People That Are Kind (Post Office Not So Much) Story

I got a letter today from someone across town I don't know. It was weird because the person had the identical street number as mine but their street name and zip not even close. Turns out to be a letter from Belgium (stamps I had ordered from a DelCampe seller) that had mistakenly been delivered to them.

See the person's note to me in the pic. I find it hard to believe that the PO wouldn't forward it to me when the person brought it directly to them ... my address was very clear on the front of this.

I'm going to mail the person a thank you note today ... my faith in humanity went up a notch today!

to the PO.

Nice story. I bet a lot of people would have opened it to see what was inside first.

Very strange. Any window clerk hearing "This was mis-delivered to me" should have taken a letter back.

Very nice. I'm fairly certain that some of my mail has been delivered to a business in my neighborhood (same number, different street), but I never received it.

Most people are basically honest, I believe.

As for the USPS and other institutions, "it doesn't take many rotten apples to spoil the basket."

Great Story !
We left a "post it " note on the wall, when we left our last premises in 2000. with our forwarding address.

I received mail from the new tenants over the next 18 months,
I would always mail back with a lotto ticket, and "Thank you"

Rod222, actually leaving a note with new address like that and sending a note with small gift is a great idea. It sure as hell beats giving the P.O. $50+ for 6mths forwarding of your mail from your old address. In a lot of cases, they either dont do it or return it to sender anyway.
Just over 2 years ago I sent a cheque for auction items to an auctionhouse in Canada, and later realized they had moved. I informed the owner and he told me not to worry as he had paid to forward his mail. Well a week later I received my envelope back marked by PO with not at address. I had to resend another to the new address and told him he should request his funds back for nonfulfulment of obligation. Notifying anyone you deal with personally about your change of address is always best for receiving your future incoming mail.
And recently while at the counter checking out material, a couple people had complained of not receiving their government documents even though they had paid for forwarding and change of address, which they even verified were done with receipts they had kept.

My current PO Box in my town, still receives the electrity bills from the previous renter of the box, 10 years ago!
I used to write on the envelope "Update you address" with a smiley.

Nope still happens,
Like the plumber, asked to put a non-return valve in my sewer line
re flooding.
That was 7 years ago, still waiting for him to turn up.

Strange, in my country the PO has to accept such letters and send them to the right address. We even have a mailbox where you put erroneous mail, to be returned to the PO to be sent to the right recipient.

I thought the U.S. Postal Service was required to redeliver mail it had misdelivered? I just write "wrong address" on the envelope and put it back in my mailbox and they take it away.

Rod, update your address probably wont cut it and it will probably be sent to lost/unclaimed, and the mailer will keep sending out the stuff.
I understand that they are mandated to deliver the mail to the address stated on envelope, regardless of the name on the envelope. But if you scratch it out and state "return to sender" "person no longer at this address" that should do the trick.
Irregardless,if the owner pays the PO to do a job they should have given this info to the people doing the routing so it could be forwarded/readdressed as per information stated. Even if only for a couple months at least!
And speaking of misinterpretations, are you sure your plumber heard you correctly and did take it as do not return.

In the US, the magic language is REFUSED, ADDRESSEE UNKNOWN. Has worked every time for me. I believe the USPS obligation to deliver elsewhere is legally triggered by the first recipient "refusing" delivery.

I disagree that there is any universal magic language or phrase. There are lot of different postally-applied messages relating to delivery, forwarding - or lack of that abilities. Each has its own shade of meaning.

To me, text with "refused ..." implies correct delivery, but not accepted by the recipient. Refused first class mail will typically get returned to the sender (and does not imply the USPS should look at it for forwarding).

"Addressee unknown" is something which should be applied by the postal service. They are ones who know or don't know the addressee.

IMO, we recipients should be precise in any text they ever apply, if any.

"Refused, addressee unknown" and "Moved, addressee unknown" are a lot different from a simple mis-delivery. If the original mis-delivered letter had been marked "refused ..." and re-posted it stood a high chance to go back overseas to the sender.

Whether the USPS makes further attempts depends on the class of mail and the endorsement by the sender. First class mail will typically get looked-at for forwarding or return. Other classes often get tossed as non-forwardable, per the regulations, and might get an address correction notice sent back to the sender if requested (and paid additional for).

If mail gets delivered to you by mistake or to a previous resident of your place/box, please ask a postal clerk the best way to handle it.

There is no way on gods green earth will the postman know all the addressee's in the world we live in today. There is too much movement of individuals today. Only addresses are constant and remain in one location for long periods of time.

My overall point being for recipients to avoid placing any inaccurate writing on mail, but leave it to the USPS to do their job.

Carriers used to have route lists. I don't know if this is still true today or not.

I'm guessing the refusal to re-deliver the letter was due to one harried USPS counter person having a bad day. I've given the odd wrongly delivered mail back to my carrier and she says something along the lines of "I'm sorry. We'll get this to right place."

Morale is probably low these days at USPS. BTW Did anyone else notice the "Recall DeJoy" pop up ads on this site?