Re-direct Mail for old owner of property

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Australia Post

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  sempro on 04/03/2015 - 15:20

  +3

  Looks like you have suck it up. I usually receive about 10 - 15 letters a week addressed to randoms.

  Technically you can not dispose other peoples mail. I personally get heaps of mail (to what i believe previous tenants) and 'random men' knocking on my door looking for (to what i believe the previous tenants).

  What I do, I treat the AusPost letter box as a garbage can where in my mind I can put rubbish (return to senders letters) in the bin. I also bought a 'Return to sender' stamp to save time instead of writing 'Return to sender - Please update your records - no such person) and alike messages.

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  Mummy2 on 04/03/2015 - 15:22

  +3

  From the postal industry ombudsman website at http://www.pio.gov.au/making-a-complaint/common-complaint-th…

  Where a former occupant has left an address and does not have a redirection or hold in place, their mail will generally continue to be delivered to their former address. The current occupant should mark the front of the article as 'return to sender' and 'no longer at this address' and, optionally, 'please update your records', and re-post it to the sender. Mail must not be opened. There is no fee for returning to sender unopened articles.

  Australia Post is the only body that can legally dispose of mail and there are specific guidelines under which they do it. Interfering with mail may be an offence, so you should return incorrectly delivered mail as advised above.

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  tight-a55 on 04/03/2015 - 15:36

  +3

  Ok, fair enough. i didn't think i could do much about it. Will look out for some bargains on the 'Return to Sender' stamps. thanks for the tips

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  toristo on 04/03/2015 - 19:03

  +2

  Same can be achieved with a quick 'slash' across the front and "RTS"

  That's all I do. There is also no indication as to the time required to return the items. I let them stack up for a few days before dropping them in the post box when I do groceries.

  I'm not doing a special trip because someone is too lazy to redirect their mail.

  • 

    inherentchoice on 05/03/2015 - 02:58

    Yes, this is how I do it. If I didn't start doing it when I first moved in then I would probably still be getting letters daily.

    There are so many previous occupants still getting the odd letter addressed here… I am still having to redirect mail 2.5 years after moving in.

    • 

      Geewhizz on 06/03/2015 - 07:29

      We've lived here for nearly 10 years, and still get mail for other people

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  [Deactivated] on 04/03/2015 - 22:15

  Use them to wipe your feet when you return home each day, and then leave them out for a month to soak up all the rain. After that take the bundle of letters you have amassed, dip in paint/mud to cover your address (and make it harder for them to resort), and throw in the express (yellow) post box (again to give them a harder time).

  Australia post washes their hands of all responsibility, no matter how many times you ask nicely or complain to the ombudsman. They don't care about me or you, so make their jobs harder in return.

  EDIT: Yes, I'm a bastard to them. I did the nice return to sender nonsense for months, and kept asking for them to stop sending mail to me. Even rang the businesses from the letters and most of them told me to suck it up, so I returned the gestures of goodwill.

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  Randxyz123 on 04/03/2015 - 22:35

  Do you know what the business was called? Can you try contacting them to redirect their mail? It sounds like their business went broke 4 years ago and the previous owner has gone… This person probably owes money to whoever is sending you mail… Are you renting? If so contact the agent and see if they can provide you with the previous owners details? Again if you bought the house contact the agent, they MIGHT be willing to help you out.

  • 

    inherentchoice on 05/03/2015 - 03:02

    The agent shouldn't give you the details of previous tenants as that would likely breach the Privacy Act. If you bought the place then the previous owner's name/s would be in the contract for the sale. For a fee you can also do a historical title search to get the name of any previous owner.

    • 

      Randxyz123 on 05/03/2015 - 15:36

      I'm not saying they should give out their fullname and address. Maybe they have a up-to-date phone number that they can contact them with.?

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  Placebo on 05/03/2015 - 00:19

  +2

  When I last moved I got a bunch of "No longer at this address, return to sender" stickers made up from Vistaprint. I stuck them over the clear windows on those envelopes, or next to the address, with a pen slash through the address on envelopes that had a printed address on them. I would take them to a mailing box whenever I was going past, same as others, I wouldn't make a special trip, they made it when they made it.

  It took probably a year and a half, perhaps 2 years to significantly reduce the amount of mail. Having said that, the mail was addressed to a number of previous owners and tenants and from lots of different people and companies, we had been getting multiple pieces of mail each day. After 3 and a half years, it is very unusual to get any mail for anyone else now.

  It takes a lot persistence, but they do pay attention. Eventually :)