ethical dilemma - mail

[jessmarimba]

I have been in my house for over a year and the people I bought it from still have not officially changed their address with the post office (I know, b/c a card would have shown up in my mailbox). I'm not legally allowed to change it for them. I have reminded them with every packet of letters I send on to them, and I am getting tired of forwarding mail to them. But, I feel guilty sticking things back in the mailbox with "no such person at this address." It would be one thing if it was junk mail, but I also get notifications from the dentist, insurance, bank, birthday cards, you name it. What would you do at this point - forward or return to sender?

[ny biker]

Return to sender.

No ethical dilemma here. You have already gone above and beyond.

[Owlie]

Yeah, return to sender.

[bcipam]

Clearly the prior owners are trying to avoid creditors or other such people. The ethical and legal thing to do is "return mail to sender" so those people are informed this is no longer a legal address.

You need to be careful by not notifying the sender the person they seek no longer lives there, they might file a lien or place some bail against the house which you now own. Much better to set up a paper trail showing you did the right thing then have to deal with a lien on the house.

[Chicken Little]

Return to sender is fine. You are not here to re-parent them.

[Becky]

Rts.

[ClockworkOrange]

Yup, RTS...................Oh, I feel a song coming on.

Now who remembers Elvis Presley singing Return to Sender. :rolleyes:

[colby]

Is there any way the post office can help you? Maybe they can stop it from getting to your mailbox in the first place? I've never been in this situation but it'd be nice if you didn't even have to touch it.

[ny biker]

Is there any way the post office can help you? Maybe they can stop it from getting to your mailbox in the first place? I've never been in this situation but it'd be nice if you didn't even have to touch it.

If someone files a change of address notice, the post office will forward mail to the new address for a specific period of time -- I think 6 months. After that, the COA expires and they just deliver the mail.

[lph]

Yup, RTS...................Oh, I feel a song coming on.

Now who remembers Elvis Presley singing Return to Sender. :rolleyes:


I've karaoked it. Very badly...

[hebe]

Yup, RTS...................Oh, I feel a song coming on.

Now who remembers Elvis Presley singing Return to Sender. :rolleyes:


"address unknown, no such number..." I'm married to an Elvis buff.

Definitely return to sender.

[Irulan]

I just put a slash mark through the main address, mark "no longer at this address" and put in the mail box.

[badgercat]

Yes, return to sender... I agree, you've already gone above and beyond.

Tip: when RTS-ing, use a permanent marker to black out any barcodes (front or back, black or orange) that were printed on the envelope by the post office. I had a job for a year at a college dorm hall-desk, and a big part of our daily duties was sorting mail. This included forwarding, RTS-ing, or destroying mail addressed to former residents, depending on whether or not they left a forwarding address, how long ago they moved out, and the level of postage. (Presort Standard and the like--aka bulk or "junk" mail--don't get forwarded, unless there are forwarding instructions from the sender, because as I understand it the sender has to have paid extra for forwarding services. You can feel free to throw that out just as you would your own junk mail.)

Anyway, if we didn't black out those barcodes, even if we had crossed out the address and marked Return to Sender, sometimes the envelopes would come right back to us because they got routed based on the pre-existing barcodes, not what was written/stamped on the envelope. Granted, it's been about 5 years since I worked in that capacity, but I'm guessing it's still the same deal. Your postal carrier would probably catch it, but it might save him/her a step.

[jessmarimba]

Thanks guys. I have a bunch of mail in the mailbox to be returned now.

I feel bad about one, which was a slightly oversized envelope that seems to be a Christmas/holiday thing or other, but has no return address (c'mon, people!). But...too bad. I reminded them with my last forwarding & the only reason I didn't send that back was b/c one was a card from Israel.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I have been in my house for over a year... have reminded them with every packet of letters I send on to them, and I am getting tired of forwarding mail to them. But, I feel guilty sticking things back in the mailbox with "no such person at this address."

Over a year of mailing their mail to them over and over at your expense and time?
Why would you feel guilty? Your mailing their mail to them actually prolongs and enables this situation to continue.
Return to Sender will actually help change the situation. :)

[Koronin]

I'd do RTS also. Actually I do that at the place I am currently renting. (I realize a bit different since I have no idea who rented here before or actually who even owns the place as we are renting through a reality company). I've sent stuff back for at least 4 different people who have lived here in the past. I did put in a forwarding address with the post office, but still ended up with the lady who purchased my home sending, I think, two pieces of mail that slipped through.

[ny biker]

Over a year of mailing their mail to them over and over at your expense and time?
Why would you feel guilty? Your mailing their mail to them actually prolongs and enables this situation to continue.
Return to Sender will actually help change the situation. :)

Seriously. I barely have time to deal with the mail that's addressed to me. If the former owners of my condo never bothered to notify others of their new address, I would probably throw out most of the mail I received for them.

[indysteel]

Clearly the prior owners are trying to avoid creditors or other such people. The ethical and legal thing to do is "return mail to sender" so those people are informed this is no longer a legal address.

You need to be careful by not notifying the sender the person they seek no longer lives there, they might file a lien or place some bail against the house which you now own. Much better to set up a paper trail showing you did the right thing then have to deal with a lien on the house.

While I think the OP will ultimately be best served by using RTS, as a creditor's rights/bankruptcy attorney, I think the risk of a nonconsensual lien being placed on her house is pretty remote, especially since the former tenants moved out so long ago.

[ny biker]

While I think the OP will ultimately be best served by using RTS, as a creditor's rights/bankruptcy attorney, I think the risk of a nonconsensual lien being placed on her house is pretty remote, especially since the former tenants moved out so long ago.

I also think Jess would know already if there were creditors trying to reach the former owners, because there would be mail from them.

It sounds like laziness to me.

[indysteel]

I also think Jess would know already if there were creditors trying to reach the former owners, because there would be mail from them.

It sounds like laziness to me.

True. Typically, state complaints are served either in person by a process server or by registered mail. If someone proceeds against the former owners using their old address, the OP will likely know about it.

I could bore you with the ins and outs of creditor's rights and collections, but suffice to say that I don't think this is a big concern.

[SadieKate]

It's been 3 years since we bought our current house and we've used RTS until last month when we now use the more handy trashcan.

However, RTS is the only way to go. You have no obligation to forward mail directly to the previous occupants. You are causing more problems by not using it because the post office cannot get the address corrected. The few times we get incorrectly addressed mail there is now a handwritten ? on the envelope which indicates to us that the PO expects and wants us to correct the situation with them. The only bad part to RTS is that all the catalog companies can still track you down.:mad:

The only time we went to more trouble was when we received title company correspondence addressed to someone at our current address but trying to buy a house next door to a rental house we had sold a couple years earlier (I know because I opened the two envelopes). This was a little freaky. We contacted both the title company and the county. The county rep was very helpful and followed up to make sure no action was happening against our property. The title company basically didn't give a sh!t. Choose your title companies carefully.