Wwyd?

[daughter_of_amid_chaos]

Forget the fact that you committed a federal offense...you basically stole from a 5-year-old which to me involves words I cannot say on this board.

 

[We_Love_Disney]

United States Codes (Federal Law Register)
Sec. 1702. - Obstruction of correspondence

Whoever takes any letter, postal card, or package out of any post office or any authorized depository for mail matter, or from any letter or mail carrier, or which has been in any post office or authorized depository, or in the custody of any letter or mail carrier, before it has been delivered to the person to whom it was directed, with design to obstruct the correspondence, or to pry into the business or secrets of another, or opens, secretes, embezzles, or destroys the same, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both


Sec. 1705. - Destruction of letter boxes or mail

Whoever willfully or maliciously injures, tears down or destroys any letter box or other receptacle intended or used for the receipt or delivery of mail on any mail route, or breaks open the same or willfully or maliciously injures, defaces or destroys any mail deposited therein, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years

The intent is NOT there. Seriously people, this person did not set out to do something bad to someone else. The mail was delivered to their LEGAL address, the same address on the envelope. There is no law to be violated.

If the former owners were really concerned about their mail, they would have told their friends and family what their new address was.

I have been at my home for more than 20 years, and I still get mail for the two previous owners. I have no idea where either family lives at this point. My guess it they aren't that close to the sender.

 

[MaryAnnDVC]

Trust me making a change at the Post Office doesn't always work like it should.

On our last move, some mail I received, other mail got left at my old house, some mail was sent back to the sender - it was awful trying to get my mail. And this is after I went to the Post Office and put thru a forwarding address.

You still don't open mail that doesn't belong to you -

I had major problems with the PO when my mother moved to assisted living, despite having filed a change of address form. It was a real PITA to deal with because I had to go to her PO 25 miles away to finally get it all straightened out.

I think people have "a grip."

The OP knew the mail was for someone else, knew how to take care of it, and opened it anyway. What she did was both illegal (as others have shown) and unethical, and I can't even understand why she needs to come on to a message board to figure out the right thing to do.

Ditto.

The whole situation is wrong on so many levels. It would seem fairly easy, despite being busy moving, to put the mail back in the mailbox to return to sender. Perhaps that alone, or a call to the PO, would have stopped the delivery of their mail later on. No matter how much mail was collected, the OP NEVER should have sorted through it and made a decision about what was important and what wasn't. Seems like the OP was trying to cover for how much time had passed not dealing with the pile (ie, dated sale flyers, etc.). To open a personal item (or ANYTHING else) is just despicable.

Wow.

 

[wowsmom]

Get a grip people!!!!

The previous owners had a responsibility to make the change at the post office. That was their error.

Don't worry, OP, you didn't do anything wrong. You broke NO laws. Contact the post office for the mailing address of the previous owner. A quick note explaining what happened with the card money and other mail should more than suffice.

How do we know they didn't make the change at the post office?

We sold our house 4 years ago and moved across the country and we did indeed put in forwarding orders and changes of address. The lovely post office where we used to live took it upon themselves to still deliver our mail to our old address - and that included credit card apps and renewals for our drivers licenses!

Luckily, the woman who bought our house knew our new address and took it upon herself to send us a big envelope of our mail - that never should have been delivered to her in the first place.

 

[HelenePA]

The intent is NOT there. Seriously people, this person did not set out to do something bad to someone else. The mail was delivered to their LEGAL address, the same address on the envelope. There is no law to be violated.

If the former owners were really concerned about their mail, they would have told their friends and family what their new address was.

she INTENDED to throw it away but opened it first.. so there was intent of obstruction. Gosh.. I guess I should be glad I have good neighbors who dont open my mail when they get it by mistake.. when we first moved in they got a check for over 1000$ that was OURS.. i guess since it went to their house instead they could have kept it and cashed it? right? I mean she's keeping the money in the envelope the only difference in my case it was a check not cash...

 

[laurie31]

We used to get mail from the previous owners of our house. It happened for MONTHS.

I initially had no idea who the previous owner was, but having his name (on the mail) I looked him up, and it turns out he worked in the building next to where I work. So I would just take the mail to him at work. He was SO embarrassed, saying he had filled out all the forms and didn't know why the post office wasn't forwarding all the mail. We even got Christmas cards for them, and that was 5 months later!

June wasn't that long ago. Send the stuff back! If you get their mail again, just put it back in the box with a note to forward or RTS.

I once accidentally opened something that belonged to our next-door neighbor, because I was just opening all the mail in a big hurry and didn't look at the address, but I would never knowingly open anything that wasn't mine, especially something personal like a card. Wow.

 

[We_Love_Disney]

Originally Posted by chloelovesdisney View Post
TITLE 18--CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

PART I--CRIMES

CHAPTER 83--POSTAL SERVICE


Sec. 1703. Delay or destruction of mail or newspapers

(a) Whoever, being a Postal Service officer or employee, unlawfully
secretes, destroys, detains, delays, or opens any letter, postal card,
package, bag, or mail entrusted to him or which shall come into his
possession, and which was intended to be conveyed by mail, or carried or
delivered by any carrier or other employee of the Postal Service, or
forwarded through or delivered from any post office or station thereof
established by authority of the Postmaster General or the Postal
Service, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than
five years, or both.
(b) Whoever, being a Postal Service officer or employee, improperly
detains, delays, or destroys any newspaper, or permits any other person
to detain, delay, or destroy the same, or opens, or permits any other
person to open, any mail or package of newspapers not directed to the
office where he is employed; or
Whoever, without authority, opens, or destroys any mail or package
of newspapers not directed to him, shall be fined under this title or
imprisoned not more than one year, or both.
(June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 778; May 24, 1949, ch. 139, Sec. 37,
63 Stat. 95; Pub. L. 91-375, Sec. 6(j)(16), Aug. 12, 1970, 84 Stat. 778;
Pub. L. 103-322, title XXXIII, Sec. 330016(1)(B), (G), Sept. 13, 1994,
108 Stat. 2146, 2147.)

I think this bit in red covers it.

I think this bit in red covers it.

Think this clarifies it, the passage only pertains to those mentioned.

 

[Rora]

OP-I would've rubber banded the mail together and wrote RTS on each envelope.

With the birthday card, I'd reseal it and send it back to the address it came from. With the $5 inside.

 

[MaryAnnDVC]

The intent is NOT there. Seriously people, this person did not set out to do something bad to someone else. The mail was delivered to their LEGAL address, the same address on the envelope. There is no law to be violated.

If the former owners were really concerned about their mail, they would have told their friends and family what their new address was.

What about the intent isn't there? The OP made a decision not to return ALL the mail to the LEGAL recipient. It's not a free for all for anyone who gets mail delivered to their house to open it.

It's not up to YOU, the OP, or anyone else to decide how concerned the previous owners were about their mail or who should have been contacted. So if the previous owner didn't contact ONE relative who decided to send a kid a card with money in it, oh well?

 

[MaryAnnDVC]

Think this clarifies it, the passage only pertains to those mentioned.

And um..that would mean it pertains to EVERYONE.

 

[primgirl]

I can understand throwing out things that are obviously junk mail like political ads. We've lived in this house for 4 years and we still get the occasional piece of mail for the prior owner. Our local paper sends her a renewal postcard every week. The first couple of months I would mark them return to sender, now I just trash them.

I do think you need to reseal the card, mark it return to sender and give it to your letter carrier. If it were me I would probably tell a white lie and say that I opened it by mistake.

 

[hopemax]

When we bought our house, we received a ton of mail for the former owners. They had a problem with their mail forwarding because the owner of the house they rented while they searched for their next home, had a mail forward to Australia. They couldn't forward to their new address, they had to set up a PO Box. But the PO didn't set it up right and we were still getting their mail.

We had an email address for their realtor, sent her an email and through her we arranged for a time for the previous owner to pick up the pile of mail. After that, the PO got the forwarding fixed, and the only things we got were advertising stuff, which we just tossed. I would never consider opening their mail.

 

[Jennasis]

This is just bizarre. Who are you, OP, to decide what is worthy of being tosses out and what is worthy of being saved? And who are you to open a birthday card addressed to someone else?

What answer did you think you'd get?? Were you thinking we'd tell you to pocket the $5 and toss the card and stuff?

I am floored.

 

[simba20]

Forget the fact that you committed a federal offense...you basically stole from a 5-year-old which to me involves words I cannot say on this board.

WOAH! Just a second here.

If you will read the orignal message, you will notice that I ended my tale wihtout saying what I had done/decided to do.

Now duaghter_amind_chaos, I have to ask if you have psychic or some kind of crystal ball, because I really want to know how you 1) know that I STOLE from a five year old and 2) knew said child was 5? Really, if you have those powers, then can you tell me where the previous residents have moved to so I can PERSONALLY deleiver all of their mail?????

Anyway, I would NEVER steal from a child of any age. DD is 3, has a pretty good sized bank acount thanks to grandparents and in her short life has $5400 in savings bons accumulated (thanks grandma) and the hubster and I have not once, NOT ONCE ever had the thought about touching her money.

I do know right and wrong. I opened ONE PIECE of the previous resident's mail for reasons I felt justified to do. I DID NOT STEAL. The money and card are sitting on my entry table along with the stack of other mail to be taken to the post office tomorrow.

Anyway, keep reading on to my next post where I address everyone. However, I am not as angry as I am that you accused me of stealing. Did I mention putting the $5 into my daughter's piggy bank? Nope. Did I mention using it to head to Subway to get a $5 footlong. NO! Yes, I did open a piece of mail, but if you read the entire post you'd see I didn't and think for a minute why I may have opened it and what I likely would do/have done/going to do -- it is in my orignal post.

 

[Scurvy]

I don't understand why it matters if the OP violated federal law or not. Even if she's fine within the letter of the law, it's still not ethical to keep or open someone else's mail. The right thing to do would be to toss it back in the box whenever something for the previous resident was delivered, or to attempt to contact the realtor so they could let the previous residents know that their mail wasn't being forwarded properly.

 

[mjkacmom]

The intent is NOT there. Seriously people, this person did not set out to do something bad to someone else. The mail was delivered to their LEGAL address, the same address on the envelope. There is no law to be violated.

If the former owners were really concerned about their mail, they would have told their friends and family what their new address was.

I have been at my home for more than 20 years, and I still get mail for the two previous owners. I have no idea where either family lives at this point. My guess it they aren't that close to the sender.

The intent was there. I've opened other people's mail a few times, but always accidental (didn't read the name or address). If they're not on my street, I put it back in the mailbox for the carrier, or if it's for a neighbor, deliver it myself with my apologies.

We bought my IL's house 13 years ago, and I still sometimes get mail for them (and I know they forwarded their mail). The system is far from perfect. How hard is it to write a few letters on an envelope, and put it back in the mailbox.

 

[HelenePA]

WOAH! Just a second here.

If you will read the orignal message, you will notice that I ended my tale wihtout saying what I had done/decided to do.

Now duaghter_amind_chaos, I have to ask if you have psychic or some kind of crystal ball, because I really want to know how you 1) know that I STOLE from a five year old and 2) knew said child was 5? Really, if you have those powers, then can you tell me where the previous residents have moved to so I can PERSONALLY deleiver all of their mail?????

Anyway, I would NEVER steal from a child of any age. DD is 3, has a pretty good sized bank acount thanks to grandparents and in her short life has $5400 in savings bons accumulated (thanks grandma) and the hubster and I have not once, NOT ONCE ever had the thought about touching her money.

I do know right and wrong. I opened ONE PIECE of the previous resident's mail for reasons I felt justified to do. I DID NOT STEAL. The money and card are sitting on my entry table along with the stack of other mail to be taken to the post office tomorrow.

Anyway, keep reading on to my next post where I address everyone. However, I am not as angry as I am that you accused me of stealing. Did I mention putting the $5 into my daughter's piggy bank? Nope. Did I mention using it to head to Subway to get a $5 footlong. NO! Yes, I did open a piece of mail, but if you read the entire post you'd see I didn't and think for a minute why I may have opened it and what I likely would do/have done/going to do -- it is in my orignal post.

why do you feel justified to do so? because it came to their old house your new house it makes it okay?

 

[crashbb]

Okay, so the OP comes back and says that they were never planning on stealing the money.

I'm totally confused - why ask WWYD? That would imply that there are at least two different options. I only see one - return the money and the card.

OP - could you please clarify what advice you were seeking?

 

[We_Love_Disney]

The OP asks a simple question about what she should do.....now, not before. She was asking for suggestions.

True to course, the sanctimonious holier-than-tho posters of the DIS boards come out of their ivory towers and bash her with what they, the perfect people would have done.

 

[Rora]

OP- I never looked at it as you "stealing" from the birthday card child. Nor do I think that now. Although I do believe you did do something you shouldn't have done, I think there are some unfair and a little overthetop responses on this thread.

I think you know what you should do with the mail and the money now after reading the thread.