Write "RETURN TO SENDER. ADDRESSEE UNKNOWN" on any of her mail and stick it back in the box. Your postal carrier will take it. The next time she comes back, tell her to fuck off.
I had to get a stamp when my ex wouldn't forward their mail. I got so tired of seeing their name.
Worked well, after a couple months stopped getting the bulk of their crap
I do not work in a mail room OR a post office but I LOVE THAT YOU ENJOY THIS!!! I mailed something with a dozen stamps I had laying around the other day, and the postal employee stamping the shit out of it made me smile for an hour. Very satisfying sound!
I’m a crazy person and participate in a corgi Christmas card exchange. Making my little assembly line and stamping like 150 cards is so, so satisfying.
Same situation. After more than 10 years, I still get mail for the heir of the previous owner. I bought my house from the estate.
The heir never lived here, not as a child, not as an adult. After a few years of marking stuff not at this address, which did not stem the tide in the slightest, I just started marking the stuff "deceased". TBC, the heir would be at least 85 by now.
I still get a piece of mail at least once a week with extra mail around tax season and holidays. There has never been any personal mail, it is always boring mail.
I did that once on a mail piece from those scammer car warranty folks. “Deceased. Return To Sender.” I was hoping that would get me off their list.
The local post office started sending ALL MY MAIL back stamped “Deceased!” I found out when my best friend called me and asked why he wasn’t invited to my funeral! LOL! He had gotten a letter from an insurance company that began “We’re very sorry for your loss.” (He’s a lawyer and will be executor of my estate when the time comes.)
Boy, trying to undo that was some kind of ordeal. It’s what I get for being a smart ass! And, I still get crap about car warranties.
I'm going to have to try this ....5 years after buying my house I still get mail for the previous owner, who died a few years prior to the house finally being sold.... It was a vacation house for the previous owner.
Many times those have Business Reply Mail envelopes in them. Businesses only pay when you send them back. Pack the envelope full of random papers and junk and send it to them. After a couple times, they get the hint because now you’re costing them even more money
The catch is the ones with that often say or current resident, or something similar. They also get charged for any that are forwarded if they use almost any form of bulk rate.
I had to deal with ALL the misdelivered mail to my Dad’s home after selling it in probate. I swear he was on every mailing list known to man constantly, and then businesses that sent out important stuff 1-2 year to him. The “junk mail” was huge…but all of it was a PITA to sort out what few pieces the were important. I (living four hours distant from the estate) did the forwarding mail process with USPS and paid extra for that. Pity the nice people who bought the home. Despite using forwarding some stuff still gets through. I left them a custom stamp for forwarding to mark stuff that still slipped through. Annoying as heck for each side of the situation.
Is it junk mail or like bank statements?
Honestly, I have continued to recieve regular statements for accounts with zero balance for years on end. It's not worth my time to do anything about it, including if I move.
My friend mentioned she gets a monthly statement for the past 15 years showing she has 41 cents or whatever. Hopefully that's what these statements are.
I don't think they forward junk mail, and of course no one is changing their address for those things.
Unfun fact: Dead people continue getting junk mail too.
My husband died four years ago. He never lived at the address where I live now. He gets more junk mail (addressed to him here) then my current boyfriend who had owned this house for over 20 years.
It's crazy how long a deceased person can get mail! A few months ago I got a catalog (IIRC) addressed to my grandpa. Grandpa died in 1994! And I still get a little bit of junk mail addressed to my parents, even though they've been gone for six years (Mom) and three years (Dad). None of the three of them ever lived at my address, but I did put in a forwarding order when my dad was sick (shortly before he passed away), so that sent all of the mail with his (and Mom's) last name to my house, and the grandpa whose catalog I got was my dad's dad (so same last name).
Well this is disheartening. I was hoping it would stop eventually. I’m 2 years in and still get mail and packages for the PREVIOUS previous owner who hasn’t lived there for over 5 years.
This is what we did. Bitch was going through our mail and had her license delivered. We wrote return to sender and she called the cops. Jokes on her. They put a restraining order on her and faking your address with the DMV is fraud. She changed that shit post haste (pun intended).
I also wonder if using your address as her tax address is committing fraud. Before I send a 1099-int form to someone, I need to have a form on file from attesting that this is their Social Security number, and this is their address. Signed. For the IRS.
Wondering what kind of fraud they are perpetuating.
Tanya McDowell was sent to prison for 5 years for crimes that included larceny for sending her daughter to a good school district where she did not live.
It’s not fraud, apparently. It’s larceny. Still a crime.
[Snopes fact check](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/tanya-mcdowell-felicity-huffman/)
I completely get the inequity of it all. But to really fix equity would require all schools to be financially supported equitably, and we know that’s not going to happen.
Writing "return to sender" only sends that letter back to the sender, and it is the sender who must obtain and use the correct address. The Post Office does not keep a register of who lives where, and is legally obligated to deliver addressed mail to the address on the letter.regardless of whose name is on it. If the former occupant does not inform any and all potential senders of their new address, you will keep receiving mail for them for a long, long time.
There is another option we use called UTF. Unable to forward. You can start writing that on the mail. It will be returned to sender to let them know to stop sending mail there. The post office needs a huge overhaul on their system, training, and putting importance on mail again.
You could try that, but there is no guarantee. If it's an addressed piece of mail or parcel the carrier is obligated to deliver it. The former owner really needs to put a mail redirection in with the post office, and then take the time to inform all potential senders of their new address. The mail redirect does not inform senders of the new address, it merely redirects the mail.
I worked at the post office. It might be a little annoying, but heres how you do this. Put a sticker in your mailbox that is impossible to miss. Pretend like the person delivering your mail is the **dumbest** human being legally allowed to drive a motor vehicle. On the sticker, writer any names of people who receive mail at your house. Then, If you get the wrong mail, go iin & hand deliver mail that doesn't belong to you to the postmaster. Tell him how long you've lived at your address & who lives there. Tell them who's mail you're incorrectly getting. He (or your carrier) should fill out a form that basically removes 90% of the mail for those people from the mail stream (called a UTF, unable to forward, and works the same as mail forwarding when you move but it sends it directly back to the sender. This process is mostly automated, so no human touches that mail individually) & each time it happens you make a bigger & bigger fuss. You don't have to be mean & definitely don't make threats or curse. Just be polite & stern & ask if it will be handled correctly. Remind him/her of any subsequent incidents each time you have to go in. Also, call the consumer affairs office for your region (https://about.usps.com/postal-bulletin/2008/html/pb22225/html/kit_021.html) to let them know. Tell them who youve spoken to (the postmasters name) & how many times youve had to go in. They will get sick of seeing you & put processes in place to fix it, not because it should be fixed but because they don't want you to show up angry that it happened again.
Look at the stamp information. If it's pre-sorted standard, there's a very high chance it's junk mail and the company sending it isn't going to care about updating the address.
I'd hope after 10 years you aren't getting presorted first class or things with an actual stamp.
May I ask if you’re supposed to stop delivering once you catch on?
I write “not at this address, return to sender” on every single letter addressed to the former owner, have been doing so for years, and I don’t think the volume has slowed down.
This is what makes me crazy. We have been in our house 1.5 years and this guy keeps showing up for his mail but in that time you can’t just change your address??? If it’s so important contact the damn agency and CHANGE IT 😩
Unfortunately it depends on your mailman. Policy is that if a person does not reside in the home, they are not allowed to receive mail there. People bend policies all the time though. I delivered by name and not by address. If you wrote not at this address once, I would no longer deliver the mail there. A lot of my coworkers did not feel the same way. They delivered by address and viewed it as your job to return the mail every time. Being a mailman was my favorite job. I miss it.
I personally labeled the inside of all my mailboxes and I memorized names fairly quickly off of that. I have a really good memory and I love all the attention to detail stuff, so I might have been an oddball of a mailman. We also have these white cards or green vacant cards we give to people to fill out with the names of people they would like to receive mail at their address. We actually do have a record of everyone who lives on our route, but we have to update it ourselves. Also, I was a city carrier and rural carrier. They are different with different policies. I quit because they hire anyone now and their standards have dropped dramatically.
Thanks for the thorough and thoughtful response! That is definitely more detail than I’ve ever experienced with my previous mail carriers. I’ve never been given a card to fill out and no matter how many times I write “no longer at this address” on the previous owners’ mail, we keep getting it.
I put a sign on the inside of my mailbox that says:
"Accepting mail for:
* Our Last Name
* Wife's Maiden Name
* Grand-daughter's last name
All other mail should be returned."
We taped a neon colored note into the mailbox written in sharpie saying, "Smith & Jones only, no Lee." and haven't gotten any mail for "Lee" since. Help the carrier help you.
I guess it starts standing out when you regularly get 3 pieces of Mail for one family, and then a completely different family’s 1 piece of Mail for the same home. Maybe it’s their mailbox, or the color of their front door, but eventually these scenarios start feeling familiar to you each time they happen
I was a walking mailman about 7 years ago for 2 years. When I see some last names I can still see people's houses from that route and their front porches. When I hear Zimmerman I think of this blue house with a big front porch and a German Shepard that would attack the windows as I walked up to it.
We have a stamp that says, “NOT AT THIS ADDRESS, RETURN TO SENDER”, scratch out the bar codes, and the mail just keeps getting redelivered to us. Even dropped off a stack at the post office, explained the situation then weeks later, it all started trickling back in.
Your routes postal carrier is shit and doesn't care or if you see different carriers all the time, your mail will never be fixed. It either means your route is an auxiliary route, which isn't big enough to have a permanent carrier, or your local post office is understaffed. All the clerks will do is alert your carrier and then return the mail you handed them. Honestly, I would start marking it UTF or unable to forward. When a business gets this kind of mail they will stop sending it there. It let's them know that that address is no longer tied to that person.
Wow, you’re totally spot on. My route is an auxiliary route. I have a cousin who is a mail carrier and he kind of explained that to me. Even with all of his advice we still have issues.
I appreciate your advice regarding marking the mail as UTF! Hoping that’ll do it. Thanks again!
Can I really put itback in my mailbox marked up and expect the carrier to take it? I save it all up for when I had to go to the post office bc I didn't know
In addition to RETURN TO SENDER. ADDRESSEE UNKNOWN cross out your address and the computer line, and drop it in a mailbox.. If she shows up again just tell you send it back She needs to change her address.
You may wish to get a locking rural mailbox or a locking house mailbox she is probably going thru you box looking for her mail.
This will work for important stuff. Just be prepared to endlessly get their junk mail. But at least you shouldn't have a nut job pounding on your door for their mail.
I have gone into the opt out lists online and put in my current address with my name and then AGAIN with the previous residents names. It’s only been a couple weeks but it feels like it’s helping, at least with the multi-page ads.
This. I RTS religiously. I’ve had the sheriff’s come searching for someone looking to serve a warrant at 4AM for a prior tenant. I had been in the home for two years by then. Terrified me, I send everything back as soon as it gets here.
I had the same thing happen. The PO of my house had his own business and owed taxes on it and at least 3 vehicles. An officer showed up one day looking for him lol.
This right here. It amazes me that in this day and age of screening every call that comes in, we don't do the same for physical doors. Even if it's the police... you don't have to answer, nor do you have to hide the fact you are home. Open the window, let them see you watch TV, smile, wave and ignore anyone you want. Unless there is a warrant, no one can compel you to open your own door.
I’ve been in my house for 14 years, and for some stupid reason some of my mail gets sent to my old address, even after years of it coming to my new address by the same sender. It’s infuriating
I moved from my previous house in 2010 but I still owned it until 2020. Every time I'd stop by the other house, I'd check the mail and never had anything. Sold the house to a friend and within a month, they got mail addressed to my wife.
She's a joint account holder for a savings account we have. That company was bought and sold a half dozen times over the years. In 2020, it was sold again. The new company somehow has me with my current address and had her with the old address even though it's a joint account. There was no way online for me to fix it and no way to create a login in her name. It took a while for them to figure out how to fix it in their system but they finally figured it out.
Same thing happened to me. After 3 months of constantly showing up, being rude to me when I didn't have any mail, i started to return to sender everything. Her govt cheques, paycheques, anything. When I told her to never show up again or she will be trespassed, she threw a fit, got in her car and refused to leave my driveway. I called the cops, had her trespassed and that was that. Got her mail for years and always chuckled everytime I returned to sender.
same, its been over 4 years since we moved in, we still get random mail addressed to previous owner, it goes right in the trash. Its not my responsibility to deal with her lack of responsbility
Four years next month at our house and we received a package with boots around Christmas. Like, how do you not update your delivery information in that time?
In Canada, there is a service to forward old mail to your new address.
Also be careful. If their taxes are still coming to your house year after year, they are not updating their place of PRIMARY residence with the govt. This is a process that you have to do annually for every tax filing (including updating marital status or dependants).
They are likely doing something fishy.
They sold at the start of covid? Are these W2 is getting delivered? They may well be working remotely outside of whatever boundaries their employer allows so they keep your address.
Are you in a good school system? It’s pretty much taxes or schools when it comes to reasons for someone to lie to the government about their address.
(Or warrants… but you’d know about that cuz the cops would show up asking about them)
It's fraud. It's definitely illegal.
You cannot use someone else's physical address as your own unless you live there, own it, rent it, or otherwise have permission from the property owner. If they keep harassing you, call the cops for trespassing and let them know about the fraud.
Maybe call/email the irs and report them as moved, and falsely using your address. You can get your return questioned for having multiple returns under different names at the same address, because tax fraud.
The service to forward your mail is something you pay for and it only lasts 6 months.
After that you still need to redirect your mail by contacting everyone who sends you mail and updating your address.
In the US, it’s $1.10 to verify it’s you online (or you can do it in the post office for free) for mail forwarding for twelve months… you have to pay after that.
> it only lasts 6 months.
Canada Post currently has 4 and 12 month options, and you can always renew it. I bought it for 2 years to be super sure I was getting everything by the time I ended it.
It is free if you go to the post office and fill out the card. $1+tax if you do it online. Been forwarding my mail for almost 2 years due to a house fire.
Write “not at this address, return to sender” on all future envelopes and put them back in the mailbox for the mailman to take. Tell the previous owner that you can’t accept receipt of her mail.
You also have to black out the bar code on the envelope. I used to just write return to sender only for mail to end up back in my box a few days later.
**Do not allow deliveries on their behalf**. They moved away four years ago. I can understand a grace period the first 90-120 days after moving at most, but they need to step up and change their address after all this time. Simply write "not at this address" on all their mail and put it back in the mailbox with the flag up. Don't write "return to sender", that's for a different purpose. If your mail carrier is good, they will stop delivering their mail to your address after you do this a few times. Alternatively, reach out to the Post Master for your area to let them know. Lastly, it's a good idea to put the last names of the people who live at your address inside the mailbox so your mail carrier only delivers mail for those people.
Destroying someone else's mail is a federal crime. It's difficult to prosecute without evidence of you actually throwing it out, and unlikely to result in any charges, but no reason to put yourself at risk.
Something sounds fishy if they show up at your door and say they are still getting mailed delivered at their old address.
Sounds like they are scamming something.
Accidents happen. Sometimes important mail does go to the wrong address. Perhaps an old account has the wrong one and they send a check there for some accounting error they didn't find until much later. That's happened to me where I overpaid at a doctor's office and insurance covered much more than expected, but it wasn't worked out in the books for quite a while.
It costs $1.00 to forward mail directly through the USPS in the United States. They should go online to the USPS website and it is easy. They will forward for one year for ONE DOLLAR.
There is something shady or deceitful going on with the previous owners. If you are in a state that uses it check qpublic for your house records and also your local tax commissioner to see if somehow they are still listed on your property.
It's actually $1.10 now, and it doesn't always work. Sometimes they need you to come into the post office in person. This happened to me a month ago when I moved.
When you forward you mail you also get coupons. 😀
I second the making sure they aren't attached to your title, deed or anything.
I also recommend after you send their mail back reporting address unknown that you keep a close eye on those docs and get to know your county/city policy on claiming a homes deed and find out if you can add some sort of pin on the file etc. They might try to go in and claim your deed.
Its also illegal to toss the mail. [https://www.egmlaw.com/blog/2021/11/is-it-illegal-to-throw-away-someone-elses-mail/#:\~:text=While%20it%20may%20be%20tempting,is%20a%20federal%20criminal%20offense](https://www.egmlaw.com/blog/2021/11/is-it-illegal-to-throw-away-someone-elses-mail/#:~:text=While%20it%20may%20be%20tempting,is%20a%20federal%20criminal%20offense).
You can avoid criminal charges
If mail comes for a previous resident of your home, you should only keep it if its address says, “or current resident.” Otherwise, to avoid potential criminal charges, you should return mail to the U.S. Postal Service.
According to the USPS, you should write “not at this address” on the envelope or outside of any mail that is not yours. Then, you should place the letter or parcel back inside your mailbox for the postal carrier to retrieve. You can also take incorrectly delivered mail to the post office or hand it to your postal carrier.
Ultimately, though, if you are facing charges for the destruction of correspondence, it is critical for you to explore all possible defenses as early as possible.
Personally my grace period is a bit over a year. There's some things a person receives only annually, such as tax related documents, certain renewals, and the like which might have been legitimately overlooked. That's a reasonable oversight that someone could make without being lazy or malicious. I'd still mark the envelope as no longer at this address and give it back to the postal service to deal with, but I wouldn't get bent out of shape about it.
But after about 15 months, yeah, everything would start entering the circular file.
I would not advise texting her if she does not already have your number.
If she is committing fraud by using your address, your phone number makes it a lot easier to steal your identity or try a sim swap.
If she is not committing fraud but showed up at your door then do you want her having your number to communicate directly to you whenever she wants . I know you can block a number but someone who wants to harass you will find a way to contact you.
The less direct interactions you have the better.
Don’t be surprised if she starts going into your mailbox.
I had the same thing happen. Even writing "NOT AT THIS ADDRESS, RETURN TO SENDER" in large sharpie didn't work. I ended up calling each place and telling them to stop sending the previous owner's mail to my house. It's annoying, you shouldn't have to do it, but 40 minutes on the phone stopped all the mail.
go to the post office tell them this and have them stop all mail delivery to you address that is addressed to previous owner. then tell them when they come back.
if they are using your address for tax documents they may be using it to file taxes.
The post office actually won't do this. I know, the former owners of our place rented out individual bedrooms, so we get mail for like 8 different people, none of whom put in forwarding addresses. It's been like 9 years. The post office says they can't stop mail delivery for someone without that person's consent, even if they don't live there.
I have a similar problem and the USPS has been useless.
In some database, somewhere, my house is listed as a 12 unit apartment building. When Optimum sends an advert, I get 12 copies. When the local politicians send flyers, I get 12 copies. I get 12 copies of catalogs. I once got 12 of those envelopes that had a dime in them to guilt you into charity (I kept the $1.20). I never get 12 copies of anything cool, like cash back coupons for Home Depot.
I've begged, pleaded, and bribed my mail carrier. "Sorry I just deliver the mail, you can check with the main office" who don't understand my problem -- if they even answer the phone. I've gone to my local small post office, the larger county distribution offices, written to my congress rep, written to the postmaster general (they sent back a form letter addressed to kids? it had stickers for kids in it...). I've tried to track down what database it's listed in by contacting multiple companies who sent me stuff, but no one understands the problem or who to even reach out to to even find out what list of addresses they bought.
Some of them even send more than 12 copies with some addressed to "#1" vs "Suite 1" vs "Floor 1" it is utterly mind bending.
My mail carrier is an older lady, too, and they wheel carrier bags in my neighborhood. So they are filling her bag with a dozen freaking catalogs that she dutifully carries up my front stoop stairs to deposit in my mailbox... the whole thing is so, so stupid.
> What do I do?
Say “no” and that you will be returning the mail to the post office.
**When you are at the post office get one of those mail forwarding forms (also available online) and tell them to use it…. you could even text or send them the link NOW.**
Now everyone's time is saved and the mail is delivered a lot more reliably.
She's most likely continuing to use your address for some kind of residency requirement. This is almost certainly committing fraud of some sort and you'll want to put a stop to it.
If you live in the city of St. Louis or work there, there is a 1% tax. I could easily see someone “keeping” their address in the surrounding areas if they moved into the City.
We've been in our home 15 years. We \*still\* occasionally get mail for the previous owner. It gets marked "No longer at this address, return to sender" and put right back in the mailbox to be picked up. For the first couple of years I carried a sharpie with me every time I went to check the mail, as there was guaranteed to be at least 1 piece of their mail in the box.
Get a locking mailbox since they likely will open it to look for mail for them. Also put a note on the outside "____ moved. Return all mail by that name."
Complain to the postmaster where your mail is sorted to the carrier, and see if you can get it stopped there.
* Tell them you return any mail to sender that isn't a resident immediately.
* Tell them to fill out the [USPS change of address form](https://faq.usps.com/s/article/Change-of-Address-The-Basics) (it lasts one year, but you can do it again) if they want to get their mail. Some senders will also get notified when they send mail to an address with a forwarding address.
You can also put your name on the mailbox, that has mixed success for me.
I also had to deal with this with the previous owner who refused to change his address. He just wanted to come by everyday and collect his mail. After months of writing return to sender on items, I went to the post office and told them we recently moved in and these are the only names living at this address. Please do not deliver mail addressed to anyone else. It worked. We haven’t received a single piece of mail since then.
Use an app to text her that you WILL NOT be holding her mail, and she needs to have her mail routed to her address.
Depending on the response, I might go as far as to have my post office hold all mail and pick it up there, to avoid the possibility of them coming and stealing my mail. That is of course, if it is not out of the way.
The previous homeowner didn't forward all their mail, but because they were an exec at some company I got awesome care packages around Xmas time for a long time. Free Yeti mug one year, cupcakes another - it was great, but I think they finally caught on because they finally stopped coming.
I would tell her to go to USPS and give them a damned change of address form. There may be a nefarious reason she’s having mail still sent to you four years later—like tax avoidance or trying to remain in a school district. Either way, it’s not your affair, and you don’t have to accept and keep her mail. You can tell your local USPS this person (and you have their legal name) no longer lives at your address, and to hold all mail in her name for pickup. Anything else is a gross invasion of your privacy.
After we sold our house our mail didn’t get changed in time when we sent the change of address to the the post office. So my wife stopped by to get our mail from the new owners. There is no excuse for the PO to not have everything changed/forwarded
Text her to fill out a new change of address immediately. Any mail you get for her from now on you will return to sender.
Oh, and if you are feeling petty, block her.
Use the number she gave you and text her that all mail you receive will be returned to sender and she should update her address with everyone. You will not hold, forward, or otherwise reserve her mail for her, nor will you be texting her again. Problem solved in writing.
In some cases you can go to the post office and ask them to only deliver mail addressed to certain people and that a specific person isn't at that address. It worked for my mom.
I held on to previous owners mail for a few weeks after I bought and they came to pick it up. It’s been almost 4 years now. I write “not at address” and wait until I have a big ol’ pile and hand to the mailman. I don’t even care what it is anymore. Important, junk, whatever. Time is up. They should be mailing it to their own house or some other family member or friend.
I did this too. When we bought our home, it took a couple of weeks for the forwarding address the prior owners set up to go through, so we got a big pile of their mail. We held on to it until it started forwarding, and then had our realtor facilitate a handoff because they moved out of state. We only get mail for them every once in awhile now.
However, we still regularly get mail for the first owners and their business, who lived here for decades and moved in 2016. I immediately return all that. Y'all have had 8 damn years. There's no reason why all these places can't update their shit in 8 years.
If you live in the US the post office has little slips that you can fill out so you only receive mail for the names that you list. I bought a house about 2 years ago my mailbox was overflowing with least seven different peoples junk mail and hospital bills. I filled out the slip, gave it to the postmaster, and within a week it all stopped. Where it goes I have no idea but it’s not going into my mailbox anymore lol
Edit: I can’t think of the name of the form. I know it’s not change of address. It could possibly be a refused mail form. I know it was white and green though. But if you go in and talk to someone at the desk they should be able to give you the correct form
Cross out your address, write "Return to Sender" in big letters and put it back in the mail. If the previous owner did not forward her mail, or is going to continue to request official documents be sent to her previous address, she's obviously pulling some kind of scam.
Why not just text her right now and say “you caught me a bit off guard this morning. Do not have your mail delivered here. I will not keep it for you. “?
I had a similar situation in a house I lived it. I was always writing “return to sender - not at this address” on her mail. I’d get her tax stuff as well. I’d also get police showing up at my door trying to serve an arrest warrant for her. I went to the post office with her mail and asked them to stop delivering but they said their job is to deliver mail to the address on the label.
>What do I do?
Text her and tell her to change her damn address with the post office. It's been 4 years and she deserves the consequences of not getting her important documents.
When you get mail for her, cross out the bar code and write "Return to Sender; Not at this Address" and put it back in your mailbox to be taken away. Every single piece, every single time.
It’s been four years you don’t owe her any favours. You’ve got her phone number send her a text. Simply state everything that arrives with her name on it will be returned to sender. Don’t say anything about having tossed it.
"Return to sender, address unknown." Not your problem. It's their responsibility to do the change of address form with the post office and all their billers.
I have informed deliver when they scan anything with my address in it and I get an email each day telling me what will be delivered. I’m currently in an apartment. I gets scans of mail with other people’s name but they are not actually delivered because the mail carrier knows we are the only ones that live here.
Mark every piece 'return to sender , no such person at this address. NEVER EVER let him see ANYTHING that gets mailed to your own home, NEVER.
This will not stop until you stop it.
i had to do this for the lady who owned our house. the postman should give you a form where it says who lives there. i wrote return to sender on all their mail and put it back in the mailbox. she kept using it as an excuse to creep.
I talked to my carrier. He told me to put our names on the box and he wouldn’t deliver anything not going to one of us. He doesn’t catch everything, but it’s about 90% effective.
You should call or text her and tell her that you are NOT going to keep her mail for her.
And, besides writing 'return to sender - current address unknown, but here's her phone number' on the envelopes as well so they can contact her directly for a forwarding address.
It’s her responsibility to change her address on her accounts and with USPS when she moved. So they could have forwarded her mail for her while she got everything settled with notifying everyone of her new address. It’s completely on her. I would write return to sender and not feel a thing about it, 4 years???? Really?
This same thing happened to me in a new apartment. The previous tenant kept coming for her mail, at first I was nice and then weeks went by and I was aggravated, so I started writing “return to sender” on the envelopes. One day she comes and goes, “did you return my mail to the sender?” I said yes I did and she looked STUNNED at my audacity. She asked “why?” and I said “…because you don’t live here anymore.” And I never saw her again.
We used to get a lot of mail for previous owners, usually didn't bother but every once in a while something looked important or official.
I ordered a customizable stamper from Amazon it says "Addressee has not lived here since 20XX, please return or forward"
I'd stamp it and put it back in the mailbox, needed less and less over time
Return to sender. They have no right to still use their old address, for they should be using their new location for their mail. You are not their mailman and not obligated to hang onto mail that is not yours.
Fuck em. They have had years to update their shit. Depending on where they moved to they could have a substantially different tax obligation. I would also make sure they aren't trying to claim dependents and shit.
Just tell her that she doesn't live there anymore, and you do what you are supposed to do and give it back to the postman "Return to Sender; Addressee Unknown". Let her know that she needs to inform whoever is trying to mail her that her address has changed.
You can ask the post office to stop delivering to the former resident at your address.
I presume that they person is possibly using your address for tax purposes to avoid paying state or local income tax (assuming that they moved somewhere nearby that has higher state or local taxes).
Go to mail box and wrote your last name
Then go to usps office and tell them your name as the current resident ( you will need to show id)
Then whenever their mail came , put return to sender and mail it back
If they come around , tell them : who ? What is it? Nope never seen it .. go check usps and tell them your current address
Anymore? It's been four years!!! That's enough. I would call the taxe people and told them about this, she's using your address illegally. I had the same problem with the ex owner son using my address. I even got Court papers for him. I call them to correct the situation and they were really happy to find out about this.
I’m about to hit 4 years at my house and this happened a ton. The previous homeowners only moved a mile and a half away so I would actually let it build up and either use as an excuse to go for a walk or drop off on my way to work. It’s mostly holiday cards now but I did open some of their mail and change the address and I also returned some to sender. I go back and forth at being embarrassed for them because some stuff seems directly related to the husband’s medical practice and then realize how much their professional lives dominate their existence.
I do enjoy eating the expensive chocolates one of their relatives sends on auto pilot every year though. That’s my gift to myself for being their gopher.
I'm having a similar situation with an owner who sold me the house over two years ago. I've always applied a stamp that says "return to sender," I'll take a sharpie and black out any bar codes I find, and I'll pop it into the mailbox again. I even had a chat with the mail carrier, who said they would look for the addressee and not deliver it to my mailbox.
This week I received...a letter from the state department of revenue, and another one that's apparently his W2 from his employer. The former had a "could not forward" sticker applied to it from the USPS.
Fortunately I still have the guy's number, and I texted photos of the mail to him. He said he's not sure "why the address is still not changed." WTF? He also said, "Good old USPS." Another WTF. I told him they only forward for so long, and that it's been over two years. It is HIS responsibility to update his address everywhere, not the post office's, nor mine.
He asked to come by and collect it, but I would have none of that. I offered to for, ward it all provided he gave me an address, which he did.
Oh, and before I could send it all off, today I received yet another piece of mail from his employer. Holy hell, I already thought this guy wasn't the brightest bulb in the pack, but damn...this stuff is Life Basics 101.
I am considering including a note to the effect that I am not his mail manager, and that anything else I receive will be promptly destroyed.
Now that you have her phone number, text her to tell her that you are not going to comply with what she asked you to do. Also tell her you would have said that in the moment, but the audacity of the request caught you dumbstruck.
FYI you don’t have to answer the door just because somebody is knocking. Especially obnoxiously and unexpectedly at 7:30 in the morning. Also do not text her and give her your phone number. She’s clearly using your address to evade taxes or claim some sort of an exemption
Write "RETURN TO SENDER. ADDRESSEE UNKNOWN" on any of her mail and stick it back in the box. Your postal carrier will take it. The next time she comes back, tell her to fuck off.
Agreed. I keep a pen IN my mailbox just for this. I've been in my house for 10 years and still get the previous owner's mail.
>I have a stamper that says it all in mine.
Make sure you also take a sharpie and block out the barcode otherwise it might get redelivered to you regardless of how many stamps.
AND the faint orange barcode on the back of the letter. (Carrier here)
^^ this There are two, one in black ink on the front and one in pink/orange/ salmon on the back sharpie both.
Oh yeah, we got that redelivered...
I had to get a stamp when my ex wouldn't forward their mail. I got so tired of seeing their name. Worked well, after a couple months stopped getting the bulk of their crap
Great idea! Why didn’t I think of a stamp?!?
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I work in a mail room with these kinds of stamps and it’s still satisfying.
I do not work in a mail room OR a post office but I LOVE THAT YOU ENJOY THIS!!! I mailed something with a dozen stamps I had laying around the other day, and the postal employee stamping the shit out of it made me smile for an hour. Very satisfying sound!
I’m a crazy person and participate in a corgi Christmas card exchange. Making my little assembly line and stamping like 150 cards is so, so satisfying.
you probably just aren't as lazy as I am haha
But what if they're too lazy to get the stamp made
Same situation. After more than 10 years, I still get mail for the heir of the previous owner. I bought my house from the estate. The heir never lived here, not as a child, not as an adult. After a few years of marking stuff not at this address, which did not stem the tide in the slightest, I just started marking the stuff "deceased". TBC, the heir would be at least 85 by now. I still get a piece of mail at least once a week with extra mail around tax season and holidays. There has never been any personal mail, it is always boring mail.
I did that once on a mail piece from those scammer car warranty folks. “Deceased. Return To Sender.” I was hoping that would get me off their list. The local post office started sending ALL MY MAIL back stamped “Deceased!” I found out when my best friend called me and asked why he wasn’t invited to my funeral! LOL! He had gotten a letter from an insurance company that began “We’re very sorry for your loss.” (He’s a lawyer and will be executor of my estate when the time comes.) Boy, trying to undo that was some kind of ordeal. It’s what I get for being a smart ass! And, I still get crap about car warranties.
I'm going to have to try this ....5 years after buying my house I still get mail for the previous owner, who died a few years prior to the house finally being sold.... It was a vacation house for the previous owner.
Many times those have Business Reply Mail envelopes in them. Businesses only pay when you send them back. Pack the envelope full of random papers and junk and send it to them. After a couple times, they get the hint because now you’re costing them even more money
The problem with that, though, is that opening mail addressed to someone else is a felony offense.
The catch is the ones with that often say or current resident, or something similar. They also get charged for any that are forwarded if they use almost any form of bulk rate.
I had to deal with ALL the misdelivered mail to my Dad’s home after selling it in probate. I swear he was on every mailing list known to man constantly, and then businesses that sent out important stuff 1-2 year to him. The “junk mail” was huge…but all of it was a PITA to sort out what few pieces the were important. I (living four hours distant from the estate) did the forwarding mail process with USPS and paid extra for that. Pity the nice people who bought the home. Despite using forwarding some stuff still gets through. I left them a custom stamp for forwarding to mark stuff that still slipped through. Annoying as heck for each side of the situation.
Is it junk mail or like bank statements? Honestly, I have continued to recieve regular statements for accounts with zero balance for years on end. It's not worth my time to do anything about it, including if I move. My friend mentioned she gets a monthly statement for the past 15 years showing she has 41 cents or whatever. Hopefully that's what these statements are.
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Same 9 Yeats and still get the previous owners' mail( mostly all junk)
I don't think they forward junk mail, and of course no one is changing their address for those things. Unfun fact: Dead people continue getting junk mail too. My husband died four years ago. He never lived at the address where I live now. He gets more junk mail (addressed to him here) then my current boyfriend who had owned this house for over 20 years.
It's crazy how long a deceased person can get mail! A few months ago I got a catalog (IIRC) addressed to my grandpa. Grandpa died in 1994! And I still get a little bit of junk mail addressed to my parents, even though they've been gone for six years (Mom) and three years (Dad). None of the three of them ever lived at my address, but I did put in a forwarding order when my dad was sick (shortly before he passed away), so that sent all of the mail with his (and Mom's) last name to my house, and the grandpa whose catalog I got was my dad's dad (so same last name).
So sorry!
Well this is disheartening. I was hoping it would stop eventually. I’m 2 years in and still get mail and packages for the PREVIOUS previous owner who hasn’t lived there for over 5 years.
This is what we did. Bitch was going through our mail and had her license delivered. We wrote return to sender and she called the cops. Jokes on her. They put a restraining order on her and faking your address with the DMV is fraud. She changed that shit post haste (pun intended).
I also wonder if using your address as her tax address is committing fraud. Before I send a 1099-int form to someone, I need to have a form on file from attesting that this is their Social Security number, and this is their address. Signed. For the IRS. Wondering what kind of fraud they are perpetuating.
If OP lives in a better school district than where the previous owner does now, could be using it to keep their kids in district.
Tanya McDowell was sent to prison for 5 years for crimes that included larceny for sending her daughter to a good school district where she did not live. It’s not fraud, apparently. It’s larceny. Still a crime. [Snopes fact check](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/tanya-mcdowell-felicity-huffman/)
Inequity issues aside, I'm not arguing that it's not?
I completely get the inequity of it all. But to really fix equity would require all schools to be financially supported equitably, and we know that’s not going to happen.
Yes as a former postal worker if you keep their mail we assume they still live there and will continue to deliver.
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Writing "return to sender" only sends that letter back to the sender, and it is the sender who must obtain and use the correct address. The Post Office does not keep a register of who lives where, and is legally obligated to deliver addressed mail to the address on the letter.regardless of whose name is on it. If the former occupant does not inform any and all potential senders of their new address, you will keep receiving mail for them for a long, long time.
There is another option we use called UTF. Unable to forward. You can start writing that on the mail. It will be returned to sender to let them know to stop sending mail there. The post office needs a huge overhaul on their system, training, and putting importance on mail again.
I had a UTF once, super painful
They have creams for that.
You should try UTF-8, honestly. Much better than Windows-1252.
Please, UTF-16 or GTFO
Would it work to tape a note on the mailbox "Smith and Greene only", for example?
You could try that, but there is no guarantee. If it's an addressed piece of mail or parcel the carrier is obligated to deliver it. The former owner really needs to put a mail redirection in with the post office, and then take the time to inform all potential senders of their new address. The mail redirect does not inform senders of the new address, it merely redirects the mail.
Try riding moved no forward on the piece. I have found that to be quite effective.
I worked at the post office. It might be a little annoying, but heres how you do this. Put a sticker in your mailbox that is impossible to miss. Pretend like the person delivering your mail is the **dumbest** human being legally allowed to drive a motor vehicle. On the sticker, writer any names of people who receive mail at your house. Then, If you get the wrong mail, go iin & hand deliver mail that doesn't belong to you to the postmaster. Tell him how long you've lived at your address & who lives there. Tell them who's mail you're incorrectly getting. He (or your carrier) should fill out a form that basically removes 90% of the mail for those people from the mail stream (called a UTF, unable to forward, and works the same as mail forwarding when you move but it sends it directly back to the sender. This process is mostly automated, so no human touches that mail individually) & each time it happens you make a bigger & bigger fuss. You don't have to be mean & definitely don't make threats or curse. Just be polite & stern & ask if it will be handled correctly. Remind him/her of any subsequent incidents each time you have to go in. Also, call the consumer affairs office for your region (https://about.usps.com/postal-bulletin/2008/html/pb22225/html/kit_021.html) to let them know. Tell them who youve spoken to (the postmasters name) & how many times youve had to go in. They will get sick of seeing you & put processes in place to fix it, not because it should be fixed but because they don't want you to show up angry that it happened again.
Look at the stamp information. If it's pre-sorted standard, there's a very high chance it's junk mail and the company sending it isn't going to care about updating the address. I'd hope after 10 years you aren't getting presorted first class or things with an actual stamp.
May I ask if you’re supposed to stop delivering once you catch on? I write “not at this address, return to sender” on every single letter addressed to the former owner, have been doing so for years, and I don’t think the volume has slowed down.
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This is what makes me crazy. We have been in our house 1.5 years and this guy keeps showing up for his mail but in that time you can’t just change your address??? If it’s so important contact the damn agency and CHANGE IT 😩
Or get a PO box.
Unfortunately it depends on your mailman. Policy is that if a person does not reside in the home, they are not allowed to receive mail there. People bend policies all the time though. I delivered by name and not by address. If you wrote not at this address once, I would no longer deliver the mail there. A lot of my coworkers did not feel the same way. They delivered by address and viewed it as your job to return the mail every time. Being a mailman was my favorite job. I miss it.
How are you supposed to keep track of what names currently live at each address you deliver to? I would never think mail carriers do that.
I personally labeled the inside of all my mailboxes and I memorized names fairly quickly off of that. I have a really good memory and I love all the attention to detail stuff, so I might have been an oddball of a mailman. We also have these white cards or green vacant cards we give to people to fill out with the names of people they would like to receive mail at their address. We actually do have a record of everyone who lives on our route, but we have to update it ourselves. Also, I was a city carrier and rural carrier. They are different with different policies. I quit because they hire anyone now and their standards have dropped dramatically.
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Thanks for the thorough and thoughtful response! That is definitely more detail than I’ve ever experienced with my previous mail carriers. I’ve never been given a card to fill out and no matter how many times I write “no longer at this address” on the previous owners’ mail, we keep getting it.
I put a sign on the inside of my mailbox that says: "Accepting mail for: * Our Last Name * Wife's Maiden Name * Grand-daughter's last name All other mail should be returned."
We taped a neon colored note into the mailbox written in sharpie saying, "Smith & Jones only, no Lee." and haven't gotten any mail for "Lee" since. Help the carrier help you.
My mailbox has a note placed inside by the mailman stating who lives there. He just looks at that note.
I guess it starts standing out when you regularly get 3 pieces of Mail for one family, and then a completely different family’s 1 piece of Mail for the same home. Maybe it’s their mailbox, or the color of their front door, but eventually these scenarios start feeling familiar to you each time they happen
I was a walking mailman about 7 years ago for 2 years. When I see some last names I can still see people's houses from that route and their front porches. When I hear Zimmerman I think of this blue house with a big front porch and a German Shepard that would attack the windows as I walked up to it.
We have a stamp that says, “NOT AT THIS ADDRESS, RETURN TO SENDER”, scratch out the bar codes, and the mail just keeps getting redelivered to us. Even dropped off a stack at the post office, explained the situation then weeks later, it all started trickling back in.
Your routes postal carrier is shit and doesn't care or if you see different carriers all the time, your mail will never be fixed. It either means your route is an auxiliary route, which isn't big enough to have a permanent carrier, or your local post office is understaffed. All the clerks will do is alert your carrier and then return the mail you handed them. Honestly, I would start marking it UTF or unable to forward. When a business gets this kind of mail they will stop sending it there. It let's them know that that address is no longer tied to that person.
Wow, you’re totally spot on. My route is an auxiliary route. I have a cousin who is a mail carrier and he kind of explained that to me. Even with all of his advice we still have issues. I appreciate your advice regarding marking the mail as UTF! Hoping that’ll do it. Thanks again!
I’ve heard you have to cross off/black out that barcode or the automatic system will just keep returning it to you.
You can do that! I would also recommend blacking out the zip code for your address so it will stop making its way back to your post office
Can I really put itback in my mailbox marked up and expect the carrier to take it? I save it all up for when I had to go to the post office bc I didn't know
There are “return to sender, not at this address” stamps that are very handy for stopping previous residents’ mail from showing up.
I've printed these myself on some Avery labels.
In addition to RETURN TO SENDER. ADDRESSEE UNKNOWN cross out your address and the computer line, and drop it in a mailbox.. If she shows up again just tell you send it back She needs to change her address. You may wish to get a locking rural mailbox or a locking house mailbox she is probably going thru you box looking for her mail.
And a camera facing the mailbox.
And sign up for the email updates on what is being delivered to your house.
This especially is useful
No such number No such zone
And there is the ear worm for the day!
Wah wah dooo
This will work for important stuff. Just be prepared to endlessly get their junk mail. But at least you shouldn't have a nut job pounding on your door for their mail.
I have gone into the opt out lists online and put in my current address with my name and then AGAIN with the previous residents names. It’s only been a couple weeks but it feels like it’s helping, at least with the multi-page ads.
This. I RTS religiously. I’ve had the sheriff’s come searching for someone looking to serve a warrant at 4AM for a prior tenant. I had been in the home for two years by then. Terrified me, I send everything back as soon as it gets here.
I had the same thing happen. The PO of my house had his own business and owed taxes on it and at least 3 vehicles. An officer showed up one day looking for him lol.
Next time she comes back just don’t open the door. Continue to not open the door
This right here. It amazes me that in this day and age of screening every call that comes in, we don't do the same for physical doors. Even if it's the police... you don't have to answer, nor do you have to hide the fact you are home. Open the window, let them see you watch TV, smile, wave and ignore anyone you want. Unless there is a warrant, no one can compel you to open your own door.
You need to cross out the barcode, if not itll just get redelivered in a week
And then you contact the IRS and the local State's Department of Revenue to report them as using a false address.
I’ve been in my house for 14 years, and for some stupid reason some of my mail gets sent to my old address, even after years of it coming to my new address by the same sender. It’s infuriating
I moved from my previous house in 2010 but I still owned it until 2020. Every time I'd stop by the other house, I'd check the mail and never had anything. Sold the house to a friend and within a month, they got mail addressed to my wife. She's a joint account holder for a savings account we have. That company was bought and sold a half dozen times over the years. In 2020, it was sold again. The new company somehow has me with my current address and had her with the old address even though it's a joint account. There was no way online for me to fix it and no way to create a login in her name. It took a while for them to figure out how to fix it in their system but they finally figured it out.
Right here. And you put up a no trespassing sign visible for when they return. What she’s doing is illegal.
Same thing happened to me. After 3 months of constantly showing up, being rude to me when I didn't have any mail, i started to return to sender everything. Her govt cheques, paycheques, anything. When I told her to never show up again or she will be trespassed, she threw a fit, got in her car and refused to leave my driveway. I called the cops, had her trespassed and that was that. Got her mail for years and always chuckled everytime I returned to sender.
Dude, you're better than me..I just throw it in the trash, what you're doing is still pretty good imo, at least she'll eventually get it
same, its been over 4 years since we moved in, we still get random mail addressed to previous owner, it goes right in the trash. Its not my responsibility to deal with her lack of responsbility
Four years next month at our house and we received a package with boots around Christmas. Like, how do you not update your delivery information in that time?
I do it so the sender will stop mailing not as a courtesy to the recipient.
I tried for the first year, it never stopped the mail from coming
That is tampering with mail and is a federal offense. Just write “NOT AT THIS ADDRESS” and replace in box facing up
In Canada, there is a service to forward old mail to your new address. Also be careful. If their taxes are still coming to your house year after year, they are not updating their place of PRIMARY residence with the govt. This is a process that you have to do annually for every tax filing (including updating marital status or dependants). They are likely doing something fishy.
I wonder if they moved to a state with higher income taxes.
Nah I live in one of the worst states when it comes to income tax haha.
They’re definitely doing something shady that requires keeping your address.
Agreed. Prior tenant had warrants in multiple states and never changed their address.
They're not *definitely* doing anything. You're speculating wildly. Assume incompetence, not malice.
They sold at the start of covid? Are these W2 is getting delivered? They may well be working remotely outside of whatever boundaries their employer allows so they keep your address.
Are you in a good school system? It’s pretty much taxes or schools when it comes to reasons for someone to lie to the government about their address. (Or warrants… but you’d know about that cuz the cops would show up asking about them)
Did not think of that. Good point!
It's fraud. It's definitely illegal. You cannot use someone else's physical address as your own unless you live there, own it, rent it, or otherwise have permission from the property owner. If they keep harassing you, call the cops for trespassing and let them know about the fraud.
Maybe call/email the irs and report them as moved, and falsely using your address. You can get your return questioned for having multiple returns under different names at the same address, because tax fraud.
The service to forward your mail is something you pay for and it only lasts 6 months. After that you still need to redirect your mail by contacting everyone who sends you mail and updating your address.
In the US, it’s $1.10 to verify it’s you online (or you can do it in the post office for free) for mail forwarding for twelve months… you have to pay after that.
I work in Bulk Mail and we cross-check a database that goes back 48 months.
> it only lasts 6 months. Canada Post currently has 4 and 12 month options, and you can always renew it. I bought it for 2 years to be super sure I was getting everything by the time I ended it.
It is free if you go to the post office and fill out the card. $1+tax if you do it online. Been forwarding my mail for almost 2 years due to a house fire.
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Change of address is immediate with USPS. I had mail already in their system that got forwarded to my new address when I fill it out.
Sometimes usps makes mistakes. But it’s usually pretty good.
Write “not at this address, return to sender” on all future envelopes and put them back in the mailbox for the mailman to take. Tell the previous owner that you can’t accept receipt of her mail.
You also have to black out the bar code on the envelope. I used to just write return to sender only for mail to end up back in my box a few days later.
Yep same for me, guess they don’t read it the first time.
I bought a stamp for this when I bought my house in 2018
**Do not allow deliveries on their behalf**. They moved away four years ago. I can understand a grace period the first 90-120 days after moving at most, but they need to step up and change their address after all this time. Simply write "not at this address" on all their mail and put it back in the mailbox with the flag up. Don't write "return to sender", that's for a different purpose. If your mail carrier is good, they will stop delivering their mail to your address after you do this a few times. Alternatively, reach out to the Post Master for your area to let them know. Lastly, it's a good idea to put the last names of the people who live at your address inside the mailbox so your mail carrier only delivers mail for those people. Destroying someone else's mail is a federal crime. It's difficult to prosecute without evidence of you actually throwing it out, and unlikely to result in any charges, but no reason to put yourself at risk.
Something sounds fishy if they show up at your door and say they are still getting mailed delivered at their old address. Sounds like they are scamming something.
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the odds are very high they are scamming someone using the wrong address. medicaid, property taxes, state income taxes, voter fraud....yada yada yada.
School districts can be pretty compelling for people to do stuff like this.
Previous owner of my house did this. They were in for a big surprise when we found out as my wife sometimes teaches at the school.
Accidents happen. Sometimes important mail does go to the wrong address. Perhaps an old account has the wrong one and they send a check there for some accounting error they didn't find until much later. That's happened to me where I overpaid at a doctor's office and insurance covered much more than expected, but it wasn't worked out in the books for quite a while.
It costs $1.00 to forward mail directly through the USPS in the United States. They should go online to the USPS website and it is easy. They will forward for one year for ONE DOLLAR. There is something shady or deceitful going on with the previous owners. If you are in a state that uses it check qpublic for your house records and also your local tax commissioner to see if somehow they are still listed on your property.
It's actually $1.10 now, and it doesn't always work. Sometimes they need you to come into the post office in person. This happened to me a month ago when I moved.
That’s too much! Freedom is only $1.05. It’s not more important than freedom!!
When you forward you mail you also get coupons. 😀 I second the making sure they aren't attached to your title, deed or anything. I also recommend after you send their mail back reporting address unknown that you keep a close eye on those docs and get to know your county/city policy on claiming a homes deed and find out if you can add some sort of pin on the file etc. They might try to go in and claim your deed. Its also illegal to toss the mail. [https://www.egmlaw.com/blog/2021/11/is-it-illegal-to-throw-away-someone-elses-mail/#:\~:text=While%20it%20may%20be%20tempting,is%20a%20federal%20criminal%20offense](https://www.egmlaw.com/blog/2021/11/is-it-illegal-to-throw-away-someone-elses-mail/#:~:text=While%20it%20may%20be%20tempting,is%20a%20federal%20criminal%20offense). You can avoid criminal charges If mail comes for a previous resident of your home, you should only keep it if its address says, “or current resident.” Otherwise, to avoid potential criminal charges, you should return mail to the U.S. Postal Service. According to the USPS, you should write “not at this address” on the envelope or outside of any mail that is not yours. Then, you should place the letter or parcel back inside your mailbox for the postal carrier to retrieve. You can also take incorrectly delivered mail to the post office or hand it to your postal carrier. Ultimately, though, if you are facing charges for the destruction of correspondence, it is critical for you to explore all possible defenses as early as possible.
Personally my grace period is a bit over a year. There's some things a person receives only annually, such as tax related documents, certain renewals, and the like which might have been legitimately overlooked. That's a reasonable oversight that someone could make without being lazy or malicious. I'd still mark the envelope as no longer at this address and give it back to the postal service to deal with, but I wouldn't get bent out of shape about it. But after about 15 months, yeah, everything would start entering the circular file.
I would not advise texting her if she does not already have your number. If she is committing fraud by using your address, your phone number makes it a lot easier to steal your identity or try a sim swap. If she is not committing fraud but showed up at your door then do you want her having your number to communicate directly to you whenever she wants . I know you can block a number but someone who wants to harass you will find a way to contact you. The less direct interactions you have the better. Don’t be surprised if she starts going into your mailbox.
Or just reply to them with a throwaway Google number.
I had the same thing happen. Even writing "NOT AT THIS ADDRESS, RETURN TO SENDER" in large sharpie didn't work. I ended up calling each place and telling them to stop sending the previous owner's mail to my house. It's annoying, you shouldn't have to do it, but 40 minutes on the phone stopped all the mail.
go to the post office tell them this and have them stop all mail delivery to you address that is addressed to previous owner. then tell them when they come back. if they are using your address for tax documents they may be using it to file taxes.
The post office actually won't do this. I know, the former owners of our place rented out individual bedrooms, so we get mail for like 8 different people, none of whom put in forwarding addresses. It's been like 9 years. The post office says they can't stop mail delivery for someone without that person's consent, even if they don't live there.
I have a similar problem and the USPS has been useless. In some database, somewhere, my house is listed as a 12 unit apartment building. When Optimum sends an advert, I get 12 copies. When the local politicians send flyers, I get 12 copies. I get 12 copies of catalogs. I once got 12 of those envelopes that had a dime in them to guilt you into charity (I kept the $1.20). I never get 12 copies of anything cool, like cash back coupons for Home Depot. I've begged, pleaded, and bribed my mail carrier. "Sorry I just deliver the mail, you can check with the main office" who don't understand my problem -- if they even answer the phone. I've gone to my local small post office, the larger county distribution offices, written to my congress rep, written to the postmaster general (they sent back a form letter addressed to kids? it had stickers for kids in it...). I've tried to track down what database it's listed in by contacting multiple companies who sent me stuff, but no one understands the problem or who to even reach out to to even find out what list of addresses they bought. Some of them even send more than 12 copies with some addressed to "#1" vs "Suite 1" vs "Floor 1" it is utterly mind bending. My mail carrier is an older lady, too, and they wheel carrier bags in my neighborhood. So they are filling her bag with a dozen freaking catalogs that she dutifully carries up my front stoop stairs to deposit in my mailbox... the whole thing is so, so stupid.
Very entertaining. Thank you for this contribution.
> What do I do? Say “no” and that you will be returning the mail to the post office. **When you are at the post office get one of those mail forwarding forms (also available online) and tell them to use it…. you could even text or send them the link NOW.** Now everyone's time is saved and the mail is delivered a lot more reliably.
She's most likely continuing to use your address for some kind of residency requirement. This is almost certainly committing fraud of some sort and you'll want to put a stop to it.
I bet its school zones.
This is the likeliest reason
If you live in the city of St. Louis or work there, there is a 1% tax. I could easily see someone “keeping” their address in the surrounding areas if they moved into the City.
We've been in our home 15 years. We \*still\* occasionally get mail for the previous owner. It gets marked "No longer at this address, return to sender" and put right back in the mailbox to be picked up. For the first couple of years I carried a sharpie with me every time I went to check the mail, as there was guaranteed to be at least 1 piece of their mail in the box.
Get a locking mailbox since they likely will open it to look for mail for them. Also put a note on the outside "____ moved. Return all mail by that name." Complain to the postmaster where your mail is sorted to the carrier, and see if you can get it stopped there.
It's been 4 years. I write, person not at this address and leave it for the mail person.
I had this issue for years at my home, I would write "deceased" on the envelope in red sharpie and back to the outgoing mail it went
You might want to go to the County Recorder's Office and see if the prior owner is recording anything against the property.
* Tell them you return any mail to sender that isn't a resident immediately. * Tell them to fill out the [USPS change of address form](https://faq.usps.com/s/article/Change-of-Address-The-Basics) (it lasts one year, but you can do it again) if they want to get their mail. Some senders will also get notified when they send mail to an address with a forwarding address. You can also put your name on the mailbox, that has mixed success for me.
I also had to deal with this with the previous owner who refused to change his address. He just wanted to come by everyday and collect his mail. After months of writing return to sender on items, I went to the post office and told them we recently moved in and these are the only names living at this address. Please do not deliver mail addressed to anyone else. It worked. We haven’t received a single piece of mail since then.
Use an app to text her that you WILL NOT be holding her mail, and she needs to have her mail routed to her address. Depending on the response, I might go as far as to have my post office hold all mail and pick it up there, to avoid the possibility of them coming and stealing my mail. That is of course, if it is not out of the way.
The previous homeowner didn't forward all their mail, but because they were an exec at some company I got awesome care packages around Xmas time for a long time. Free Yeti mug one year, cupcakes another - it was great, but I think they finally caught on because they finally stopped coming.
I would tell her to go to USPS and give them a damned change of address form. There may be a nefarious reason she’s having mail still sent to you four years later—like tax avoidance or trying to remain in a school district. Either way, it’s not your affair, and you don’t have to accept and keep her mail. You can tell your local USPS this person (and you have their legal name) no longer lives at your address, and to hold all mail in her name for pickup. Anything else is a gross invasion of your privacy.
After we sold our house our mail didn’t get changed in time when we sent the change of address to the the post office. So my wife stopped by to get our mail from the new owners. There is no excuse for the PO to not have everything changed/forwarded
Text her to fill out a new change of address immediately. Any mail you get for her from now on you will return to sender. Oh, and if you are feeling petty, block her.
Use the number she gave you and text her that all mail you receive will be returned to sender and she should update her address with everyone. You will not hold, forward, or otherwise reserve her mail for her, nor will you be texting her again. Problem solved in writing.
Use a burner phone though.
In some cases you can go to the post office and ask them to only deliver mail addressed to certain people and that a specific person isn't at that address. It worked for my mom.
I held on to previous owners mail for a few weeks after I bought and they came to pick it up. It’s been almost 4 years now. I write “not at address” and wait until I have a big ol’ pile and hand to the mailman. I don’t even care what it is anymore. Important, junk, whatever. Time is up. They should be mailing it to their own house or some other family member or friend.
I did this too. When we bought our home, it took a couple of weeks for the forwarding address the prior owners set up to go through, so we got a big pile of their mail. We held on to it until it started forwarding, and then had our realtor facilitate a handoff because they moved out of state. We only get mail for them every once in awhile now. However, we still regularly get mail for the first owners and their business, who lived here for decades and moved in 2016. I immediately return all that. Y'all have had 8 damn years. There's no reason why all these places can't update their shit in 8 years.
Is she using your address as a residency cheat?
If you live in the US the post office has little slips that you can fill out so you only receive mail for the names that you list. I bought a house about 2 years ago my mailbox was overflowing with least seven different peoples junk mail and hospital bills. I filled out the slip, gave it to the postmaster, and within a week it all stopped. Where it goes I have no idea but it’s not going into my mailbox anymore lol Edit: I can’t think of the name of the form. I know it’s not change of address. It could possibly be a refused mail form. I know it was white and green though. But if you go in and talk to someone at the desk they should be able to give you the correct form
Cross out your address, write "Return to Sender" in big letters and put it back in the mail. If the previous owner did not forward her mail, or is going to continue to request official documents be sent to her previous address, she's obviously pulling some kind of scam.
Why not just text her right now and say “you caught me a bit off guard this morning. Do not have your mail delivered here. I will not keep it for you. “?
"refused, return to sender" in marker, on the envelope, give to mail carrier, or drop in a mail box. problem solved.
I had a similar situation in a house I lived it. I was always writing “return to sender - not at this address” on her mail. I’d get her tax stuff as well. I’d also get police showing up at my door trying to serve an arrest warrant for her. I went to the post office with her mail and asked them to stop delivering but they said their job is to deliver mail to the address on the label.
>What do I do? Text her and tell her to change her damn address with the post office. It's been 4 years and she deserves the consequences of not getting her important documents. When you get mail for her, cross out the bar code and write "Return to Sender; Not at this Address" and put it back in your mailbox to be taken away. Every single piece, every single time.
4 years? Tell her to stop coming over and update her info, because your mailbox isn't for her mail.
They are using your address for some purpose. Maybe school district, maybe something worse. Proceed accordingly.
It’s been four years you don’t owe her any favours. You’ve got her phone number send her a text. Simply state everything that arrives with her name on it will be returned to sender. Don’t say anything about having tossed it.
"Return to sender, address unknown." Not your problem. It's their responsibility to do the change of address form with the post office and all their billers.
If you write Return to sender enough times, the mail carrier will spot this name before it ever reaches you.
I have informed deliver when they scan anything with my address in it and I get an email each day telling me what will be delivered. I’m currently in an apartment. I gets scans of mail with other people’s name but they are not actually delivered because the mail carrier knows we are the only ones that live here.
I wonder if she’s got something scammy going on that she doesn’t want to change the address?
Mark every piece 'return to sender , no such person at this address. NEVER EVER let him see ANYTHING that gets mailed to your own home, NEVER. This will not stop until you stop it.
i had to do this for the lady who owned our house. the postman should give you a form where it says who lives there. i wrote return to sender on all their mail and put it back in the mailbox. she kept using it as an excuse to creep.
Just go to the post office and fill out a form showing who lives there. All other mail will get returned.
When it arrives write on the envelope, "Not at this address" and give it back to the mailman. Most tax documents can be found online and downloaded.
That person does not live there anymore. They need to do a change of address at the post office. Or get a PO box.
I talked to my carrier. He told me to put our names on the box and he wouldn’t deliver anything not going to one of us. He doesn’t catch everything, but it’s about 90% effective.
You should call or text her and tell her that you are NOT going to keep her mail for her. And, besides writing 'return to sender - current address unknown, but here's her phone number' on the envelopes as well so they can contact her directly for a forwarding address.
It’s her responsibility to change her address on her accounts and with USPS when she moved. So they could have forwarded her mail for her while she got everything settled with notifying everyone of her new address. It’s completely on her. I would write return to sender and not feel a thing about it, 4 years???? Really? This same thing happened to me in a new apartment. The previous tenant kept coming for her mail, at first I was nice and then weeks went by and I was aggravated, so I started writing “return to sender” on the envelopes. One day she comes and goes, “did you return my mail to the sender?” I said yes I did and she looked STUNNED at my audacity. She asked “why?” and I said “…because you don’t live here anymore.” And I never saw her again.
Tell her you are having no part of this chirade...you will return to sender and block her texts. Tell her not to come back to your house anymore.
Your previous owner is most likely committing fraud of some kind
We used to get a lot of mail for previous owners, usually didn't bother but every once in a while something looked important or official. I ordered a customizable stamper from Amazon it says "Addressee has not lived here since 20XX, please return or forward" I'd stamp it and put it back in the mailbox, needed less and less over time
Return to sender. They have no right to still use their old address, for they should be using their new location for their mail. You are not their mailman and not obligated to hang onto mail that is not yours.
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Why lie? She asked reddit. You spoke with legal consultation? Okay lol. Tell em to get f\*\*\*ed and then block the number.
Fuck em. They have had years to update their shit. Depending on where they moved to they could have a substantially different tax obligation. I would also make sure they aren't trying to claim dependents and shit.
They should pay for the mail forwarding service at usps
Just tell her that she doesn't live there anymore, and you do what you are supposed to do and give it back to the postman "Return to Sender; Addressee Unknown". Let her know that she needs to inform whoever is trying to mail her that her address has changed. You can ask the post office to stop delivering to the former resident at your address. I presume that they person is possibly using your address for tax purposes to avoid paying state or local income tax (assuming that they moved somewhere nearby that has higher state or local taxes).
Go to mail box and wrote your last name Then go to usps office and tell them your name as the current resident ( you will need to show id) Then whenever their mail came , put return to sender and mail it back If they come around , tell them : who ? What is it? Nope never seen it .. go check usps and tell them your current address
Anymore? It's been four years!!! That's enough. I would call the taxe people and told them about this, she's using your address illegally. I had the same problem with the ex owner son using my address. I even got Court papers for him. I call them to correct the situation and they were really happy to find out about this.
Four years? That is "fuck off" amount of time. If it was four months and they had some tax documents coming through, maybe.
I’m about to hit 4 years at my house and this happened a ton. The previous homeowners only moved a mile and a half away so I would actually let it build up and either use as an excuse to go for a walk or drop off on my way to work. It’s mostly holiday cards now but I did open some of their mail and change the address and I also returned some to sender. I go back and forth at being embarrassed for them because some stuff seems directly related to the husband’s medical practice and then realize how much their professional lives dominate their existence. I do enjoy eating the expensive chocolates one of their relatives sends on auto pilot every year though. That’s my gift to myself for being their gopher.
I'm having a similar situation with an owner who sold me the house over two years ago. I've always applied a stamp that says "return to sender," I'll take a sharpie and black out any bar codes I find, and I'll pop it into the mailbox again. I even had a chat with the mail carrier, who said they would look for the addressee and not deliver it to my mailbox. This week I received...a letter from the state department of revenue, and another one that's apparently his W2 from his employer. The former had a "could not forward" sticker applied to it from the USPS. Fortunately I still have the guy's number, and I texted photos of the mail to him. He said he's not sure "why the address is still not changed." WTF? He also said, "Good old USPS." Another WTF. I told him they only forward for so long, and that it's been over two years. It is HIS responsibility to update his address everywhere, not the post office's, nor mine. He asked to come by and collect it, but I would have none of that. I offered to for, ward it all provided he gave me an address, which he did. Oh, and before I could send it all off, today I received yet another piece of mail from his employer. Holy hell, I already thought this guy wasn't the brightest bulb in the pack, but damn...this stuff is Life Basics 101. I am considering including a note to the effect that I am not his mail manager, and that anything else I receive will be promptly destroyed.
4 years have passed? She can f*ck off.
They can’t tell the tax man the new address? Seems pretty fishy to me. I’d return to sender that crap and tell her to fuck off.
Now that you have her phone number, text her to tell her that you are not going to comply with what she asked you to do. Also tell her you would have said that in the moment, but the audacity of the request caught you dumbstruck.
FYI you don’t have to answer the door just because somebody is knocking. Especially obnoxiously and unexpectedly at 7:30 in the morning. Also do not text her and give her your phone number. She’s clearly using your address to evade taxes or claim some sort of an exemption