How often do you get a neighbor's mail delivered to your house?

[robinsmommy]

This is almost a BP, but not quite. We have had mail issues for a long time. Yesterday I got three class class action lawsuit cards, each for a different neighbor on my street, and a catalog for one of those neighbors. Several times in the last 6 months I got the bill for college loans for the neighbor who lives one street up with the same number, which I took right over. I am getting worried about OUR bills getting thru or other mail getting lost. I don't often see the same carrier. We also regularly get mail for prior renters, though we have lived here for 8 years. I think we get mail that is not ours at least once a week.

I think I am probably going to have to start shifting bills to email. Not thrilled about that, but at this point, it feels more secure than what is happening.

How often do you get the wrong mail? Not mail intended for a prior occupant (which probably shouldn't happen, but I will let slide), but mail for another address?

[jren]

All the time. We have a neighborhood Facebook group and someone is always posting looking for a package. Our entire weeks worth of mail that was on a vacation hold was delivered to a neighbor.


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[bisous]

A couple of times in five years. Not too often considering the volume of mail we get.

[khm]

I think in your shoes, I'd also opt for email bills....

We get the wrong mail very occasionally. I'd say, once every year or less. We've been here 10 years I can only remember a handful.

Usually it is just the direct neighbor to the west of us. We have individual mailboxes, but newer parts of the neighborhood have cluster boxes, I wonder if they are better or worse? I feel like we get more errant mail at work, where we have a cluster box, but could just be the carrier / being in a larger city.

[robinsmommy]

I am starting to see that this is probably largely carrier driven - you either get a good one or you don't. I think we have a very senior carrier, who earns and uses lots of vacation - and I am thinking that the subs are unfamiliar with the route - and that some are probably just bad at what they do - or don't give a hoot. Not sure if the regular guy is around enough to critique or not. I am not sure if I want to contact the Postmaster or not. I have called before, and their solution was to put a sticker with our family name on it inside the mailbox - which is obviously ineffective, since it has been there more than a year and we still regularly get mail that isn't for us.

[lalasmama]

Maybe 1-3 times a year... However, can I just b*tch a smidgen? We get FIL's mail. He's been dead for 2.5 years ago. We never shared an address--not even a city!--and we get more mail for him than we get for us... Loan offers for a business he hadn't owned in 25 years mainly, but lots of other random things (charitable organizations, AARP, even his mail-in ballot!). Ugh! "Return to sender-addressee deceased" hasn't stopped any of it.

The only thing we get for prior home owners is a few catalogs once or twice a year.

[elizabethkott]

Our biggest issue is packages. We have a "backyard neighbor" as we like to call her lol! Her house is the same number as ours, but with an "A" after (so we're ** and she's **A). For whatever reason, whenever she gets a package, regardless of the label clearly having the "A" on it, the package winds up on our front door step, and not at either her mailbox at the curb or at her doorstep, down her long driveway. This has happened too many times to count. One time, it was FOUR LARGE BOXES her daughter shipped home from college, stuffed (and I mean STUFFED) and HEAVY, and poorly taped shut. Well, one of them burst. And then it started raining. So of course we took them inside - it's the neighborly thing to do! When we called her and told her we had them inside bc of the rain, her response was "oh great! Can you bring them down the driveway to my door?" :47: Not even a "thanks!". Umm, no. Come get your heavy boxes!
It also happens when she orders food delivery. And usually just as I've gotten the boys to bed. This was unfortunately very frequent when they were super little... and then the dogs would go nuts. (Sorry.... tangent! I clearly have some feelings about this!)
So yes. We frequently get our neighbor's mail.

[abh5e8]

1-2 pieces/yr, mail that should go to neighbors on either side of us. For 1-2 yrs after moving we would occasionally get mail for previous owners. Not much though. I think it may help that our house was empty almost 2 yes when we bought it.

[BananaMama]

A couple weeks ago, I got all mail and my neighbor's mail. Next day, I got mine, his and another random house way down the street. My mailman doesn't even try anymore.


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[doberbrat]

Totally agree that this is carrier dependent. These days I get 1-2 pieces a year. usually a thin piece that likely slides between my stuff and its always one of the direct neighbors. I just deliver it. I LOVE my current mailman.

years ago, we used to get stuff mis-delivered very frequently. And it wasnt even a close neighbor or similar street name type thing. I'd try to be good and deliver if on my street or the next one over or put in the box marked please deliver to correct address. Finally, one day the carrier left one of those plastic mailman trows on my doorstep. I was so mad I went to the postoffice and brought it to the manager telling him I already had 3 jobs and I was not delivering a single piece of mail ever again. And SHOCKINGLY it never happened again. :)

[ahisma]

All the time. It baffles me. I've called often. Nothing changes. Our mailman also talks on his phone nonstop, so I think he is overly confident in his ability to multi-task.

I've always loved our carriers, but these past few years I'm really struggling to find the love.

[belovedgandp]

A few times a year. We have a box at the bottom of the street where the carrier opens one side and then there's 15 interior boxes. It is almost always a swap with the neighbor across the street from us. Our boxes must be close to each other or labeled weird.

Timely though since it happened last week. I think ours was lost that day. We typically get a church paper on Friday and never got it.

[JBaxter]

We have lived here for almost 2 1/2 years maybe 2 or 3 times but its always been the neighbor with the next mail box down the street. What I find odd is the mail carrier will put all the mail in the box then walk the packages to the door ONLY the packages. Any other home ive live in they just brought the mail with the packages they had to bring to the door.

[calebsmama03]

All the time. We have a neighborhood Facebook group and someone is always posting looking for a package. Our entire weeks worth of mail that was on a vacation hold was delivered to a neighbor.


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This. Our mail here is awful! I was SO pissed when Amazon prime started using the "smartpost" crap. We lose at least one package a month! (I should add we are a newer neighborhood with the central mailboxes and keyed access package lockers, so it isn't delivered door to door).

[hillview]

a few times a year -- usually for the next door neighbor. It doesn't really bug me as it is maybe 6 times a year? It is almost always when it isn't our regular mailman delivering.

[NCGrandma]

At my retirement community, we have large clusters of mailboxes. Our long time carrier knows everyone, always greets us by name, and delivers packages to our door (the cluster boxes aren't big enough for packages). A couple of years ago, he "lost" our route when a very senior carrier requested it and was able to bump him. It was terrible--no one got their own mail, some stuff was delivered days late etc--but the PO didn't do anything because they were waiting for him to retire. Several months later, he finally did ... at age 85! He was holding out to set a record!


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[anonomom]

Every few weeks or so, it seems like our carrier gets confused, and everyone on the street gets the mail meant for their next door neighbor -- like he delivers everyone's mail in the right order, but one house ahead. And I frequently (several times a year) get packages for people who live at the same house number but on a different street in our neighborhood. It happens often enough that on days I don't get any mail, I suspect it's gone to someone else, but not so often that it's a big annoyance.

[bisous]

I really do think it comes down to the mail carrier. Ours is very experienced but very competent. Some people might find him creepy. He asks me how I know people that I get letters from (they are also on his route). He knows DD's name and birthday. He pretty much KNOWS what is going on based on what we get in the mail!

[lizzywednesday]

a few times a year -- usually for the next door neighbor. It doesn't really bug me as it is maybe 6 times a year? It is almost always when it isn't our regular mailman delivering.

:yeahthat:

But I think it's actually less often than 6 times per year. It's only when our regular mailman isn't delivering our route.

We also get stuff for the former residents, but at this point it's mostly spam.

For almost a solid YEAR after we bought the house, we were getting stuff like personal letters, birthday/holiday cards, and, once, a package for their kid. (I contacted their realtor when the package showed up. After that, nothing important showed up at our house again.)

[rlu]

Same number, different street name. About once a month. DS and Goldpup deliver it on their next walk.

eta: almost all our regular bills are electronically delivered.