What Would You Do? Letters Keep Arriving. (Many of Them)

iNeed2Pee on 29/06/2021 - 12:09
Last edited 29/06/2021 - 12:10

Moved into my first home a few weeks ago.

Old Vendors mail is still arriving nearly daily. I have already gone past his new place to drop it off twice now.
(We knew he was moving which isn't far from where we are.

They were nice people and I felt bad. But now I am thinking if I should just write a note on this mail with a msg saying "please redirect your mail" and drop it off one last time….or now just write on the letter "return to sender" and put it back in the post box.

What do you think?

I have added our trusty Poll.

Poll Options

  • 45
    Leave a msg on the mail "Please Redirect mail" and drop it off one last time.
  • 615
    Put back in post box with "Return to sender"
  • 40
    Throw it away
General Discussion

Comments

  • drfuzzy on 30/06/2021 - 14:12

    Buy land in a new subdivision and construct a new principle place of residence.
    Problem solved.

  • Seaeagles on 30/06/2021 - 14:34
    +1

    I remember around 25 years ago when we moved into a house we would get a Penthouse magazine in the mail every month, this went on for about 3 years.

    I rang to say they don't live here anymore when I first moved in and got told it would be sorted and they would cancel the deliveries.
    I kept getting them until I moved and presume the new owners kept getting them too.

    • iNeed2Pee on 30/06/2021 - 14:43

      I wouldn't have called to let them know.

      Nudie magazine day!! šŸ˜…

  • iNeed2Pee on 30/06/2021 - 14:46

    Thanks for all of the replies:)

    Gonna hold onto it for a few days more and see if they come around otherwise will just put the rts and post it in the mailbox from now on when I have time.

    • Cherry12 on 01/07/2021 - 19:47

      I did RTS for a couple of years for it to finally stop.

      I would collect 3-6 months worth of mail before dropping it to the post.

  • pogichinoy on 30/06/2021 - 15:49

    Return to sender and drop it off at a post box.

    Easy as.

  • syousef on 30/06/2021 - 18:07

    If we had a competent postal service that could properly filter mail, or companies that knew how to handle RTS mail, people wouldn't throw it away. Also people who throw mail away would get prosecuted. If you're getting a steady stream of mail for years and have attempted to do the right thing, how reasonable is it to expect people who can barely stay on top of their own affairs to handle other people's mail? Yeah good luck with that.

    Also if anyone here is named Robert and is wondering why they don't get a reminder to renew their RACT membership, someone stuffed up and has entered my mobile number instead of yours. ;-)

  • DiscoJango on 30/06/2021 - 20:22

    randomly got a letter one day addressed to our place, hand written, so opened it up. it was the sweetest thing, one primary school friend writing to the other asking how they were and if they wanted to come and stay over. only thing is, no return address so i had no way of responding and telling them! kinda felt sorry for the kid, hes probably thinking his friend ignored him :(

  • luvv on 30/06/2021 - 20:27
    +8

    A true cautionary tale from when I was young and stupid: Moved into a new rental place, kept getting mail to previous occupants. Initially took the time to go to the nearest post box to RTS, but after a while got lazy - was a poor student and didn't have a car + living in the middle of nowhere in the burbs, so returning mail was way down on my priority list. Started binning them. One day, started to see a marked cop car parked nearby at all hours of the day. Thought it was curious but didn't otherwise pay too much attention. One day, just returning home from uni, half a dozen cops came out of various unmarked vehicles around my house and stopped me. Turns out I had been binning court summons and other important legal stuff, and that I kinda looked like the guy they were after. They had been watching my movements for like a week. That was when I learned binning mail was illegal. Luckily the cops thought it was funny and didn't get too upset so they didn't charge me.

    TLDR don't throw mail out.

    • iNeed2Pee on 30/06/2021 - 20:29
      +2

      At least for that week you had your own personal security detail!!!

      • luvv on 30/06/2021 - 20:35

        I don't think they followed me around, at least not that I noticed. They surely wouldn't have right?

        • iNeed2Pee on 30/06/2021 - 21:41

          You will never know!

  • BIGPETE0005 on 30/06/2021 - 20:54

    Iā€™m pretty sure you can go to the post office and get everything in their name re directed to their new address. If you canā€™t they can

    • Davo1111 on 01/07/2021 - 09:14

      At a cost

    • trapper on 01/07/2021 - 09:48

      They have to do this, but it is only a short term solution anyway.

      • mini2 on 02/07/2021 - 14:20

        Yeah, they have to do it themselves, they need to verify the driver's licence and whatnot for it to happen. Can be extended but don't know for how long.

  • Davo1111 on 01/07/2021 - 09:14

    Deceased, RTS

  • cheeksahoy on 01/07/2021 - 09:40
    +2

    "NATA - RTS"

    (Not At This Address - Return to Sender)

    As advised to me by a postal worker.

    • JayParker on 01/07/2021 - 10:02
      +1

      Love the shorthand, what a relief! ā€œNot at this addressā€ seems to take ages to write, especially when doing multiple envelopes.

  • trapper on 01/07/2021 - 09:47

    It's only been a couple of weeks.

    Just collect it in a pile, wait a few months and call them to pick up or drop it over. After this start returning to sender.

  • nakahanap on 01/07/2021 - 10:08
    +1

    I can tell you what not to doā€¦

    Some years ago, was receiving previous tenantsā€™ mail which clearly included final notices on a range of utilities. As RTS had not stopped them coming, decided to call one of the utilities and tell them that sending final notice letters to a place someone no longer lived was pointless.

    They then asked for the name of who was calling, which was not given as it was obvious what would then happen.

    RTS is the way to goā€¦it will minimise the mail coming (although some companies will continue to use the address). Stop delivering to the old ownerā€¦your kindness is making it too easy for him and he wonā€™t make the changes.

    • Chandler on 02/07/2021 - 09:59

      Utilities are usually for the premises they are sent to, just sent to the attention of the known occupant.

      So either previous tenant had old bills, or you were freeloading the utilities which hadn't been changed over to you…?

  • geekcohen on 01/07/2021 - 10:10

    This happened to me for previous owners (the first owners) and we are the 3rd. Spotlight was sending the first owners weekly mail, I ended up ringing Spotlight directly and they updated their system to stop sending mail.

  • moo on 01/07/2021 - 10:29

    If you are returning mail via RTS, who pays for it? Say if you attached a large object (e.g. cardboard box or phone directory) to the mail via RTS, who ends up paying for it?

  • MassEffect on 01/07/2021 - 14:22

    This happens to me too. Moved into my first home 3 months ago but some mail from the previous owner keeps coming to my address. He's a nice guy and I know that he has updated his address wherever he remembered to, but you need to realise that sometimes, you just forget about that one place / company which still hasn't received the your new address. I give the guy the benefit of the doubt, and leave his mail in the mailbox and text him to collect it when he can. He always collects them within a few days and I have noticed that I don't receive that particular kind of mail (or at least what I can note from the envelope) any more, which means he has updated his address to that one more place.
    Keeps things healthy.

  • Morphio25 on 01/07/2021 - 14:29

    I had this problem at my last place. I did the whole RTS and back in the post box thing for a while but after I kept getting the same letters time and time again I just started binning them.

    I'm not a mail redirection service and if I ask nicely the first couple times and you still can't redirect your own mail then I guess you don't want it.

  • Pricetaker on 01/07/2021 - 17:51

    The past tenant I had, doesn't like to pay his Toll Bill. I RTS heaps of Linkt letters then I emailed them and asked them to please stop. They said they are happy for me to put them in the bin but they won't stop sending to the address provided by the Department of Transport and Main Roads until the customer updates their registration address. A lot of letters you see are auto generated from systems to mail houses then go out. Good luck getting some redirected or stopped in any case.

    • brisdaz on 25/07/2022 - 21:26
      -1

      Most large companies proudly say they're carbon neutral and support recycling or sustainability and this would be embarrassing if the media reported it.

  • justgooddeals on 01/07/2021 - 18:08

    1st month = RTS
    2nd month = RTS
    3rd month> = RTB

    RTB= Return to bin.

  • steve289 on 01/07/2021 - 18:35

    be nice - drop it one one more time, with a note saying 'this is the last time - here's my phone number, let me know when you are coming to pick up any more mail that may arrive'

  • Quaker on 01/07/2021 - 19:56

    We contacted the real estate agent and they provided a mailing address for the previous owners.
    We collected the mail and mailed off the letters to the previous owner in one lot. After that we did send the letters back as Return to Sender.

  • bmerigan on 01/07/2021 - 21:50

    You could just ask them to come get it, then it's no inconvenience to you at all.
    There's no need to be an a-hole and throw it away or take other actions that mean they don't receive it. There's a LOT of pricks on OzBargain.

  • ribze1 on 01/07/2021 - 22:26

    I RTS'd everything for months, i occasionally still get the old owner's mail and just bin it now.

  • Tvsupaguru on 02/07/2021 - 09:19

    11.5 years in my current house. I still get mail for the previous resident. It goes in the bin.

    After the first couple months of sending them back RTS, I gave up. We do not know the person or where he lives. He may be dead. Who knows.

    He would have been a prior tenant in the property as the name on the mail is not the same person we purchased the property from

  • mini2 on 02/07/2021 - 14:17

    Well suggest to the previous owners to setup a mail redirection with Auspost for the next 12 months or else their letters will just 'disappear'..problem solved?

  • meowsers on 02/07/2021 - 23:06
    +1

    I cannot believe people waste their time looking this stuff up.

    Yeah yeah we all get that ā€œitā€™s illegalā€ but I guarantee you most of that mail still gets thrown out.

    Canā€™t believe Iā€™ve wasted my time commenting again.

    • DiscoJango on 04/07/2021 - 18:16

      ive been known to drive above the speed limit, illegal!

  • Placebo on 04/07/2021 - 13:33

    When we bought our place about 10 years ago I had a bunch of red stickers with "no longer at this address, return to sender" written on them and religiously put them onto everything we received. The property had been tenanted for years to a number of different people so we got mail for lots of different names. It took a while but after a few years we received almost nothing.

    It's a PITA doing it, but I don't think binning them helps as companies will just keep sending them assuming they are arriving as addressed.

  • perfectlydark on 29/07/2022 - 10:42
    -1

    return to sender. i was doing it for over 2 years after moving here

    • Chickenleg on 30/07/2022 - 12:44

      Iā€™m guessing @iNeed2Pee probably figured this out already seeing as they moved in over a year ago now

      • iNeed2Pee on 30/07/2022 - 13:26
        +1

        šŸ¤£šŸ¤£šŸ¤£ I did do a double take on their comment.

      • perfectlydark on 30/07/2022 - 13:33
        +1

        lol wait a minute how did i wind up replying to such an old thread? didnt even realise

        • iNeed2Pee on 30/07/2022 - 14:57
          +1

          šŸ¤£ Thanks for your comment though.
          Did make my day because ironically a centrelink letter came from them on Thursday.

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