Post Office Workers...I have a question

[cheesybabydinosaur]

my father is a mail carrier and i just asked him and he says to look on the front and back of the letter, and there should be a barcode. if the barcode is not scratched out, you need to scratch it out with a sharpie. after doing this, put the letter in your mailbox for your mail carrier to pick up; do not go to the collections box to drop it off because then the letter will go to the main post office and the cycle will repeat since the process is automated by way of the barcode. if this doesn't solve the problem and you get the letter again, you need to go to your post office and speak to the supervisor.

 

[dfchelbay]

LOL---I can imagine the OP stealthily driving to another town to hunt down a mailbox and put the envelope in. Then, like some Twilight Zone episode, the envelope is still delivered to him the next day.

Laugh all you want, I did actually put it in my purse and dropped it in a box OUT OF STATE...and it still came back...lol

 

[DisneyBill]

Didn't Elvis have a song about this?

 

[TK-Fett]

Former postal worker here, I agree that the barcode is probably what is doing it for you. There may be one on the front, back or both. It may be a plain black barcode or it may be a faint and hard to see "orange" barcode that its read by sensors with a black light type of technology so the bar code will flouresce.

So be sure to look for the orange bar codes as well.

 

[My2BabiesLexis&Dill]

Former postal worker here, I agree that the barcode is probably what is doing it for you. There may be one on the front, back or both. It may be a plain black barcode or it may be a faint and hard to see "orange" barcode that its read by sensors with a black light type of technology so the bar code will flouresce.

So be sure to look for the orange bar codes as well.

my father is a mail carrier and i just asked him and he says to look on the front and back of the letter, and there should be a barcode. if the barcode is not scratched out, you need to scratch it out with a sharpie. after doing this, put the letter in your mailbox for your mail carrier to pick up; do not go to the collections box to drop it off because then the letter will go to the main post office and the cycle will repeat since the process is automated by way of the barcode. if this doesn't solve the problem and you get the letter again, you need to go to your post office and speak to the supervisor.

You can actually refuse certified mail-you just cannot sign for it and THEN refuse it. I'm a carrier and people occasionally refuse certifieds.

OP, I'm not sure why you got the 'why are you refusing' note on it-I've never asked that, I just move it along. You don't have to answer that question. I'd put it right back in your box for your carrier to take away-when you put it in the collection box, it's dumped in with much other mail and ran through machines that don't read the 'refused', it just re-sorts it to your address again. If it's left for the carrier, he/she will put it in its proper place to be returned. It might be helpful to put a little sticky note on it and say, please return to sender.

That stands it out to the carrier so he/she doesn't think it's regular outgoing mail.

I'm a mail carrier also. I agree with the previous posters. But seriously if this has been going on for a month, the carrier isn't paying a bit of attention to the mail. I would mark thru the barcodes on both sides and put it in your mailbox. If all else fails, you can leave a postie with your number in case they have a question for you.

 

[dis-happy]

Laugh all you want, I did actually put it in my purse and dropped it in a box OUT OF STATE...and it still came back...lol

Well, WHATEVER you do, don't open it!!! Something very bad and creepy will happen. I can already hear the Twilight Zone music playing.....

 

[dex08]

Didn't Elvis have a song about this?

 

[jmartinez1895]

Didn't Elvis have a song about this?

Now I'm going to have that song stuck in my head.

 

[bumbershoot]

The post office is not in the business of "denying" mail to you LOL! They have a legal obligation to DELIVER the mail, not to run a screening service for you.

That's what I was thinking, along with "when this person gets the 'refused' envelope it's going to INCREASE the drama/problems, not diminish them!" and "I'd just recycle it".

Didn't Elvis have a song about this?

Yes but part of it is "address unknown", and the OP surely does not want the post office thinking THAT!

 

[chicagodisneyfan]

OP - that sounds a little passive -aggressive. You are trying to inform the sender that you refused? Seems like it is rubbing it in their faces.

My suggestion would be to toss it. If you simply MUST have the satisfaction of throwing it back in their face, put it in another envelope and mail it.

 

[MSSANDRA]

my niece has dealt with this for TWO year. He ex-husband is still getting mail, often important mail at her home. She tried everything, putting it back in the mail box, marking it refused, taking it to the post office etc. She has no contact with him and he is not allowed to come onto her property to get it anyway. Well, now she just tosses it in the trash. Just really cuts down on the drama!

 

[patsal]

I had to do this with letters I was receiving from a relative. I had to look for the tracking code on the bottom of the piece of mail and run a sharpie over that code, then the mail would disappear. Good luck, I remember how disturbing some of the letters I would get were and I really didn't want to deal with them anymore.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

my niece has dealt with this for TWO year. He ex-husband is still getting mail, often important mail at her home. She tried everything,

Did she try going online to usps.com and filling out a change of address form for him? Problem solved.

https://moversguide.usps.com/icoa/icoa-main-flow.do?execution=e1s1

 

[MSSANDRA]

Did she try going online to usps.com and filling out a change of address form for him? Problem solved.

https://moversguide.usps.com/icoa/icoa-main-flow.do?execution=e1s1

Thanks, but we do not have a new address for him.

 

[2binak]

OP - cross out the barcode with a sharpie & write "return to sender" on the enveope. That should take care of the problem.

 

[chicagodisneyfan]

my niece has dealt with this for TWO year. He ex-husband is still getting mail, often important mail at her home. She tried everything, putting it back in the mail box, marking it refused, taking it to the post office etc. She has no contact with him and he is not allowed to come onto her property to get it anyway. Well, now she just tosses it in the trash. Just really cuts down on the drama!

That solves nothing. Why not just take 30 seconds and sent it back? With a note that says the person no longer lives here?

 

[Straycat]

It sounds like the first Harry Potter book where Vernon Dursley did not want to accept the mail from Hogwarts but it kept coming and coming and coming...

I think you might have to move.

j/k, just toss it

 

[allison443]

my niece has dealt with this for TWO year. He ex-husband is still getting mail, often important mail at her home. She tried everything, putting it back in the mail box, marking it refused, taking it to the post office etc. She has no contact with him and he is not allowed to come onto her property to get it anyway. Well, now she just tosses it in the trash. Just really cuts down on the drama!

That's a totally different situation from the OP. In your niece's case the addressee does not live at the address. OP is receving properly addressed mail at his correct address. OP just doesn't want the mail.

 

[allison443]

It sounds like the first Harry Potter book where Vernon Dursley did not want to accept the mail from Hogwarts but it kept coming and coming and coming...

I think you might have to move.

j/k, just toss it

 

[Dominus]

I'm a mail man and I'll outline what can happen that would lead to your case. My day off is Sat., I come in on Mon. and there is a letter thrown to me that has RTS written on it, or refused, or "bad address", or unknown, or whatever. I have no way of knowing if that letter was given to a house on the next street over from the correct address, or the neighbor's box, or even some other town. I have to assume that it wasn't delivered to the correct address (meaning the one on the letter) and re-deliver it to the address on the envelope. Only when I personally see that it's being refused from the people at the address on the envelope do I return it to sender. Some routes can have several different people running the route, and they might not see each other to compare notes on what's happening. Also, by putting it in a general collection box, instead of your personal mailbox, no one can be sure that it ever went into the correct box. My advice is to always put mail that's not yours back into your mailbox, write your note on a post it note (why do people wanna write all over a letter anyways?), and if possible, give it to the mailman personally. Nothing beats face to face communication to clear up the issue. I hope this helps.