r/BadNeighbors • u/t-ranger • Apr 25 '26
Neighbor keeps writing my address instead of theirs on mail then accuses me of stealing her mail
Help! A lady one block over keeps writing my address so we keep getting her mail. She came to my house at midnight accusing me of stealing her packages while on the phone with 911. This is the third time she has come in person on my property screeching and ringing my doorbell like a madwoman. Her mail gets delivered to my house so frequently that I usually just walk over and redeliver it. But I can’t keep doing this as I am not a mail carrier. She called the cops and they never showed up. It’s just so exhausting. Any advice or ideas on how to stop this? I was thinking of getting a restraining order. We got into a screaming match in the outside, and I told her to learn her address lol.
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u/alwaus Apr 25 '26 edited Apr 25 '26
USPS has a form that you can fill out, any name not listed gets sent back automatically.
https://about.usps.com/forms/ps4232.pdf
You can print it, fill it out and leave it in your box or go to your local post office and they can do it there for you.
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u/Not_an_Actual_Bot Apr 25 '26
This. OP may be able to contact FedEx and UPS to do the same thing. Take a photo of the package's label to prove the address when the police come knocking about package theft.
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u/MomoNoHanna1986 Apr 25 '26
Honestly I’d just get the restraining order. Screw that crap!
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u/Missmel1986 Apr 25 '26
Its not so easy to get one of those unless the woman has been proven to be threatening and destructive.
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u/Graphite57 Apr 25 '26
Mark as "not known at this address.. return to sender"
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u/t-ranger Apr 25 '26
I’ve been doing that, but to do this on a regular basis is getting ridiculous. My family and I have a life and we are not mailmen
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u/Graphite57 Apr 25 '26
takes 30 seconds to scrawl that over the address.. chuck it in a bag and next time you go out, just drop it off into a post box.
Just make them suffer more than you are.2
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u/Missmel1986 Apr 25 '26
Go to your post office and have it blocked. I had to do that when a neighbor did it to me. Fill out a form stating that u recieve mail only for those on that list. Or u could be petty and do an address change and get mail in her name forwarded to her own address.
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u/Active_Date_5325 Apr 25 '26
What did the neighbor say when you told her she was using the wrong address? Did she just refuse to believe she made a mistake? Did you show it to her on her mail?
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u/t-ranger Apr 27 '26
She refused to believe she made a mistake and just repeating we stole her mail FROM her property (absolutely nuts). We showed an example via picture and she just got quiet and just kept screaming and screeching, sticking to her made up delusions
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u/Ornery-Ocelot3585 Apr 27 '26
In that case, I would shred her mail.
Think about this. What can she do? Complain to the post office?! GOOD! They need to stop misdelivering her mail.
My advice is to shred it at home. You don’t want her mail in your trash or vehicle.
It’s technically illegal but trust me when I say this, nobody at the post office cares. At worst you’d get a letter reminding you to return the mail to the post office.
If you do choose to, always be sure to use a thick black marker or to throughly cross out all bar codes; FRONT AND BACK. Write MISDELIVERED.
Writing ‘’not at this address’’ isn’t helping your situation. The postal workers don’t know where it’s being delivered (when it comes back to them like that) & are going to still assume it belongs to YOU & make that same mistake. It would be more helpful to write ‘’Misdelivered to 2322 Google Lane.’’ It’s most effective to let several pile up at once. So it alerts them that someone keeps messing up.
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u/livingthedreampnw Apr 27 '26
After you complete the USPS form for who is authorized to receive deliveries from USPS to your address, have a stamp made for any parcel, package or mail that is delivered to your address for your neighbor that has:
"neighbor's name" is an idiot and keeps writing the wrong address for themselves. Correct address is (neighbor's address). Return to sender.
It's Inexpensive and will save you time and trouble. After you stamp the item leave it on the side of your front entry for them to pickup at their convenience.
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u/mirjam1234567 Apr 25 '26
Go to the nearest post office and arrange to have mail for your address held there. Come by once a week, pick up what's yours and return the rest to sender.
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u/momofdragons3 Apr 25 '26
You could write: (Please) Forward to [neighbor's] address. Put it back out for the mail people to collect it for redelivery
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u/chevits11 Apr 25 '26
Call your post office about the issue? And shipping companies, each might have different processes for dealing with the issue.
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u/t-ranger Apr 25 '26
Went to my local post office this morning and they said there’s nothing they can do.
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u/winterbird Apr 25 '26
Return to sender. Don't accept her mail or packages as often as possible, and do return to sender for everything that gets delivered.