Return to Sender
Jan. 19th, 2025 01:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerFor years now, at least 10 years, and possibly longer, we've been getting mail addressed to a person who never lived here. And this isn't just the usual mis-addressed junk mail about "Buy your cemetery plot early and save 40%!" but legit, important mail that I imagine the person it's being sent to actually wants. It's quarterly statements from one of his retirement accounts.
Over the years we've tried everything reasonable to correct the problem. At first we sending the letters back with various forms of "Return to sender/Wrong address" written on the envelope. They kept coming. We ask the Post Office for help. That was like talking to a mailbox. We searched the person's name online but found nothing definitive. We even called the insurance company that manages the account, explaining the situation to an agent there. They refused to look up the account unless we also gave them the account number. The full name and address of the account holder weren't enough. That would mean opening the letter, which seemed like it could run afoul of federal laws around mail tampering, so I declined.
The letters keep coming. One day as we were listening to music in the car a classic by Elvis Presley came on, and I suggested to Hawk, "Maybe they're respond if we wrote the whole lyrics to Return to Sender on the envelope."
So she did.
Well, not the full lyrics. And also not the correct lyrics. 🤣
I added the musical notes 🎵 and signed it "Elvis" to clarify the intent.
Over the years we've tried everything reasonable to correct the problem. At first we sending the letters back with various forms of "Return to sender/Wrong address" written on the envelope. They kept coming. We ask the Post Office for help. That was like talking to a mailbox. We searched the person's name online but found nothing definitive. We even called the insurance company that manages the account, explaining the situation to an agent there. They refused to look up the account unless we also gave them the account number. The full name and address of the account holder weren't enough. That would mean opening the letter, which seemed like it could run afoul of federal laws around mail tampering, so I declined.
The letters keep coming. One day as we were listening to music in the car a classic by Elvis Presley came on, and I suggested to Hawk, "Maybe they're respond if we wrote the whole lyrics to Return to Sender on the envelope."
So she did.
Well, not the full lyrics. And also not the correct lyrics. 🤣
I added the musical notes 🎵 and signed it "Elvis" to clarify the intent.
