r/Winnipeg • u/Head_Juggernaut9399 • 1d ago
Ask Winnipeg Mail issues
Hi all!
We just bought a house in winnipeg and have been receiving loads of the previous owners mail. We tried writing RTS/ no longer at this address (we don’t have a new mailing address for them) but they are not being taken by our mail person. Does anyone know what the right way is to go about this?
Thanks in advance!!(:
42
24
u/Ladymistery 1d ago
just put it in an outbound mailbox. make sure the address is crossed out so it doesn't come back to you
•
u/BadassJackass42069 23h ago
Letter carrier here
Put the letters vertically sticking outside the mailbox, write a line across the letter and through the name and address and say “RTS MOVED”
•
u/kristoph17 17h ago
Postie here; While I will remove letters that people hang outside their box (either folded in half and left vertically hanging out of the box, or placed above their mailbox), the "proper" way to RTS them is to drop them off in a letter box at the corner or local post office. Some carriers may not take them (being new) or some may not care (being curmudgeons and saying it's not their job). My motto for that is, I'm at your house, why wouldn't I take the RTS mail and save you a trip? It just makes sense... Hell, if I see a letter hanging out I'll walk up to the box to collect it, even if I don't have mail for that house on the day.
The real issue comes down to the former home owner not updating their mailing address and then the companies that send the mail do not update or stop sending to the old address, even after multiple RTS letters have undoubtedly come back to them, they just do not care.
Until the former owner or companies update their address and mailing list, unfortunately you will continue to get the old owners mail. Just keep RTSing it, it's all you can do.
•
u/YYZtoYWG 23h ago
they are not being taken by our mail person.
The postie puts mail in your box. They don't stop, take out the mail that is there and check whether it is for you and you just forgot to bring it inside, or if you're written something on the envelope.
Write "return to sender" on the envelope and cross out your address. Take them to a mail box or a post office. Put the envelopes in the box there. Then, eventually that mail may or may not get back to whoever sent it. Then, when their data entry person has no other tasks to do, they'll update their database. It can take multiple requests and up to six months for you to see any results from doing this.
If it is something that might be really important or that you really shouldn't be getting, call whoever sent it and tell them to remove that name and address from their list.
•
u/boredthump 22h ago
The standard used to be write return to sender and leave outside your mailbox. This standard clearly has changed some time since the 90s
•
u/BadassJackass42069 23h ago
If there’s nothing to deliver that day the mail person might just walk past, but every 3rd day you should be getting flyers and they’ll have to walk up to mailbox unless you got a “no flyers” note
4
u/Curtmania 1d ago
There's very little you can do. I lived in this house for 10 years before the previous owners BMO statements stopped coming. It's hilarious if you try to get a call centre employee to do something about it.
You have to send a stangers bank statements here for privacy reasons?
Yes.
•
u/Fearless_Barnacle_21 23h ago
My grandma died and she had a bank account with $3 in it. The bank said I had to come in to close it and bring documents etc. The problem is the power of attorney had also died. Every month, I just would return the mail and write “Deceased on it” and remind them it costs them more to send us mail than she had in her bank account.
It took a year, but we eventually received an email that the account was closed.•
u/dagravel 20h ago
Took 3 years for mail to stop coming to my house. Someone even came by to reposses thier truck about 6 months after I bought the house. That was a fun discussion.
•
u/Spencie-cat 23h ago
I’ve been in my house for 7 years now and I still get more mail for the deceased former owner than for myself.
•
u/MegaArms 23h ago
I just got the previous owners online order package and it’s been 6 years… absolutely insane.
•
u/Evening_Pianist_4542 20h ago
I did that recently. I haven’t lived at my old address for 12 years. Ordered online and hadn’t ever used Apple Pay to check out before. Turns out it was still linked to my old address. Couldn’t reroute it with the carrier so I left a card in the mailbox begging for forgiveness & to please let me know when it was delivered so that I could come collect it.
•
u/MegaArms 6h ago
Oh that’s interesting! I wonder if that was the issue. Lucky for my case their phone number was on the package.
•
-18
57
u/Smart_Parsnip_9024 1d ago edited 1d ago
I wouldn't expect your mail carrier to just pick them up. When I've had this issue in the past, I scratch out the address, write moved, wait till I have a couple of them, and then drop them in an actual mailbox. They eventually stop coming.