What are the rules regarding redirecting Mail from earlier tenants/owners

Forums › Off topic › What are the rules regarding redirecting Mail from earlier tenants/owners

1 | 2 | 3 | 4

nate

6473 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 458

Retired Mod

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#586696 25-Feb-2012 16:06

tonyhughes: Any police on here? PM me for my address, we can meet, and I will go quietly, though I would appreciate time to find a babysitter.

Bring a step ladder and the extra big cuffs for Mr Giraffe here.

geek4me

843 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 78

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#586708 25-Feb-2012 16:44

I have had an official response from Customer Services at New Zealand Post:
---------------

"Thank you for your email regarding mail for previous tenants.

I can understand your frustration with receiving this mail, however you are legally obliged to return or redirect this mail.

This is the link to an extract from the Postal Service Act 1988 - http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1998/0002/latest/DLM423723.html#DLM423723

Should you have any further questions please do not hesitate to respond to this email.

Thank you for contacting New Zealand Post Online Customer Service Centre."
-------------

So we are legally required to redirect it. I wonder if any one has ever been prosecuted for disposing of the mail? I guess I can put it in a shoe box and every few months drop it at the Post Office. Nothing I can see in the legislation about having to do this in a timely fashion.

bfginger

1330 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 191

#586823 25-Feb-2012 22:23

Many businesses or government agencies can be extremely unwilling to accept that a person's address on their files is incorrect. I know from experience that phone calls and explicit explanations on returned letters typically go nowhere fast. Many think it's an attempt to evade debt. To expect somebody who has moved to have all their mail follow them isn't realistic because it won't despite their best efforts.

Don't bin others' mail.

richms

29098 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 10209

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#586825 25-Feb-2012 22:26

Really it should be nzpost that have to deal with people moved out etc. give them a list of names that do live there and nothing else gets thru.

Richard rich.ms

keewee01

1743 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 204

Trusted

#586842 26-Feb-2012 00:03

richms: Really it should be nzpost that have to deal with people moved out etc. give them a list of names that do live there and nothing else gets thru.

They used to do this, but doubt you'd get them to do it now that they are user pays.

geek4me

843 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 78

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#586859 26-Feb-2012 08:49

bfginger: Many businesses or government agencies can be extremely unwilling to accept that a person's address on their files is incorrect. I know from experience that phone calls and explicit explanations on returned letters typically go nowhere fast. Many think it's an attempt to evade debt. To expect somebody who has moved to have all their mail follow them isn't realistic because it won't despite their best efforts.

Don't bin others' mail.

Since the bulk of the mail are "window envelopes" from service providers you're probably right that debts are owed and they're after their money. I guess the debt collectors will be around soon. Most is addressed to someone living at the property with the tenants. Once the new owners move in next month it will be their job to redirect the mail :-)

Quic Broadband

Move to New Zealand's best fibre broadband service (affiliate link). Free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE. Note that to use Quic Broadband you must be comfortable with configuring your own router.

rphenix

990 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 127

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#586876 26-Feb-2012 09:57

bfginger: To expect somebody who has moved to have all their mail follow them isn't realistic because it won't despite their best efforts.

Don't bin others' mail.

6 months is long enough to sort that out or pay for mail redirection.

nate

6473 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 458

Retired Mod

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#586951 26-Feb-2012 15:08

Does anyone know whether RTS works for international mail? I keep getting bills from Optus (Australia) for the previous tenants. We keep getting them, so I have no idea whether the mail actually gets returned.

vinnieg

2260 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#586952 26-Feb-2012 15:11

I usually return to sender too. But since I'm colour blind, I accidentally put it in the green or red rubbish bins, assuming those were post bins. Always thought NZ Posts motto was Keep NZ Green...

I have moved across the ditch. Now residing in Melbourne as a VOIP/Video Technical Trainer/Engineer.

Chainsaw

358 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 15

#587332 27-Feb-2012 13:12

One problem is that for some mail, you may only get it once a year, so redirecting or RTSing for 6 months won't cover it. My opinion is that doing it for a year is probably enough.

I've tried to make a list of all places to notify when shifting, which I keep. It was useful last time we moved, but I probably still left something off.

Loismustdye

942 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 256

Trusted

#588547 29-Feb-2012 20:44

I used to get debt collectors mail for the previous owners addressed "to the householder", with a massive bill inside. For this one person I had to ring three separate debt collection agencies to tell them that individual didn't live here, and that I had no idea who they were or where to forward mail to. In fact I still get them (there is no return address) andjust rts them in the postbox a few days later if I remember.

Lenovo

Shop now for Lenovo laptops and other devices (affiliate link).

Dratsab

3964 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1728

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#588571 29-Feb-2012 21:41

geek4me: I have had an official response from Customer Services at New Zealand Post: "...I can understand your frustration with receiving this mail, however you are legally obliged to return or redirect this mail."

So we are legally required to redirect it.

Not quite - return OR redirect. I'd pick the return option every time. If people don't sort their own mail out, it's probably because they don't care. There's absolutely no onus on you to care either.

geek4me: Nothing I can see in the legislation about having to do this in a timely fashion.

Precisely. Scrawl a big RTS on the front and drop them at the post office whenever YOU feel like it :-)

DravidDavid

1907 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 305

#811621 5-May-2013 16:19

We recieved hundreds of Letters over the years from dun and brad street for people of slightly different names. Other debt collectors sent us mail too. After returning maybe 150 pieces of mail we got sick of returning it and either opened it and binned it out of curiosity or stacked it up until someone needed a courier bag or something and took it in.

Even though it is illegal to open or bin mail, im surprised there is not a point where it becomes abuse. We recieved two letters per day most days. Debts were for 10s of thousands of dollers each. We think the guy skipped the country.

On the flip side we kept receiving an Auckland uni student ID card in the mail which we delivered by hand to the poor woman. I know what it is like to be without an ID card and know how admin screw ups go. She was one happy girl when we got it to her!

DarthKermit

5346 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 3317

Trusted

#811690 5-May-2013 18:12

We still get the odd peice of mail for the little old lady who lived in our house before we purchased it in 2009.

We dropped it off to her twice at the rest home, after that she said we could bin it. I now bin anything that comes addressed for her or a couple of her children.

Whatifthespacekeyhadneverbeeninvented?

oxnsox

1923 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 138

#811700 5-May-2013 18:26

I used to live in a Street on the North Shore that had the same name as a street in Mt. Eden. Regularly got wrong mail, even though back then they were not both in Auckland city.

Now I again have the same issue as there's a street in Christchurch with the same name as one in Rolleston.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4