How to Stop Getting Mail for Previous Residents After Moving to a New Home in Denver

This may seem like a confusing issue. You must be wondering what to do with mail for the previous resident? Who can help you resolve this? Luckily, the answer to a question – how do I stop getting old tenants’ mail? – is following a couple of easy steps that won’t take much time.

Simple Guide on How to Stop Getting Mail for Previous Residents

What to do when you get mail for a previous resident? Keep in mind that, although this is annoying, it is bound to happen sometimes, considering the number of letters and packages that are delivered daily by USPS. Wondering what that number is? Approximately 500 million, which is pretty high, do you not agree? So, you shouldn’t get angry and add to the relocation stress. It is reasonable and logical that the post office will occasionally make some mistakes, even in Denver’s best neighborhoods. Nobody’s perfect, right?

How to Stop Mail for Previous Residents?

So, what to do if you get mail for a previous resident? We will tell you the most effective ways to prevent receiving unwanted packages, but we must also mention a couple of things you absolutely should not do. Letters are a private thing, and they usually contain plenty of sensitive or personal information. Follow our guidelines to avoid accidentally doing something illegal with a stranger’s letter that has arrived on your doorstep in the up-and-coming Denver neighborhood.

Essential Things to Keep in Mind

You can have some legal problems if you do the wrong thing regarding the items belonging to another person. United States law has strict regulations regarding this topic, and the following actions are considered felonies:

• The misplacing a letter or a package that is not yours,
• Stealing items mistakenly sent to your home,
• The destruction of a letter or a package that is not yours.

What’s essential is that you don’t do something in a rush that can lead to the intended receiver never receiving their letter or package, no matter if it’s accidental or with an intention.

Someone Could Be Having the Same Problem With Your Letters – The Best Method to Avoid this Situation

Never forget that the core of an efficient move is having a to-do list where you write everything. One of the items on that list should be updating your home address with the USPS. The moving tip we can give you here is that you deal with this way before it’s relocation time. You can do it when you start organizing important documents. It doesn’t take much time, and it doesn’t affect your expenses checklist, so it won’t give you a headache. Don’t deal with it last minute, as it will easily slip your mind, with other commonly forgotten things to pack and do before the move.

Don’t Throw Away the Mail That’s Addressed to Someone Else

You ask yourself – what do I do if I receive someone else’s mail? We mentioned that some legal issues are possible. Now you’re probably thinking, is it illegal to throw away someone else’s mail? Yes, it most definitely is. You should under no circumstances throw it away if it ends up in your hands. Even if it wasn’t illegal, it would be rude. Just imagine the situation is reversed. You had some reasons to move, and you had to pack to move in a hurry, so you forgot to inform USPS about your relocation. Would you be okay with someone throwing your packages in the garbage?

Don’t Open the Mail That’s Not Addressed to You

This is also illegal in the US It’s considered theft, and it counts as a federal offense. Naturally, nobody is going to prosecute you for accidentally opening an envelope without checking the name on it. But, what to do with mail from the previous tenant USPS keeps sending you? Just make sure you tape it again and write “no longer at this address”, “return to sender”, or “not at this address”, and take it to the outgoing mailbox.

Never File the Address Change for Someone Else

Even if you know the new location of the former tenant, we must inform you that you can’t change their home number instead of them. Some people think this is the quickest way to quit receiving random magazines and packages you didn’t ask for, but in reality, this is the strangest way to commit a federal crime. So don’t be tempted, even if you like to go around Denver and it doesn’t take you much time to get to the post office. Instead, you can go and visit some of the cool places in Denver and then get to solving your problem later.

The First Step: Leave a Message on the Envelope

Once you see newspapers or a bill that’s not yours, you’ll start wondering – what to do with mail for previous resident USPS has mistakenly sent you? Well, first, you should take it out of your mailbox – don’t ignore the issue and leave it there. We have already mentioned what to do if you accidentally open it, and it’s the same thing here. Take a pen, write “moved” or “wrong address”, and put all the envelopes in the outgoing mailbox. This will ensure that the postal service workers know they have wrong information, and hopefully, the former tenant will soon remember to update USPS about the change of their location.

Put Sticky Notes on Your Mailbox

How do I stop someone else’s mail from coming to my house again? To ensure that this mistake won’t happen again, you can try out this quick tip. Do you have sticky notes? Maybe you have them in your office at that new Denver job of yours that’s located in the best Denver neighborhood for young professionals? Or you used them to label stuff when you were decluttering the items movers won’t move?

If not, you must have some tape left from taping boxes with fragile items when you were packing plates. You can use it to tape an ordinary piece of paper. It doesn’t make a difference – the sticky note is just a bit neater. What’s important is that you clearly state in the message that the former tenant no longer lives there and that you place that note on the postbox so that the postal carrier will see it the next time they come to your place.

Just in Case, Put the Message on the Door as Well

Sometimes, postal carriers do not check the name on the envelope, and they can put the wrong one in your postbox even though you left them a notice in the form of a sticky note. You should be extra thorough and put the same message on your door as well.

Cross Out the Barcode on the Envelope

You have sent back letters with the message that the address was wrong, and you have even labeled your mailbox and the door. You thought that was the end of the problem. But it’s been a few days, and here they are again – all those mistaken packages. Why is it happening again? Did you miss something? If all the tips haven’t worked, the reason is the barcode.

So, What Is the Big Deal With the Barcode?

What creates a problem is an automated system that scans the code on packages. Your written note might not be noticed in some cases, and the post office will keep sending items to your address because it corresponds to the home number – the one that the former tenant has yet to change. To avoid this, simply cross out the barcode and check the backside of the envelope to ensure there are no barcodes you missed. That will be enough to confuse the system. The chances are that this method will probably bring results, and this will be the end of your troubles. We certainly hope so. Check out this video if you want to know more about how the postal services sort items before the delivery.

If All of This Doesn’t Work, You Can File a Complaint With the Postmaster

We won’t lie – it is possible that all of our methods so far end up without results. Your household is one of many millions, and the post office does the best it can, but they are bound to miss a few things, no matter how many notes you write them. Occasionally, a person will have to put in additional effort to solve this problem. That means you should make time for a trip to the local post office.

The last option you have is to file a complaint with the postal carrier. Talking with a postal worker in person will surely be more efficient than the note, and it will encourage them to stop with the wrong sending quickly. After that, you can congratulate yourself for finally solving the problem by going for the best burger in Denver.

We Know This Will Be Annoying, but You Can’t Give Up

You will probably want to give up on all of this more than once, especially if you have to make time and find a postal worker to help you. But, just think of the person who forgot to change their home number. They will be in their new home, wondering what happened to the subscription to their favorite magazine or why their letters from a family member stopped coming. Who knows what kind of important information they aren’t getting. This slight annoyance for you can be a real problem for them. Precisely for this reason, you should give your best to solve the issue.

Now You’ve Learned How to Stop Receiving Mail From Previous Resident, But There’s a Lot More to Organize – You Should Hire Excellent Denver Movers to Help You

Somewhere between researching relocating hacks and organizing yourself a going-away party, you should google what moving companies Denver can offer you. Amongst the best moving companies in Denver, you’ll find us. We provide residential moving, as well as exceptional packing services, and every single one of our movers in Denver will be happy to help you even if you need just the labor-only service. What are you waiting for? Contact us today to book your move, and you will be sure to enjoy a stress-free relocation experience.