If a letter is posted in error to your house, do you throw it away or forward it?

Question

Or do you open it up and read it? Be honest.

Answer 1

If the letter is a few doors away or even a few streets away i will always deliver it, the only time i have opened one is by mistake.

Answer 2

I open the "interesting looking ones" but forward the "not so interesting looking one".

Answer 3

Had a letter through my door a little while ago which was a bank statement from somebody who previously occupied the house and have had received it every year since we moved in about six years ago.   Having not any forwarding address I opened the envelope and tried to contact the bank several times to tell them that the person was no longer living there.   They refused outright to make even a note on their records informing them of a change of address, saying that it was up to the account holder to notify them and that I should not return it to them.  That's all well and good but that person has obviously completely forgotten about the account and may never think about having their money returned.  I would have thought it would have been their responsibility of the bank to check out what I had told them.  As I was unable to do any more I binned it.

Answer 4

i write "recipient not at this address, return to sender" and put it in the postbox.

Answer 5

I am nosey so I open & read it.lol

Answer 6

How sad that question should even be asked.  A neighbour I don't even know 20 houses from me had some expensive chocolates wrongly numbered and delivered to her.  They were a Christmas present for my wife.  She looked up my name in the phone book and rang me.  I walked down the road, met her, took them and thanked her.

Sad man, what sort of a world are you making?  Of course I would forward it.

Answer 7

Forward it.  It could destroy people's lives not to.  Only a psychopath wouldn't.

Answer 8

If it has the correct address but is posted to the wrong address - that is, the postman has made a mistake and put it in my letterbox, I deliver it myself if it is on my street. If it has my address but isn't addressed to me I open it. Identity fraud is common so I don't want the bailiffs coming round claiming someone at my address owes them money.

Answer 9

I  throw it away as I dont know where to forward it to.

if it has a free pen inside, I open it!

Answer 10

you just write wrong address on the envelope and stick it back in the mailbox. don't read it or throw it away because it could be something important.

Answer 11

I live in a small village in UK, so if I get somebody else's mail, I just put it through their letter box (unopened).  If a letter arrives and I really can't think who it's meant for, I write on the envelope 'Not at this address' and put it in the nearest postbox.  I hesitate for a few moments sometimes if it is clearly junk mail.  Somebody wrote to 'The Times' a while back and told them how much junk mail he had received in one month - he had weighed it, and the amount was ridiculous.  All he did was either throw it away or try to recycle it.  There is a PO address you can write to, to ask them to ensure that you never get junk mail, but the address escapes me at the moment.  But somebody else is sure to know.

Answer 12

I always forward or return to sender.

Answer 13

I return it to the post office!  It's a federal crime to open or destroy mail that isn't intended for you!  Also, I'm not that nosey or triflin'.

Answer 14

Return the letter to the post office so they can forward the letter to the proper recipient.

Answer 15

i have lived in my house for 8 years. at first i used to write on envelope 'not at this address' and then post it back into the postbox. after about 2 years of it though, i got bored and just started to throw them in the bin.

Answer 16

Forward it, of course.

Answer 17

i write "not at this address" on it and put it back in the mail.  i would want someone to do the same for me. treat others the way you would like to be treated.

Answer 18

Forward it, of course. Why would anyone want to read someone else's mail?

Answer 19

open it, put it in a new envelope, put a teabag in it and repost it ASAP.

Answer 20

i post it again.

Answer 21

If its a neighbour I forward it, if I dont know the name, but my address I return to sender- I never open letters not ment for me - It is illegal to tamper with other peoples mail

Answer 22

Forward it: it's usually to another flat in the block.

However, many years ago I had a letter addressed to my flat (not my present one) but not to me or the previous owner. So I read it and it was really juicy. Later I met the person who it was addressed to. Of course I didn't let on.

Answer 23

throw it away....i did open a Christmas card for the previous owner of my house this year but i only did it so that if it had a cheque/cash in it then i would know to make a special effort to send it on......so i wouldn't get accused of nicking it

Answer 24

Forward it - I don't need to know what it contains.

Answer 25

Never open and read.

I put "delivered to wrong address" on it and stick it back into my mailbox.

Answer 26

if the person its adressed to is close, i personally post it

if its an old house occupier i shred it or return to sender

otherwise i put it back in the post box