So who here gets mail for previous tenants

[shadowclaw]

Since moving to my new apartment, I have been receiving lots of mail for the previous tenant. Not just junk mail or catalogs, but phone bills, bank stuff, medical stuff, etc. Basically, a lot of important mail! I've been writing "return to sender" and popping them back in the mail. Yesterday, however, I got a package from Amazon (and it has the prime tape on it). I don't know this person managed to get a package shipped here, unless it was something backordered. Now I have to call UPS to have it sent back since I couldn't refuse it (they dropped it off without ringing the bell).

 

Anyone else get mail for previous tenants?

[CBclone]

I haven't in my current location, but that's probably because my place was vacant from mid-May (when the last tenant moved out) until i moved in at the end of August. I did however get her "change of address" coupons that the USPS sends out, on top of mine that I received before leaving my old address. Double coupons = score!

 

The place I moved from was a little town that didn't have home delivery of USPS so everyone had to go to the post office, and I got one guy's mail 2 or 3 days a week for the entire 3 years that I had that mailbox. Super annoying. He apparently had that box before me, moved to the town 30 miles away, but some of his mail kept going to my mailing address. Despite the post office putting a big note on my box that said "Mail for CBClone ONLY, no mail for Random Dude" (i could see the back side of my mailbox from the counter), the person putting out the mail continued to give me his mail. And he kept forgetting to notify senders of his new (by 3-years...) address. I feel bad for whoever has that box now. 

[MarineBluePsy]

Oh this is so annoying.  I've lived in my current place for like 5 years and I still get mail from previous tenants.  If you live in an apartment complex you could ask the manager if the prior tenant left a forwarding address.  Then just route it back through usps/ups/fedex with the forwarding address written on it.  They'll bill the prior tenant accordingly.

[TakeruK]

At all the places I've lived, I've received mail for not just the previous tenant, but the ones before that too. Sometimes I think I receive enough mail that I can trace back multiple generations of previous tenants and even try to guess the order they lived in my apartment!

If it's junk mail or ad-mail (i.e. addressed to "X or current resident"), it just goes into the recycling. If it looks like mail meant for that particular person, I write "no longer lives here" and leave it on my mailbox. I'm not sure what happens but it is gone by the next day. 

I only received a package for someone else one time. In that case, I gave it to my building manager to deal with.

[rising_star]

Yea, I always get mail for previous tenants. And I'm guessing people in places where I used to live get mail for me still. USPS mail forwarding helps but doesn't solve everything.

[Mutualimpedancewaffle]

I get multiple generations worth of mail too! There are three or four names we get consistently. Usually it's ads, sometimes important stuff that we make sure is forwarded. We even got teen magazines for a few months!

[juilletmercredi]

I've gotten mail for previous tenants in all of the previous apartments I've lived in. That's just the nature of the enterprise, I think.

I have accidentally have Amazon packages sent to the wrong address. It's pretty simple, actually - you have a default address, you forget to change it when you order your things, and it ends up at the old place.

The last apartment I lived in before this current one I got someone's HR documents and possibly their final paycheck (it was labeled from the payroll division). I brought it to the leasing office.

[shadowclaw]

Taking packages to the leasing office sounds like a swell idea! I hate talking on the phone... It's wrapped up in my social anxiety issues and I really don't want to call UPS. But stopping in the office... that's wonderful.

The leasing office here claimed I couldn't get mail sent to the address until we went to the post office to request our keys (which I didn't know about and had stuff sent here). All of my mail got here fine even though there was a piece of paper in the box that said "vacant - do not deliver mail." Now there's a paper with our last name on it taped to the other end of the box... I guess the mailman just doesn't care.

What's worse than getting someone else's mail is getting someone else's collection calls. I don't know if this guy had the landline phone number before my parents did or if he just gave the wrong phone number, but for like 10 years we'd get calls for some guy and the collection companies just wouldn't take our word for it that it was the wrong number.

 

[TakeruK]

Taking packages to the leasing office sounds like a swell idea! I hate talking on the phone... It's wrapped up in my social anxiety issues and I really don't want to call UPS. But stopping in the office... that's wonderful.

The leasing office here claimed I couldn't get mail sent to the address until we went to the post office to request our keys (which I didn't know about and had stuff sent here). All of my mail got here fine even though there was a piece of paper in the box that said "vacant - do not deliver mail." Now there's a paper with our last name on it taped to the other end of the box... I guess the mailman just doesn't care.

What's worse than getting someone else's mail is getting someone else's collection calls. I don't know if this guy had the landline phone number before my parents did or if he just gave the wrong phone number, but for like 10 years we'd get calls for some guy and the collection companies just wouldn't take our word for it that it was the wrong number.

When I moved into my current place, there was a pink USPS slip that said tenant has moved out and it had a form for me to fill out with the names of the new people (i.e. me) so that USPS knows that I live here now. It was easy---fill it out and leave it in the box for USPS to pick up. So, that ensures I get all of my mail!

I also had the phone number problem too. Luckily, most companies stop calling me when I ask them to not call me again. For the few that do not, I just screen their calls (set my phone to automatically reject certain numbers) and if I do pick up by mistake, and I have already told them not to call me, I just hang up as soon as they identify themselves. I know the people on the other end are just doing their job, but it's not really my problem that their company has the wrong number. 

[dr. t]

I guess the mailman just doesn't care.

 

This is the key. Our last place, we tried to stop the previous tenant's mail and it didn't happen. In our current apt., we have a very nice mailwoman. We talked to her when she came to deliver, and we haven't gotten anything not addressed to us since.

[VulpesZerda]

I'm late to the topic, but I live in a house-share with 10 bedrooms, that has been a "student house" for years. 80% of our mail isn't ours...! We have a giant paper bag full of it and we make the landlord figure it out. We get bills, summons from the courts, postcards, packages, you name it.

[random_grad]

I got a package for a previous tenant. Was too busy/lazy to do anything about it, left it in the lobby for a week. It misteriously disappeared today! I wonder what happened xD

Edited November 12, 2015 by random_grad

[shadowclaw]

I got another package for the previous tenant about 2 weeks ago, but thankfully it was sent USPS, so it was easy to write "refused" on it and drop it in the parcel bin at the post office  I've noticed that when I get catalogs addressed to the previous tenant recently, either someone at the post office or the mailman scratches out the person's name and circles the line that says "or current resident." Not that I returned any catalogs before... I just through them in the recycling bin. I've only been sending back important stuff, like payroll stuff, phone bills, and DMV paperwork.

An interesting tip for anyone who gets a UPS package for someone else... it seems that if you aren't there to refuse it when it's originally dropped off, you can't just give it to the UPS guy next time you see him. I tried giving it to one when he delivered something else, but he wouldn't take it because he didn't want to be responsible for it. He told me that he thought I should call UPS so they could send someone specifically for it, but he wasn't really sure. So I gave it to the leasing office to deal with.

[random_grad]

11 hours ago, shadowclaw said:

it seems that if you aren't there to refuse it when it's originally dropped off

if only they bothered actually ringing and bringing it to the door of my apt (or waiting for me to come downstairs) ! I'm home most of the time (love working from home) and they did that maybe like once. So if they don't bother, I won't either.

Edited November 12, 2015 by random_grad

[PoliticalOrder]

I do all the time and I just put it straight into the recycling/garbage. 

[sackofcrap]

Some guy named Jose gets more mail at my address than I do. Almost every day it's something different. It's out of control. 

[Catria]

The only mail I get from a previous tenant were some pharmacy magazines; perhaps the last tenant used to go to pharmacy school and is practicing by now...

[SAH]

I'm always getting mail for previous tenants - a whole host of different people.  I usually just write "not at this address" and stick it in the outgoing mail.  

[VulpesZerda]

Recently a package showed up at my house for a previous tenant. This person is in my program and their office is around the corner from mine so I brought it in the next day. Small town lol

[shadowclaw]

4 hours ago, VulpesZerda said:

Recently a package showed up at my house for a previous tenant. This person is in my program and their office is around the corner from mine so I brought it in the next day. Small town lol

That's actually quite amusing!