How come when the mailman can't find an address,he delivers the item of mail to a similar address, even though

Question

it is not really the address on the envelope. It is only similar. Then you have to take the letter back to the post office because it was delivered to your address. It even belongs in a different town. How does the mailman think that delivering an item of mail to the wrong address is alright to do?

Answer 1

It is not alright.  Perhaps it's an honest mistake?

Answer 2

There's a very simple anwer to this question:

What most people don't realize is that 98% of first class mail is actually sorted by MACHINE. The mail arrives at the receiving facility where mail handlers literally dump the bins into a machine that "reads" the address and sorts it by state & town based on zip code. Then onto a more local hub, where the same thing is done and the machine again "reads" the address & sorts the letters into the proper town, post office, route & the order in which the mail carrier actually delivers the route (not the order of street numbers). It's then "dropped" into "trays" and labeled & delivered to the correct PO for delivery. When the letter carrier comes into the office in the am, he/she will sort and rack all of the "flats" (magazines, newspapers, fliers, etc.) as well as any mail that the machine could not "read" (due to bad writing and/or spacing). After the carrier finishes sorting the mail, he/she "pulls down" the route in order of delivery & loads it into his/her truck. Then the carrier goes & collects any "accountables" from the clerk (certified letters, registered, etc.). Lastly he/she goes to the clerk & picks up their trays of DPS (the mail sorted by machine) and off they go.

When they are delivering the mail (either walking or by truck), they have 3 separate piles to look in for each address (flats, sorted & DPS). What the carrier does is look at the letter first & finger through to the first letter of the next address. Once he/she sees the 1st piece of mail for the next house, he/she grabs the whole previous section (which should all be mail for your house). So, if there is a letter in that pile that actually belongs somewhere else, the carrier would not even see it. That's how you get mail for another house (usually). Of course, there is human error too but not usually in the case where the address is way off.

The reason that the SAME mistake would happen repeatedly is nothing more than a glitch in the computer's "reading" skills. Sometimes the computer reads certain letters based on height & strike & therefore can read 2 streets as being the same when they are actually different. In my case, when I was carrying mail, I had a specific house (45 Ledgebrook Rd that was VERY often sorted with the mail for 45 Leahavenok Rd); which was across town. Because the customer kept giving me mail back for the same address, I was vigilant in checking every letter from DPS that I delivered to that house & would find missorted mail about 4 times a week.

Anyway, tell your mail carrier about the missorted mail & that it happens with the same address frequently & he/she will be sure to search through the pile so it doesn't happen anymore. Machines make mistakes too. I hope this helped.

**Also, if you get mail that isn't for your address, you don't have to return it to the PO. You can just leave it in your mailbox & your carrier will take it the next day.

Answer 3

I promise you, the mailman does not deliver mail to a different address "if he can't find the real address".  How ridiculous!  I'm sure you've made a mistake or two give him a break.  I don't know where you live but whatever the weather conditions are, the mail doesn't stop.  What an honorable job!  Like I said, cut the guy a break :)

Answer 4

I am a mail person. We get loads and loads of mail with the street miss spelt or the town wrong or no address at all. You get the idea. We try our best to deliver it. If it was up to me i would just send it all back with put the right address on it idiot but the postal system likes to try and help you out.

So we usually write on say a letter addressed to 6 smith st. we might write on it try 4 smith street. Cos there is no number 6 smith st. So even though its the wrong town or whatever you are the last possible existing address that might work for that letter. It might not even have a sender address to send it back to and it might be real important info like a surgical appointment or something. so we try our luck. believe me the next time you get a letter thats for you but with a dodgey address on it you will be grateful the postie helped you out.

Answer 5

you are being pragmatic.. however the mail never stops and therefore mistakes are made, even if they are the same ones over and over... What you need to do is write "return to sender, no forwarding address" on the evelope and leave it for the mail person to pick up on the next delivery.. good luck

Answer 6

Mistakes happen in the mail system.  My parents' local office separates mail by the house number FIRST then the street name.  So if they live on 111 Oak Street, then 111 Elm Street and 111 Maple Street may end up getting their mail.  I'd rather have the next-door neighbors accidentally get the mail than people who live across town.  At least the neighbors can walk it over.