Old owner's post

Throwaway1

arciere wrote: »

But that's not really the point, if the old owners aren't interested AT ALL in their own post, why should I waste my time doing this, be it 1 minute or 1 hour a day?

Because it's clearly bothering you enough to make a post on here about it. You don't have to write it on hundreds, just write it on one of the bank letters, one of the university letters etc. You don't need to make a special trip to the post box every time you get a letter, just write it on one of each now and drop it off next time you're in the general vicinity. You're not doing the old owners a favour at all by returning them, the company/person sending them won't magically know their new address and send them on, they'll just stop posting them to you.

You can just bin them I think (don't quote me on that though) but it's clearly annoying you so you have a choice:

a) keep receiving hundreds of letters forever and keep throwing them in the bin
b) write 'RTS - moved' on a couple of envelopes and stop them coming anymore


It's up to you which option you prefer.

Smodlet

I'm with the OP; if the previous occupants cba, why should they? I might RTS for 3 or even 6 months but after that? No way.

Throwaway1

Smodlet wrote: »

I'm with the OP; if the previous occupants cba, why should they? I might RTS for 3 or even 6 months but after that? No way.

The advice to RTS isn't given as a favour to the past owners, it's to stop the OP feeling personally aggrieved every time one lands through their letterbox.

Slinky

Smodlet wrote: »

I'm with the OP; if the previous occupants cba, why should they? I might RTS for 3 or even 6 months but after that? No way.

Then he'll continue to be annoyed by junk coming through the door forever more.


It could be worse. At some point I'll be moving home and somebody at some point in the future will be allocated my old telephone number and start getting calls for my business, in the same way I inherited a plumber's number......

Rosemary7391

It doesn't benefit the old owners to return to sender. I dunno what a bank does in this situation but I wouldn't be surprised if a very small number of returned letters results in accounts being blocked? That's a pain for them and a benefit to the bank, plus hopefully a benefit to you in reducing the volume of mail your receive (eventually). Yes, it takes a little longer to write "RTS, moved away" on envelopes but not much. Binning letters for the forseeable future is eventually going to take up more time.



I also find it really hard to believe you don't ever come near to a postbox. I walk past 2 on my way to work, and neither are the ones closest to my home or workplace! You don't have to do it very often.

arciere

ReadingTim wrote: »

Oh get over yourself. No-one's going to stop sending the mail if you don't tell them to, are they? So you're not doing it for the ex-owners, you're doing it for yourself. But if you don't want to do that, you know who to blame when the letters keep coming. Your call.

Ok, maybe you got it wrong. English is my second language and clearly I wasn't able to express my thoughts correctly.
I am NOT complaining about the letters that I keep receiving. I AM complaining about the fact that the old owners do not care and I should.
Putting all the letters in one large box and forgetting about it is less time consuming than writing this and that and re-delivering, and I am ok with that.
My original question was (and still is): when can I stop worrying about what happens to their letters and do what I see fit (keep them in a box, bin them, burn them, recycle them) without any (legal?) consequences?

ReadingTim

arciere wrote: »

Ok, maybe you got it wrong. English is my second language and clearly I wasn't able to express my thoughts correctly.
I am NOT complaining about the letters that I keep receiving. I AM complaining about the fact that the old owners do not care and I should.
Putting all the letters in one large box and forgetting about it is less time consuming than writing this and that and re-delivering, and I am ok with that.
My original question was (and still is): when can I stop worrying about what happens to their letters and do what I see fit (keep them in a box, bin them, burn them, recycle them) without any (legal?) consequences?

Well, if you'd asked the question and omitted the excessive exaggeration, you'd have got to a sensible answer faster....

I believe the only legal prohibition is in respect of opening stuff which isn't addressed to you - you shouldn't do that. I'd be a little wary of keeping them too - it's a bit odd. Otherwise, apply common sense, perhaps considering how you'd dispose of old letters, or how you'd like someone else to dispose of something addressed to you that had been mis-delivered.

So, of the available options, in decreasing order of sensibility, I suggest:

1 - RTS
2 - secure disposal/destroy (burn, shred)
3 - unsecured disposal (bin/recycle)
4 - keep

davidmcn

ReadingTim wrote: »

I believe the only legal prohibition is in respect of opening stuff which isn't addressed to you - you shouldn't do that.

No, you can open anything which is addressed to your address. The name is irrelevant. The prohibition is to things which have been delivered to the wrong address.

Normal laws about theft, fraud etc still apply though.

And in practice of course, nobody is going to involve the law about you opening or binning this sort of stuff.

arciere

ReadingTim wrote: »

Well, if you'd asked the question and omitted the excessive exaggeration, you'd have got to a sensible answer faster....

I believe the only legal prohibition is in respect of opening stuff which isn't addressed to you - you shouldn't do that. I'd be a little wary of keeping them too - it's a bit odd. Otherwise, apply common sense, perhaps considering how you'd dispose of old letters, or how you'd like someone else to dispose of something addressed to you that had been mis-delivered.

So, of the available options, in decreasing order of sensibility, I suggest:

1 - RTS
2 - secure disposal/destroy (burn, shred)
3 - unsecured disposal (bin/recycle)
4 - keep

Thanks, although "time consuming" and "free re-delivery service" were probably the only 'exaggerations' in my post, I can assure you none of the rest was.

To this day, I have kept all the letters as some of them were quite important (university admission letters, DVLA driving licenses, although obviously I didn't open any of them) so it didn't seem appropriate to send them back straight away, in case the old owners came and asked for them. But as the time passed by, there was no contact from them and no easy way to reach them. Hence my question if I am, and for how long I will be, responsible for their post.

ReadingTim

arciere wrote: »

Thanks, although "time consuming" and "free re-delivery service" were probably the only 'exaggerations' in my post, I can assure you none of the rest was.

hundreds of letters?!? Really...?!?