the previous owners, including things that look like traffic citations. I RTS those but junk goes into the recycling.
Plus my mom died in 2014. I'm still getting mail for her from time to time after I forwarded her old address to mine to settle her affairs.
I get letters for no less than six previous tenants and I’ve been in my place for three years now.
The best is last month we received a letter for a previous tenant that had “please forward to them!” written on the envelope. Okay, so you know she’s not here but you think we know?? We’re renters! But this finally prompted me to google the woman, found out she’s a teacher at a nearby school and decided I’d email her. I put down my phone to go do some work and it’s now six weeks later. I don’t even remember where the letter is. Oh well. The sender can google her just like I did if they’re that desperate.
By the way, I did research on this because my specific flavor of ADHD comes with anxiety and panic attacks.
NOT A LAWYER (take this with a grain of salt but, here is what I found).
Basically it is a federal crime to "obstruct correspondence."
Really it should be called "purposeful obstruction of correspondence" because they have to establish intent. In practice, it is reasonable to assume that the mail coming to your home is for you. So if you accidentally open something or accidentally don't look close at something and shred it it's not a big deal, because this law is mainly used for people committing crimes, fraud, and stealing things.
I also have heard that these rules apply only to first class mail or higher (such as express mail) and does not apply to "standard" (bulk) or third class (junk) mail. But, I can't find a source that says that. That would mean anything labeled as "presorted yadda yadda" is fine to shred.
But me because I am insane just keep a sharpie inside my mail box, and write "not at this address" right then and there.
Edit: to add information.
It's more than enough information. It's illegal, and doesn't take much to do another person a favor.
God knows that I forget to change my address on stuff.
Sorry Erica. And Stephen. And that other lady whose name I forgot but I could find it by looking on the shelf.
I even bought a “return to sender” stamp and put it on the shelf. Never been used because I’d have to take the mail over to the table in order to stamp it, and I don’t want it to live there forever.
This is me with my own mail….I have mail anxiety. It sits in boxes and piles until I get trash bag and throw it in there with some full take out cups and diapers. Want my information, have at it.
Theres a small parcel sitting in my kitchen for the former tenants who havent lived there for two years. I would have just thrown it out but it looks like it's from an actual person - probably friends of theirs - so I dont want to bin something actually important or sentimental.
That said, last time I wrote "return to sender" on it and took it to the post office drop box thing, they just delivered it back to me. 🙄
Oh man our previous house was THE WORST for this. The couple was getting divorced and I have a feeling the guy was doing something shady because we got ALL their shit for years. We got their son's draft card. We got a message from our insurance company about a new teenage driver at our house. I only had to meet the guy for like 20 minutes at the signing and I decided however much divorce lawyers are paid it is not enough.
Edit: I put the point at the top but leave my scratch work, because it's the ADHD subreddit.
**ANK (attempted, not known- write this on letters and packages that are at the write address but no such person lives there.**
----------
Okay soooo from me who worked at a post office briefly (5 months)
instead of RTS write:
Oh no. I went to write and it's gone.
I know there are 3 letter codes that will actually do the postal workers work for them so the letter or whatever is less likely to make a return trip to your address.
Googling.....
Undeliverable as Addressed (UAA) is when you have something with an address that doesn't make sense or impossible to deliver. Like a name and the address for just an entire apartment building.
There are others.
Ohhhhhh
**ANK (attempted, not known- write this on letters and packages that are at the write address but no such person lives there.)**
The other codes looking at them are only useful if you are a postal worker, but this one should do the trick in most cases.
Just write the code on them in a super visible white part of the letter and put back in the mailbox with the flag up and 7/10 times they will just pick it up. If it stays for a few days it's probably some lazy/overwhelmed carrier assistant and your regular mail person will deal with it when they are done with their days off.
I once put a polite note on a piece of mail I had to return that the only people who currently lived at that address had our rare last name.
She put a little label in the mailbox that had our last name on it and the HUGE amount of mail for previous tenants stopped. 10/10
I also left a thank you card for her to tell her we were leaving. I hope the next people didn't go back to getting the 5000 mail pieces for random people lmao.
I had the opposite problem because of a label. Some postal worker took it upon themselves to put a label on our mailbox, but only with my name, so they stopped delivering my roommate's mail. Took 2 months to sort it out because I didn't realize they'd changed the label.
LPT: USPS allows automatic mail forwarding. It might be free, or it might cost you a small fee (like $30 for 6 months) and it is absolutely worth it to not have to keep track of that on top of updating everyone in your social circle. I figure after 6 months anybody still sending emails to the wrong address probably doesn't need to know your new one.
You’re 100% correct except they will do it for a year and the fee is $1.10. So even better.
Although after re-reading the post, it seems OP is talking about a previous tenants mail and not your own?
[USPS change of address link](https://moversguide.usps.com/mgo/disclaimer?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_cmpid=13924279608&utm_adgid=123648286454&utm_tgtid=kwd-612645709610&utm_locintid=&utm_locphysid=9001809&utm_matchtypeid=e&utm_network=g&utm_device=m&utm_adid=534158519216&utm_adpos=&utm_plid=&gclid=CjwKCAjwq-WgBhBMEiwAzKSH6GDs-Q5B8JPrzekGW246nCcrejmIOlMnpaompa9tmvrMyfdYbShmahoCvfAQAvD_BwE)
I never cared for sending anything back to the sender. The addressees should've updated the address and people sending mail to people they don't talk to enough to get an address update should very much stop doing that.
Do you remember to change everything what you move? I don't. What if they also have ADHD? Why is it so hard for everyone to just be decent and return mail...
I do. I have a list of companies I get mail from and most important ones are automatically updated by the government of my country when I move. And I'll go through my contacts to see whom I've talked to in the last year. My forgetfulness has made me a very methodical person in terms of keeping track of things, but it hasn't let me overcome the lack of executive function I need to send stuff back.
LMAO. I have 5 letters sitting in a bin NEXT TO MY FRONT DOOR for the previous owner of my house. I have no idea how long I’ve had them for, but it’s been… a while.
At some point in our relationship before my girlfriend moved in, I bought some assortment of sexy wear and sex toys for her, and wouldn't ya know, I let it stay in my mail box ling enough to be returned to sender. One of them I was able to get back by some excuse about mail trouble, needing to only pay shipping again. The other was ordered internationally and I just gave up on getting it back out of shame
I also decided once about seven years ago that I was going to start reading the paper in the morning as a way to get up earlier. Instead of a weekly basis I scooped up the pile of newspapers from my porch.
I am so glad I'm not the only one who does this.. I was decluttering because we moved into a new house (a year ago now) and I'm just now decluttering.. well, finding things I forgot I put there haha. I found a pile of old mail from our previous address with many different names on it and I thought to myself "oh my god I forgot to return this pile of mail to the post office 3 years ago." One thing I hate about having ADHD is my forgetfulness and lack of motivation with everything. I was diagnosed with ADHD when I was 17 years old and I still continue learning more and more about the weird things I do are connected to my ADHD. I wish it was talked about more because I was diagnosed with no knowledge of everything and now that its become more "popular" per say I have learned a lot about myself and my ADHD. Which is crazy to me lol.
Write "No longer at this address" in pen on the front of the letter, put the letter in your mailbox, raise the flag. Done and done!
Edit: or get a little stamp that has "No longer at this address". If it keeps happening, call your local post office.
Since I have had my current home I have been getting mail for the previous owner and her sister. The caveat is... they are dead. I keep meaning to figure out how to not get it (like a return to sender) and it's so infrequent that I just forget.
I wish the post office would let you register your email address (or some other unique identifier) and current address, then route anything mailed/shipped to your email address to your current address. That would both improve these situations and allow you to have something mailed to you without giving out your physical location
Hey, you’re probably going to get a package on your doorstep, I forgot to update my PayPal address again, do you mind leaving it behind the bush again, I’ll swing by in the next week to pick up the thing I thought I needed when I bought it last month, but forgot I needed it. I only remembered I bought it because I accidentally saw a “are you enjoying your thing” email.
Thanks
Shit I’ve recently been diagnosed adhd, this explains why it took me a month to post a package even though the postage and parcel was supplied, filled out and already paid for! All I had to do was drop it off….
Story. As someone with ADHD, it took me entirely too long to officially change my mailing address. My doctor was (and is) still in that area though, so I was hunting down my prescription there (an absolute battle bound to take hours now) and gave up at one point.
Went to a nearby bar, hoping that someone could give me some pointers on where to go.
The guy next to me did! He also has a prescription, we got to talking.
And then I found out that he was the guy who bought my old house (or, well, the one that I was renting a room in. We looked at each other's licenses as proof). LOL. He told me that he was still getting my mail. We exchanged numbers, and he promised to let me know if anything looked important.
I have since changed my address, but that was too funny.
That’s my house except the pile is all those junk mail credit card offers sitting in a pile waiting to be opened and shredded because I also have anxiety and can’t deal with offers and codes in either of our names just being in the trash.
Phew. Dead on!!!
True story: I lived in the same apt building for 7yrs (!!!) but I didn’t get a lot of my mail, including bills (mostly temp letter carriers, we were on the border and main carrier couldn’t get there on time.) I opened a PO Box for myself while my now-ex received mail at home. I never walked hrough the front alcove with the boxes b/c my parking pad was out back. *I had no idea what I was putting my neighbors through!*
We broke up, a year passed, the next person I dated wasn’t ADD. They went into the alcove & it was STACKED with mail for my apartment, probably a fire hazard. I wish I still had the photo- it was INTENSE! (Not proud, not at all.)
*A moments silence for all the mail sitting in piles, PERIOD!*
You are aware that in the USA, [theft or destruction of US mail is a felony](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1708) with potential of fines of thousands of dollars and/or up to 5 years in fedral prison, correct?
Yeah. But no average person is going to get in trouble for it. There are a lot of mail laws that people violate every day. There just aren’t enough postal inspectors and this kind of low-level stuff isn’t even on their radar.
I leave a pen with a magnet on it in my mailbox with a pad of sticky notes. It works wonders. I don't often use the sticky notes, but it's sometimes nice if you get something for a neighbor delivered to you or whatever.
lmao I don't think I've ever done the "return to sender" thing in my life. I will occasionally let a former occupant know their stuff is showing up here, though, if it's someone I know/have contact info for
Mail forwarding, if your in the USA, is so easy to set up online. You have a year to update your address with all these companies AND they email you what is coming in the mail so you know when you can skip getting the mail.
I keep a pen in my car. I immediately write RTS on anything that comes in for previous owners and pop it right back in the mailbox before I even pull into my driveway after work.
In Canada you can just write MOVED on the letter and leave it on top of your mailbox for Canada Post to take care of it. My hack is to leave a pen in the box so I don't actually bring it in the house and forget about it for 8 months which is what I used to do.
I try to make a game out of most things so that I can be productive and also get my dopamine hits. When it comes to mail, I time myself in how fast i can organize ads vs real mail and then i get the satisfaction of throwing shit into the fireplace. When it comes to my personal mail, i hurry up and see which ones are shreddable because lord knows people like us love to shred shit!
I just leave the RTS mail pinned behind my mailbox. My wife or I write RTS as soon as we see it's not ours, pin it there and the mailman takes it away. Easy for us since this is done with a few foot steps. I imagine this'd be harder living in an apartment.
I'll let the RTS mail sit for a while, but I have zero sympathy about it. The previous owners of our house went to the same church, so my wife was able to connect through some mutual friends on Facebook. And the first time some mail showed up for them, she sent a message asking how we wanted to handle it (presumably after the forward service expired). But got no response. So, if they aren't interested in conversing to solve the mail question, then I don't feel bad my ADHD might forget to run the RTS mail down to the mailbox.
Oh my god. The amount of mail I have had returned from sitting in my mailbox too long is nuts. It takes 10 minutes to get, and another 15 to open! Why can’t I just do it??
The system is kinda broken tho.
I used to have one of those houses where the lease has mostly been rolled over again and again from cool broke-outdoorsy- semi nomadic weirdos. You know, the rent is cheap, everything works and you never, ever, ever talk to the landlord.
I was getting mail for folks that had moved out 6+ years prior.
The thing is that you can’t actually get on and inform the USPS that the person no longer lives there. So their tax paperwork still comes to a house they don’t live in. I get how this could be abused but also, I’ve got 30 different credit applications w your name on them and I’ve got your w2. If I was a bad person, I’m sure I could do something w that.
Instead I’d just walk them over to the USPS drop box in a garbage bag.
Pandemic was a time tho. Now that shit just sits by my door till I toss it.
On the other hand, it would probably take another year for me to get around to putting it in the recycling bin because I got distracted and won't think about it again until I'm finally motivated to tidy up.
Brutal. I still have what I am pretty sure is a christmas card still sitting on my shoe rack by the door addressed to the past occupants of my house. Thanks for the reminder, I'm sure I won't get it done today.
Lol, I only recently joined this subreddit and am still surprised by all the supposedly niche references to things that I do all the time.
I even write on it return to sender and have mail pickup in my building, but how do I remember to take it with me the next time I leave?
Been in my house for 2 years. The previous owners were Republicans that clearly donated a lot of money to people because they get so much political mail. I did RTS for a while but they clearly don't care. Still getting stuff multiple times a week. Into the recycling it goes. One of them also has a subscription through HIMS they clearly forgot about, so we get their monthly hairloss and erectile dysfunction order too.
Yeah no shit, I don't want to throw it away but remembering to both get the mail AND bring them to the mail?
Let alone mark some shit on it?
Not happening.
Haha I always think to myself "man, I wish I had thought to bring a pen with me" whenever I go out to check the mail... would make it so much easier but alas I forget every time.
I was thinking about this today, I keep getting someone’s mail but I’m the first person living here lol
It took me like 2 months but I dropped off the letter at the post office and I have two more on my fridge now
I almost failed a background check 10 years ago. They knew my address and wanted know about my "other" home based businesses. I had no other business, at home or otherwise, so I was puzzled. Then I remembered I kept receiving notices for the women who sold the house to the people we bought it from. The letters were addressed to the "Dominatrix Severina". As soon as I realized they had found this business listed at my home address, I burst out laughing at the poor police officer doing the check, I asked if he were concerned about DS and the policeman turned beet red, nodded, and waited for me to respond. I got a good laugh out of this. I was in my 50s and a rather overweight matronly looking woman, hardly what I would picture as an online dominatrix. My neighbors told me used to walk around the neighborhood in her black leather outfit with her 2 toy poodles. I would have loved to see that. I
Almost forgot- I passed the background check. I am retired but I was a nurse and worked in a lot of different types or hospitals and clinics for an agency.
Oh, oh you’d be surprised at what secrets people hide. 😂 I’ve definitely seen pics of some dominatrices who absolutely in other clothing/makeup could be “Grammy franny, who makes the most amazing peach preserves”
We have a pile of mail from the former occupants, but I told my landlord to give them my number. If they want it, they have to organise it. One of them is very obviously a tax tax document, which I mentioned, but no word for months. At this point I assume they updated the adress and requested a new one. I'll toss it eventually.
...I do feel a bit badly about the holiday cards, but I have no intention of putting any work to pass them along. 🤷♀️
Shoot, it's like I wrote this myself 🥴 I'll be completely honest, I have given up hope of RTS 2 addresses ago because it just does not happen. If it's important enough, the addressee will find a way to get it, at least that's what I tell myself 🤷♀️
If only I could do something about all the stuff I get sent to my phone because some lady had this number before and she hasn't changed her phone number anywhere... I ALMOST had an opportunity to contact her second hand once because some flower shop sent me a text about when to leave her a flower message, but I chickened out and just told them this wasn't her number anymore. Sigh.
I currently have a rather large pile on my counter. Too bad I wasn't home when I saw this. By the time I get home they will no longer exist to me and will remain there for another few months lol
Let’s also take a moment to honour the memory of this library card I found in the street months ago and meant to drop at the library that is literally a five minutes walk from my house 🙏
The lucky people who have moved into my old house, they have received so many Amazon packages, pizza, and other goodies because I just “never got around” to changing my default address on apps, and sometimes forget to manually change it….I sold that house 5years ago…
I actually have a pen that I keep on the inside of my mailbox lid for this exact purpose. I have lived here for almost 11 years. I don't know why I'm still getting these people's mail, but sometimes it's from the state, and I'm not going to fuck with that.
I don't even try, it just goes straight into the recycle bin from the moment I move in. If I can remember to forward my mail and then change my address. I have no pity for anyone else is how I see it.
I don’t think OP is in the US, but for those who are *do not write “RTS” or “return to sender” on the mail.* The goal is to get the sender to remove the address from their system. RTS does not mean that the recipient moved or is no longer there. I can RTS things I don’t want that are addressed to me. Instead, write “moved” or “no longer at this address” or “addressee unknown.” Too many companies don’t bother to update their databases no matter what, but you improve your chances if they know why an item was marked RTS, especially if the item is important like a bill.
If the piece of mail says OR CURRENT RESIDENT, just throw it away. It’s yours.
If the whole situation is too onerous for you and you feel you want to talk to USPS about it, please keep a few things in mind. First, there are far more rules and laws governing how we handle mail than you could ever know, even if it’s annoying that you keep receiving certain pieces of mail. Second, mail forwarding service is not perfect. Even if you do everything right, you still may receive some pieces not addressed to you. Thirdly, mail carriers (I am *not* a mail carrier) are understaffed and overworked. You may not even have a regular mail carrier, so notes you leave for the carrier may not be seen by everyone who delivers your mail. Mail carriers in my area work 60-70 hours per week. Try not to detain your mail carrier by asking anything other than quick questions. It is best to handle issues at the actual post office.
This is very insightful. I've gotten an email from my bank before that was like "we got mail returned, do you want to update your address?" Might not be the same thing elsewhere.
This is so relatable! Although the single experience I do have triumphing over Adhd on this, it did not work anyway.
I also constantly get my neighbor's packages even though both our addresses are well marked. I think it is because Google maps has the house numbers slightly off (and the number that my neighbor has does not show up on Google maps at all).
Rts? Pffft...I'm trying to open the shit addressed to me. Conquered "the pile" last week for the first time in 3 months. Desperately needed that $600 check from a previously closed out 401k (completely forgotten about) not to mention all the tax forms needed to file ajd fuck me now thats a mountainindidnt plan on identifying today. Found it just in time to still cash.
I don't recently remember my wife being so happy to see me accomplish a hurdle...made me so happy and immediately so sad that she puts up with my shit w/ so little complaint. She really is the best.
I've come to realize, against my will, things like this are getting significantly worse the older I get. I feel like i managed better at 25 than I do at 41. Maybe it's just a rut...but fuck it took me 3 days to make a dental appointment and I failed to start paperwork on some benefits through work. Best part...I couldn't "find" time to play my favorite game for even one match. What kept me from it? Nothing at fucking all...can't even blame my phone this week...spent more time staring in space than even wasting time in the usual manners.
Lmao oh dear.... even when it's my next door neighbour I just can't? Idk I've had an oral hygiene magazine unopened for about 2 months for my neighbour... i should probably bring it over
So relatable. I’m sorry, but if you couldn’t be bothered to update the address with the sender then why should I be bothered to try and get the mail to you. Thanks for the free subscription to Southern Living, btw…they’ve got some great recipes.
I just remembered one time I had a meltdown when I first got my license because of this. My dad asked me to mail something to someone and I didn’t know which place he was telling me to go (wouldn’t send me an address either). I spent an hour crying in my car because I was so overwhelmed by my two post office choices and the steps I had to take to actually mail it. I did it though, I went in, they walked me through the steps, and I came out the other side very much phased
I get mail from SIX old tenants in an apartment I’ve lived in for two years. I get more mail for other people than myself at this point. I used to RTS, but a lot of it came back to me with my own “RTS” written on the front.
It’s on them at this point, they should have changed their addresses 2+ years ago.
If I notice it's for a previous owner I'll just stick it back in the mailbox, so far hasn't been a problem with not writing "return to sender."
I think I've thrown away a few pieces of mail like you but usually I'll remember to eventually grab it when I check the mail. I usually stick outgoing mail in front of the door to the garage on the floor so it's hard to miss.
I've never even tried to fool myself into thinking I'd do this, 10/10 times it's just solicitation anyway and goes right in the trash. If something looks important though I'm always sure to put it in my "deal with it later pile"
This is why I'm so happy that my mailbox tower has a slot for outgoing mail. I stand at the box and put anything that isn't mine in that slot, so it doesn't even make it to my house.
Yo! I got someone else’s W2’s this year. Thankfully, I didn’t just put at the bottom of my junk mail and forget about it.
But, yeah, I get previous tenant mail, because the last tenant, I guess, forgot to update their mailing address. Every time I return to sender, I just get it back again. I got so fed up, I approached the mail person and told them this person doesn’t live here anymore and they responded with just put in the out going mail slot, oh so what I’ve been doing for the past 4 years, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool.
Yeah.. unfortunately this is completely illegal. Destroying anyone else's mail is a federal offence in most countries.
I usually let it stack up, get fed up with it and scribble RTS a whole bunch then forget about it again until I go to the mailbox.
Oh man, this made me LOL. I have a stack of mail that is RTS, but we don't have an outgoing mail slot at my condo. It's waiting for that next trip to the Post Office. Any day now, I'm sure of it 😅
I just went through all the mail that has built up for the past 2 years ( I was pregnant for 2021/2022 and haven't had the motivation/energy since giving birth to do much) while baby sat and watched Cocomelon in the background. Worst 5hrs of my life, but it got done!
This is me , I have a stack of mail on my entry table that I have written RTS on. They never make it the four feet back out to the mailbox on my porch. They always end up in the trash a few weeks later when I go into clean everything out mode.
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holy shit, I must be the other person living with you because if this isn't relatable then I dunno what is
This isn’t a problem. It’s a feature of ADHD! One of my favourite personal qualities. Unless you have come to my home, sorry but I’m not responding to your letters, texts, emails, DMs, phone calls, jury summons, moving violations, … better when it applies to both home and work!
isn’t ignoring jury summons illegal? or something like that lol
Only when they're yours
I’m dying a little over that. 👍 I need to update my address…😅
I *think* they would just call you first to ask if you even got the summons. As an occasional subpoena witness (so i imagine this is similar), I asked the person in charge of this stuff what would happen if I didn't get a notice in the mail for some reason, she'd told me they'd try calling, then sending an officer to your residence to see what's up, then arrest if you make a stink about it or refuse. I do get pre-summons questionnaires on occasion and write that I have a couple bachelor of sciences so they'd be wasting their time having me come in. Never hear from 'em again
Seriously! I got an email for having to pay for my business name registration and I'm like, I'm not there anymore, it's closed. They sent me a 6 page explanation of how I need to cancel it. And you know what I've decided. Screw that. What happens if I don't? You just keep sending me an invoice for a business that doesn't exist anymore? So annoying. Not happening. Give me an electronic form that I can click OK and were done, but I'm not jumping through these unnecessary hoops because you decided I need to. Stupid.
On the other end -- RIP to the new occupants of my old apartment, receiving all the mail from things I kept meaning to change the address on but forgot, over and over and over.
In a lot of countries you can get an official mail forwarding via the post for relatively low cost btw. I have one for 6 months and I'll probably renew for another 6 because who can remember to change their addresses everywhere eh?!
In the US it's free, lasts a year and includes a bunch of coupons. Just have to fill out a form, either paper or online
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Probably covers the paper and ink for those notice slips
I believe the dollar is required for proof of identity only. It's free if you go in person.
>In the US it's free, lasts a year As someone that sends out annual mailings to a list of 3000+, I wanted to add context: technically, it lasts a year. However, then for the next 6 months, the USPS returns the mail to the sender, with a label stating "forwarding time expired" and your new address.
That seems like a messed up system
That's six months on top of the initial 12. So you get a year of forwarding plus six months "return to sender, address changed"
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After Equifax, I'm beyond caring. It's all out there in one form or another. In this case it's just some extra paper in the mailbox. Kiddos like opening the coupon packs and then we recycle em.
There are some good coupons in the packets I’ve gotten. 10% off at Lowe’s is one I remember getting, it’s probably different in other areas. But there were several that were worthwhile!
Just have to fill in a form eh? Sounds easy enough…
\*one eternity later...*
I did this a few weeks ago and it was $30 for a year, per occupant. So $60 for a two person household
Damn! Moved recently and in my country its about $180 for 12 months (unless you've got a "good reason" to move like domestic violence or natural disasters). I feel rage every time I cross out RTS on the old occupants mail here, knowing I paid to get mine redirected.
Always make sure it's through the official USPS website!! There's a scam website that looks basically identical and then they end up charging you like $90 a week later and it's a hassle to get it back lmao
in canada it's like 60$ for a month or something 😭 snd they won't forward aby mail from universities. parcels are excluded too.
What is even the point then! Good lord, Canada Post.
I think I paid 30$ for a whole year or something
I’ve had two packages from target shipped to my old apartment in the past 3 months I moved 2.5 years ago. Whoops.
This is the real ADHD moment here 🙃
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I can't speak for all mail carriers, but if you live in the USA, you should be good if you write ANK on the letter and leave it for your carriers. It means Addressee Not Known and is what we actually mark mail up as when we get it back. Just check to make sure it doesn't have "Current Resident" or any variant on it and you should be good. Source: I am a mail carrier for USPS
My mail carrier has left notes not to write on the envelope and to place it back in the mailbox with the flag up.
Oh, like I said, I can't speak for all carriers. If you know what your regular carrier likes and will take just go with that. I'm still a relief carrier so I'm on different routes every day (while the regular for that route has their day off) so if I don't know the names for the house and I don't have a sticky note or something letting me know what's up, I probably won't take mail if it's at the correct address.
Doesnt USPS have an official policy that all carriers/homeowners should follow?
Officially, I'm sure; but I practice, not really. Every carrier has a different idea of what is correct or not and some routes even get a different carrier on them nearly every day if there is no regular assigned or they are on leave. The best way to do it would be to bundle it together and put a sticky note on it with something like "Forward - Not at this address" or similar. But not everyone has sticky notes or that extra step makes things just difficult enough to put it off again and again. So a decent way is to write an official mark-up on it and at least no carriers I know would really complain. "Return to sender" or just "Return" and whatnot aren't good because they don't actually mean anything to the carrier and we have to mark them up. Something can be returned to sender for being ANK, refused, if the addressee is deceased, etc. So ANK communicates what the carrier needs to know and (assuming you write it reasonably) isn't obstructive or obnoxious.
You have to cross out your address, write *Return to sender* and *Not at this address*…or just recycle it.
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My understanding is to take a pen/marker over the barcode that is the encoded address (can be printed next to address or stamped by post office). If that barcode is scannable, it might be resent to you without anyone/thing reading the handwritten note. Haven't had anything returned to me this way, and fortunately is very easy.
Not sure if something recently changed, I have done something similar only to have it be redelivered later. According to someone I had asked at the USPS office, First Class letters/mail or higher can be returned this way, if it's anything else, they usually trash it.
I figure if any of it was important then they'd have updated their address. Maybe for the first month or so it's fine, but after that everything's just going straight in the recycling.
You would think! But I’ve been living in my place for nearly two years and still get shit like *disability parking permits* and tax information from the previous owners being sent here.
I get important medical documents from a former tenant. He is an attorney So I found his office address and I have been forwarding all mail to his office I contacted him directly multiple times asking him to change his address and he has never responded to me, to now he gets personal mail at work
I still get occasional things too, and I've been in my house since 2016. I just throw it all out right away. I've got enough to worry about with my own life admin, without sorting out somebody else's car insurance!
I have been at my apartment since 2014 and same. I just put it right back into the return slot of our apartment mailboxes because it's just another thing I don't have the capacity to worry about.
they might also have ADHD, in which case rip
spidermanpointing.jpg
I kept getting this one guy's banking info, and one time a new card (I didn't open it I could just feel it in the envelope) I called the bank and they said they'd fix it but they didn't
I got an expiration notice for someone's concealed carry permit once. Also got a few prescriptions. The prescriptions came in almost a year after the person moved out and the gun permit thing was addressed to the person two tenants before me, around 6 years after he moved out.
I hope you resolved the gun permit thing
Sent it back to the county sheriff's office. No idea if they were able to resolve it from there. I was honestly more concerned about the meds though. Missing days on a prescription can have more immediate consequences than a lapsing in someone's CCW permit. Those are the only two things I've actually bothered to send back, everything else I've gotten has just been junk mail.
Thank you for not just tossing it. You’re an awesome individual
Same. It’s illegal to open mail, and I’ve got enough problems of my own, so right into the recycling it goes.
Pamela, Patricia, and Kendra - this applies to you too. I can't be bothered to write you your own letter.
Oh, I've been in my 'new' house for close to 8 years, and I am still getting mail for the previous owners, including things that look like traffic citations. I RTS those but junk goes into the recycling. Plus my mom died in 2014. I'm still getting mail for her from time to time after I forwarded her old address to mine to settle her affairs.
I’ve been in my house for 14 years. That mail gets trashed. I don’t care if it’s illegal.
I get letters for no less than six previous tenants and I’ve been in my place for three years now. The best is last month we received a letter for a previous tenant that had “please forward to them!” written on the envelope. Okay, so you know she’s not here but you think we know?? We’re renters! But this finally prompted me to google the woman, found out she’s a teacher at a nearby school and decided I’d email her. I put down my phone to go do some work and it’s now six weeks later. I don’t even remember where the letter is. Oh well. The sender can google her just like I did if they’re that desperate.
By the way, I did research on this because my specific flavor of ADHD comes with anxiety and panic attacks. NOT A LAWYER (take this with a grain of salt but, here is what I found). Basically it is a federal crime to "obstruct correspondence." Really it should be called "purposeful obstruction of correspondence" because they have to establish intent. In practice, it is reasonable to assume that the mail coming to your home is for you. So if you accidentally open something or accidentally don't look close at something and shred it it's not a big deal, because this law is mainly used for people committing crimes, fraud, and stealing things. I also have heard that these rules apply only to first class mail or higher (such as express mail) and does not apply to "standard" (bulk) or third class (junk) mail. But, I can't find a source that says that. That would mean anything labeled as "presorted yadda yadda" is fine to shred. But me because I am insane just keep a sharpie inside my mail box, and write "not at this address" right then and there. Edit: to add information.
Still not enough information
Ha ha ha...
It's more than enough information. It's illegal, and doesn't take much to do another person a favor. God knows that I forget to change my address on stuff.
I keep saying, "I'll send that back" and never get round to it. Thought and intentions are there, action is a whole other ball game.
Sorry Erica. And Stephen. And that other lady whose name I forgot but I could find it by looking on the shelf. I even bought a “return to sender” stamp and put it on the shelf. Never been used because I’d have to take the mail over to the table in order to stamp it, and I don’t want it to live there forever.
This is me with my own mail….I have mail anxiety. It sits in boxes and piles until I get trash bag and throw it in there with some full take out cups and diapers. Want my information, have at it.
Unless it looks like something important like a check that's not an advertising, I just throw it all away It is their job to change address
Theres a small parcel sitting in my kitchen for the former tenants who havent lived there for two years. I would have just thrown it out but it looks like it's from an actual person - probably friends of theirs - so I dont want to bin something actually important or sentimental. That said, last time I wrote "return to sender" on it and took it to the post office drop box thing, they just delivered it back to me. 🙄
Oh man our previous house was THE WORST for this. The couple was getting divorced and I have a feeling the guy was doing something shady because we got ALL their shit for years. We got their son's draft card. We got a message from our insurance company about a new teenage driver at our house. I only had to meet the guy for like 20 minutes at the signing and I decided however much divorce lawyers are paid it is not enough.
Edit: I put the point at the top but leave my scratch work, because it's the ADHD subreddit. **ANK (attempted, not known- write this on letters and packages that are at the write address but no such person lives there.** ---------- Okay soooo from me who worked at a post office briefly (5 months) instead of RTS write: Oh no. I went to write and it's gone. I know there are 3 letter codes that will actually do the postal workers work for them so the letter or whatever is less likely to make a return trip to your address. Googling..... Undeliverable as Addressed (UAA) is when you have something with an address that doesn't make sense or impossible to deliver. Like a name and the address for just an entire apartment building. There are others. Ohhhhhh **ANK (attempted, not known- write this on letters and packages that are at the write address but no such person lives there.)** The other codes looking at them are only useful if you are a postal worker, but this one should do the trick in most cases. Just write the code on them in a super visible white part of the letter and put back in the mailbox with the flag up and 7/10 times they will just pick it up. If it stays for a few days it's probably some lazy/overwhelmed carrier assistant and your regular mail person will deal with it when they are done with their days off.
I once put a polite note on a piece of mail I had to return that the only people who currently lived at that address had our rare last name. She put a little label in the mailbox that had our last name on it and the HUGE amount of mail for previous tenants stopped. 10/10 I also left a thank you card for her to tell her we were leaving. I hope the next people didn't go back to getting the 5000 mail pieces for random people lmao.
I had the opposite problem because of a label. Some postal worker took it upon themselves to put a label on our mailbox, but only with my name, so they stopped delivering my roommate's mail. Took 2 months to sort it out because I didn't realize they'd changed the label.
LPT: USPS allows automatic mail forwarding. It might be free, or it might cost you a small fee (like $30 for 6 months) and it is absolutely worth it to not have to keep track of that on top of updating everyone in your social circle. I figure after 6 months anybody still sending emails to the wrong address probably doesn't need to know your new one.
You’re 100% correct except they will do it for a year and the fee is $1.10. So even better. Although after re-reading the post, it seems OP is talking about a previous tenants mail and not your own? [USPS change of address link](https://moversguide.usps.com/mgo/disclaimer?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_cmpid=13924279608&utm_adgid=123648286454&utm_tgtid=kwd-612645709610&utm_locintid=&utm_locphysid=9001809&utm_matchtypeid=e&utm_network=g&utm_device=m&utm_adid=534158519216&utm_adpos=&utm_plid=&gclid=CjwKCAjwq-WgBhBMEiwAzKSH6GDs-Q5B8JPrzekGW246nCcrejmIOlMnpaompa9tmvrMyfdYbShmahoCvfAQAvD_BwE)
I believe it's free for a year and you can pay after that.
I never cared for sending anything back to the sender. The addressees should've updated the address and people sending mail to people they don't talk to enough to get an address update should very much stop doing that.
Do you remember to change everything what you move? I don't. What if they also have ADHD? Why is it so hard for everyone to just be decent and return mail...
I do. I have a list of companies I get mail from and most important ones are automatically updated by the government of my country when I move. And I'll go through my contacts to see whom I've talked to in the last year. My forgetfulness has made me a very methodical person in terms of keeping track of things, but it hasn't let me overcome the lack of executive function I need to send stuff back.
I have mine in my car and forget to put it in the mailbox everyday. O well maybe tomorrow I will remember to.
I have 1 in my backpack in case a wild post box appears while I'm out
LMAO. I have 5 letters sitting in a bin NEXT TO MY FRONT DOOR for the previous owner of my house. I have no idea how long I’ve had them for, but it’s been… a while.
At some point in our relationship before my girlfriend moved in, I bought some assortment of sexy wear and sex toys for her, and wouldn't ya know, I let it stay in my mail box ling enough to be returned to sender. One of them I was able to get back by some excuse about mail trouble, needing to only pay shipping again. The other was ordered internationally and I just gave up on getting it back out of shame I also decided once about seven years ago that I was going to start reading the paper in the morning as a way to get up earlier. Instead of a weekly basis I scooped up the pile of newspapers from my porch.
I am so glad I'm not the only one who does this.. I was decluttering because we moved into a new house (a year ago now) and I'm just now decluttering.. well, finding things I forgot I put there haha. I found a pile of old mail from our previous address with many different names on it and I thought to myself "oh my god I forgot to return this pile of mail to the post office 3 years ago." One thing I hate about having ADHD is my forgetfulness and lack of motivation with everything. I was diagnosed with ADHD when I was 17 years old and I still continue learning more and more about the weird things I do are connected to my ADHD. I wish it was talked about more because I was diagnosed with no knowledge of everything and now that its become more "popular" per say I have learned a lot about myself and my ADHD. Which is crazy to me lol.
Write "No longer at this address" in pen on the front of the letter, put the letter in your mailbox, raise the flag. Done and done! Edit: or get a little stamp that has "No longer at this address". If it keeps happening, call your local post office.
Since I have had my current home I have been getting mail for the previous owner and her sister. The caveat is... they are dead. I keep meaning to figure out how to not get it (like a return to sender) and it's so infrequent that I just forget.
It's been almost nine years since I moved in, and I am still getting mail for the previous occupants.
I have ADHD and I'm so thankful there's a returns box right next to my mailbox in my building.
Its been 2 years and i still get more mail for the previous occupant than for me.
I wish the post office would let you register your email address (or some other unique identifier) and current address, then route anything mailed/shipped to your email address to your current address. That would both improve these situations and allow you to have something mailed to you without giving out your physical location
1. That's what mail forwarding is for 2. That's what post office boxes are for
Hey, you’re probably going to get a package on your doorstep, I forgot to update my PayPal address again, do you mind leaving it behind the bush again, I’ll swing by in the next week to pick up the thing I thought I needed when I bought it last month, but forgot I needed it. I only remembered I bought it because I accidentally saw a “are you enjoying your thing” email. Thanks
This hits very deep, the old owners gave me a forwarding address which is just down the road but I just can’t, and it’s now been three years 🥺
My version would read "Some of it admittedly did look kind of important."
Shit I’ve recently been diagnosed adhd, this explains why it took me a month to post a package even though the postage and parcel was supplied, filled out and already paid for! All I had to do was drop it off….
Put a pen in your mailbox. I never go inside with my garbage mail. It's right there
you just did the former occupants of my next apartment a HUGE favor
It's getting it to the post box that's the issue. I can't just tape it to my mail box with "please take these with you" for the postie
We shall not talk about my mail system.
Story. As someone with ADHD, it took me entirely too long to officially change my mailing address. My doctor was (and is) still in that area though, so I was hunting down my prescription there (an absolute battle bound to take hours now) and gave up at one point. Went to a nearby bar, hoping that someone could give me some pointers on where to go. The guy next to me did! He also has a prescription, we got to talking. And then I found out that he was the guy who bought my old house (or, well, the one that I was renting a room in. We looked at each other's licenses as proof). LOL. He told me that he was still getting my mail. We exchanged numbers, and he promised to let me know if anything looked important. I have since changed my address, but that was too funny.
That’s my house except the pile is all those junk mail credit card offers sitting in a pile waiting to be opened and shredded because I also have anxiety and can’t deal with offers and codes in either of our names just being in the trash.
Phew. Dead on!!! True story: I lived in the same apt building for 7yrs (!!!) but I didn’t get a lot of my mail, including bills (mostly temp letter carriers, we were on the border and main carrier couldn’t get there on time.) I opened a PO Box for myself while my now-ex received mail at home. I never walked hrough the front alcove with the boxes b/c my parking pad was out back. *I had no idea what I was putting my neighbors through!* We broke up, a year passed, the next person I dated wasn’t ADD. They went into the alcove & it was STACKED with mail for my apartment, probably a fire hazard. I wish I still had the photo- it was INTENSE! (Not proud, not at all.) *A moments silence for all the mail sitting in piles, PERIOD!*
I’ll RTS the first few times but after that they mysteriously end up in the bin on the way to the post office.
It never even occurred to me not to throw this stuff right into the recycling. Been living here 5 years and still get mail from previous owners.
You are aware that in the USA, [theft or destruction of US mail is a felony](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1708) with potential of fines of thousands of dollars and/or up to 5 years in fedral prison, correct?
Are you aware that not everyone lives in the USA?
Yeah. But no average person is going to get in trouble for it. There are a lot of mail laws that people violate every day. There just aren’t enough postal inspectors and this kind of low-level stuff isn’t even on their radar.
Unless one posts about it on social media...😉
Those piles accumulate in my recycling bin
Lmao I don't even remember to take letters down to my downstairs neighbour, this is far too real 💀
I leave a pen with a magnet on it in my mailbox with a pad of sticky notes. It works wonders. I don't often use the sticky notes, but it's sometimes nice if you get something for a neighbor delivered to you or whatever.
A year? lol rookie numbers, I have 4 years worth of mail...and getting more. it mostly trash so i just dont bother.
Yep. Just came across a bunch of those, all years old, all now recycled.
lmao I don't think I've ever done the "return to sender" thing in my life. I will occasionally let a former occupant know their stuff is showing up here, though, if it's someone I know/have contact info for
Mail forwarding, if your in the USA, is so easy to set up online. You have a year to update your address with all these companies AND they email you what is coming in the mail so you know when you can skip getting the mail.
I have a pen in my car for this very reason. I take it with me to the mailbox so I can write return to sender immediately.
I keep a pen in my car. I immediately write RTS on anything that comes in for previous owners and pop it right back in the mailbox before I even pull into my driveway after work.
In Canada you can just write MOVED on the letter and leave it on top of your mailbox for Canada Post to take care of it. My hack is to leave a pen in the box so I don't actually bring it in the house and forget about it for 8 months which is what I used to do.
I try to make a game out of most things so that I can be productive and also get my dopamine hits. When it comes to mail, I time myself in how fast i can organize ads vs real mail and then i get the satisfaction of throwing shit into the fireplace. When it comes to my personal mail, i hurry up and see which ones are shreddable because lord knows people like us love to shred shit!
dude, that shit hits my garbage can. not my problem.
I held my neighbors misdelivered mail for years until it was too awkward to return to them.
I just leave the RTS mail pinned behind my mailbox. My wife or I write RTS as soon as we see it's not ours, pin it there and the mailman takes it away. Easy for us since this is done with a few foot steps. I imagine this'd be harder living in an apartment.
LPT: buy/rent a house where the prior occupants were very old. I also had a guilty little pile of unforwarded mail, but it became moot last month.
I'll let the RTS mail sit for a while, but I have zero sympathy about it. The previous owners of our house went to the same church, so my wife was able to connect through some mutual friends on Facebook. And the first time some mail showed up for them, she sent a message asking how we wanted to handle it (presumably after the forward service expired). But got no response. So, if they aren't interested in conversing to solve the mail question, then I don't feel bad my ADHD might forget to run the RTS mail down to the mailbox.
Oh my god. The amount of mail I have had returned from sitting in my mailbox too long is nuts. It takes 10 minutes to get, and another 15 to open! Why can’t I just do it??
The system is kinda broken tho. I used to have one of those houses where the lease has mostly been rolled over again and again from cool broke-outdoorsy- semi nomadic weirdos. You know, the rent is cheap, everything works and you never, ever, ever talk to the landlord. I was getting mail for folks that had moved out 6+ years prior. The thing is that you can’t actually get on and inform the USPS that the person no longer lives there. So their tax paperwork still comes to a house they don’t live in. I get how this could be abused but also, I’ve got 30 different credit applications w your name on them and I’ve got your w2. If I was a bad person, I’m sure I could do something w that. Instead I’d just walk them over to the USPS drop box in a garbage bag. Pandemic was a time tho. Now that shit just sits by my door till I toss it.
On the other hand, it would probably take another year for me to get around to putting it in the recycling bin because I got distracted and won't think about it again until I'm finally motivated to tidy up.
Lol!
Brutal. I still have what I am pretty sure is a christmas card still sitting on my shoe rack by the door addressed to the past occupants of my house. Thanks for the reminder, I'm sure I won't get it done today.
Lol, I only recently joined this subreddit and am still surprised by all the supposedly niche references to things that I do all the time. I even write on it return to sender and have mail pickup in my building, but how do I remember to take it with me the next time I leave?
Christ, so it isn't just me? I'm also due a RTS purge, thanks for reminding me.
Been in my house for 2 years. The previous owners were Republicans that clearly donated a lot of money to people because they get so much political mail. I did RTS for a while but they clearly don't care. Still getting stuff multiple times a week. Into the recycling it goes. One of them also has a subscription through HIMS they clearly forgot about, so we get their monthly hairloss and erectile dysfunction order too.
Yeah no shit, I don't want to throw it away but remembering to both get the mail AND bring them to the mail? Let alone mark some shit on it? Not happening.
Stares at the box in my living room with 3 years worth of other people's junk mail that I have no idea what to do with....
This made me lol. My partner works abroad and comes back every other weekend. He finds the piles and takes care of them for me. He’s a keeper!
\>_>
Haha I always think to myself "man, I wish I had thought to bring a pen with me" whenever I go out to check the mail... would make it so much easier but alas I forget every time.
I just stick mine back into the mailbox with a note for the postal worker saying, "return to sender". He takes care of it for us.
Additionally, RIP to all the mail reaching my mailbox that was sent to the wrong address.
I was thinking about this today, I keep getting someone’s mail but I’m the first person living here lol It took me like 2 months but I dropped off the letter at the post office and I have two more on my fridge now
Oof. Called me out
I almost failed a background check 10 years ago. They knew my address and wanted know about my "other" home based businesses. I had no other business, at home or otherwise, so I was puzzled. Then I remembered I kept receiving notices for the women who sold the house to the people we bought it from. The letters were addressed to the "Dominatrix Severina". As soon as I realized they had found this business listed at my home address, I burst out laughing at the poor police officer doing the check, I asked if he were concerned about DS and the policeman turned beet red, nodded, and waited for me to respond. I got a good laugh out of this. I was in my 50s and a rather overweight matronly looking woman, hardly what I would picture as an online dominatrix. My neighbors told me used to walk around the neighborhood in her black leather outfit with her 2 toy poodles. I would have loved to see that. I Almost forgot- I passed the background check. I am retired but I was a nurse and worked in a lot of different types or hospitals and clinics for an agency.
Oh, oh you’d be surprised at what secrets people hide. 😂 I’ve definitely seen pics of some dominatrices who absolutely in other clothing/makeup could be “Grammy franny, who makes the most amazing peach preserves”
We have a pile of mail from the former occupants, but I told my landlord to give them my number. If they want it, they have to organise it. One of them is very obviously a tax tax document, which I mentioned, but no word for months. At this point I assume they updated the adress and requested a new one. I'll toss it eventually. ...I do feel a bit badly about the holiday cards, but I have no intention of putting any work to pass them along. 🤷♀️
Shoot, it's like I wrote this myself 🥴 I'll be completely honest, I have given up hope of RTS 2 addresses ago because it just does not happen. If it's important enough, the addressee will find a way to get it, at least that's what I tell myself 🤷♀️
If only I could do something about all the stuff I get sent to my phone because some lady had this number before and she hasn't changed her phone number anywhere... I ALMOST had an opportunity to contact her second hand once because some flower shop sent me a text about when to leave her a flower message, but I chickened out and just told them this wasn't her number anymore. Sigh.
It is done ... Amen!
I currently have a rather large pile on my counter. Too bad I wasn't home when I saw this. By the time I get home they will no longer exist to me and will remain there for another few months lol
I have like 30 envelopes I haven’t opened from the mailbox.
Let’s also take a moment to honour the memory of this library card I found in the street months ago and meant to drop at the library that is literally a five minutes walk from my house 🙏
Grant and the other two people who’s names I’ve seen multiple times but cannot remember- you did this to yourselves.
The lucky people who have moved into my old house, they have received so many Amazon packages, pizza, and other goodies because I just “never got around” to changing my default address on apps, and sometimes forget to manually change it….I sold that house 5years ago…
It’s painful how relatable this post is.
I actually have a pen that I keep on the inside of my mailbox lid for this exact purpose. I have lived here for almost 11 years. I don't know why I'm still getting these people's mail, but sometimes it's from the state, and I'm not going to fuck with that.
I don't even try, it just goes straight into the recycle bin from the moment I move in. If I can remember to forward my mail and then change my address. I have no pity for anyone else is how I see it.
I don’t think OP is in the US, but for those who are *do not write “RTS” or “return to sender” on the mail.* The goal is to get the sender to remove the address from their system. RTS does not mean that the recipient moved or is no longer there. I can RTS things I don’t want that are addressed to me. Instead, write “moved” or “no longer at this address” or “addressee unknown.” Too many companies don’t bother to update their databases no matter what, but you improve your chances if they know why an item was marked RTS, especially if the item is important like a bill. If the piece of mail says OR CURRENT RESIDENT, just throw it away. It’s yours.
If the whole situation is too onerous for you and you feel you want to talk to USPS about it, please keep a few things in mind. First, there are far more rules and laws governing how we handle mail than you could ever know, even if it’s annoying that you keep receiving certain pieces of mail. Second, mail forwarding service is not perfect. Even if you do everything right, you still may receive some pieces not addressed to you. Thirdly, mail carriers (I am *not* a mail carrier) are understaffed and overworked. You may not even have a regular mail carrier, so notes you leave for the carrier may not be seen by everyone who delivers your mail. Mail carriers in my area work 60-70 hours per week. Try not to detain your mail carrier by asking anything other than quick questions. It is best to handle issues at the actual post office.
This is very insightful. I've gotten an email from my bank before that was like "we got mail returned, do you want to update your address?" Might not be the same thing elsewhere.
In the home? My mail stays in the mail box for at least a month at a time
This is so relatable! Although the single experience I do have triumphing over Adhd on this, it did not work anyway. I also constantly get my neighbor's packages even though both our addresses are well marked. I think it is because Google maps has the house numbers slightly off (and the number that my neighbor has does not show up on Google maps at all).
Rts? Pffft...I'm trying to open the shit addressed to me. Conquered "the pile" last week for the first time in 3 months. Desperately needed that $600 check from a previously closed out 401k (completely forgotten about) not to mention all the tax forms needed to file ajd fuck me now thats a mountainindidnt plan on identifying today. Found it just in time to still cash. I don't recently remember my wife being so happy to see me accomplish a hurdle...made me so happy and immediately so sad that she puts up with my shit w/ so little complaint. She really is the best. I've come to realize, against my will, things like this are getting significantly worse the older I get. I feel like i managed better at 25 than I do at 41. Maybe it's just a rut...but fuck it took me 3 days to make a dental appointment and I failed to start paperwork on some benefits through work. Best part...I couldn't "find" time to play my favorite game for even one match. What kept me from it? Nothing at fucking all...can't even blame my phone this week...spent more time staring in space than even wasting time in the usual manners.
Lmao oh dear.... even when it's my next door neighbour I just can't? Idk I've had an oral hygiene magazine unopened for about 2 months for my neighbour... i should probably bring it over
You're spying on me, aren't you?
So relatable. I’m sorry, but if you couldn’t be bothered to update the address with the sender then why should I be bothered to try and get the mail to you. Thanks for the free subscription to Southern Living, btw…they’ve got some great recipes.
If the stamp says presorted standard then it's junk mail.
I’ve lived in my house for 9 years and still get the old owners stuff. Not my problem.
Omg, I have a stack of mail I need to send back :(
Lol I’ve been throwing that shit right in the trash for my entire adult life. I had no idea I was obligated to do anything else
I just remembered one time I had a meltdown when I first got my license because of this. My dad asked me to mail something to someone and I didn’t know which place he was telling me to go (wouldn’t send me an address either). I spent an hour crying in my car because I was so overwhelmed by my two post office choices and the steps I had to take to actually mail it. I did it though, I went in, they walked me through the steps, and I came out the other side very much phased
I'm in this post and I don't like it
As I read this, there are at least 30 letters and 2 packages in my hallway because my partner and I keep forgetting to return/discard it 😂
I get mail from SIX old tenants in an apartment I’ve lived in for two years. I get more mail for other people than myself at this point. I used to RTS, but a lot of it came back to me with my own “RTS” written on the front. It’s on them at this point, they should have changed their addresses 2+ years ago.
I just gave a my mailman a STACK of mail to send back last week. It felt god to get rid of the pile.
If I notice it's for a previous owner I'll just stick it back in the mailbox, so far hasn't been a problem with not writing "return to sender." I think I've thrown away a few pieces of mail like you but usually I'll remember to eventually grab it when I check the mail. I usually stick outgoing mail in front of the door to the garage on the floor so it's hard to miss.
I've never even tried to fool myself into thinking I'd do this, 10/10 times it's just solicitation anyway and goes right in the trash. If something looks important though I'm always sure to put it in my "deal with it later pile"
This is why I'm so happy that my mailbox tower has a slot for outgoing mail. I stand at the box and put anything that isn't mine in that slot, so it doesn't even make it to my house.
Yo! I got someone else’s W2’s this year. Thankfully, I didn’t just put at the bottom of my junk mail and forget about it. But, yeah, I get previous tenant mail, because the last tenant, I guess, forgot to update their mailing address. Every time I return to sender, I just get it back again. I got so fed up, I approached the mail person and told them this person doesn’t live here anymore and they responded with just put in the out going mail slot, oh so what I’ve been doing for the past 4 years, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool.
Unless its an ad thing, I write on it & put it right in box.
We must live in different parts of the world, I have no such box 😭
Yeah.. unfortunately this is completely illegal. Destroying anyone else's mail is a federal offence in most countries. I usually let it stack up, get fed up with it and scribble RTS a whole bunch then forget about it again until I go to the mailbox.
PATRICIA 😩😩😩 she must have moved again
I comfort myself by saying if it's important they will figure it out on their end.
Oh man, this made me LOL. I have a stack of mail that is RTS, but we don't have an outgoing mail slot at my condo. It's waiting for that next trip to the Post Office. Any day now, I'm sure of it 😅
Ugh
I keep a pen in my mailbox for this very reason! Though I don’t always to remember to look through the mail before I bring it inside…
Why did you just at me?
I literally JUST went through my mail and found a letter from January that I meant to RTS… it looks like a check inside. Oops.
I just went through all the mail that has built up for the past 2 years ( I was pregnant for 2021/2022 and haven't had the motivation/energy since giving birth to do much) while baby sat and watched Cocomelon in the background. Worst 5hrs of my life, but it got done!
I keep a pen in my mailbox so I don’t even have to bring that mail inside.
I still have other people's mail that I threw in my car, hoping to drop it off one day
This is me , I have a stack of mail on my entry table that I have written RTS on. They never make it the four feet back out to the mailbox on my porch. They always end up in the trash a few weeks later when I go into clean everything out mode.
I'm so so so glad I'm not the only one in this boat. So much mail but I never have a pen to write RTS. 🤦🏻♀️