Opening mail which isn't yours

[Bamboo]

If some mail got delivered to your house but the address and name on the mail wasn't yours, would you open it?

 

[Jazzy]

Nope. I would call the post office to come pick it up.

 

[MrDawn]

If some mail got delivered to your house but the address and name on the mail wasn't yours, would you open it?

Happens all the time. Goes right in the trash with the rest of my junk mail.

 

[Bamboo]

I'll be honest here and say that I've opened up peoples mail before. But it was funny, we was expecting some mail to get delivered to our house, but weeks later received word from the postman that he sent it to the house "49 *** Place" instead of my house which is "49 *** Road" pretty similar addresses. Well my mum went around to the house to see if she could pick it up, but they denied having anything and was pretty rude. That's when karma came and we got their mail. Safe to say that I made $$ that day.

 

[Raven]

If it looks like junk mail it gets binned, but if it looks important i'll ring the post office.
My mum gets alot of my mail sent to her address still. She opens any of my bank, medical letters, annoys the hell out of me!!

 

[Dee]

So I keep getting mail for a guy who used to live here and it appears to be from his grandparents, so it's in an envelope neatly addressed to him. I've written return to sender/does not live here a few times before, and I keep getting the letters anyway, but they don't get the message. I'm not quite sure what to do with the letter I have now because it's not mine and I don't want to open it. However, it's intriguing me.

 

[DrLeftover]

Well, for one, opening mail addressed to someone else is a Federal Crime....

18 USC Section 1702
§1702. Obstruction of correspondence
Whoever takes any letter, postal card, or package out of any post office or any authorized depository for mail matter, or from any letter or mail carrier, or which has been in any post office or authorized depository, or in the custody of any letter or mail carrier, before it has been delivered to the person to whom it was directed, with design to obstruct the correspondence, or to pry into the business or secrets of another, or opens, secretes, embezzles, or destroys the same, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.

http://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim@title18/part1/chapter83&edition=prelim

 

[~KAGE-008]

We don't even get physical mail frequently, so nope.

 

[Gizmo]

If it was something interesting then possibly, but otherwise goes in the bin.

 

[beowulf]

when i moved into where i am now i got mail for the previous people who lived here,,....quite normal, just wrote 'return to sender, dont live here any more' on the envalope...............but that was 18 months ago!........i figure if they cant be bothered to change addresses on stuff after a few months then they are up to something so i started opening it,................good job i did.......demands for outstanding loans, debt collection......so i phoned these companies up and told them, gave the leasing agents name /address to them so they can get the old inhabitants new address from them.............dont want bailifs turning up on my doorstep for something that isnt my problem....................even had a letter from his employers telling him he had failed a routine blood alcohol test and he was being suspended.............sorry but if he cant even give his employer his new address after moving a year ago then its tough luck....if it comes thro my letter box it must be mine

 

[Smiley]

If some mail got delivered to your house but the address and name on the mail wasn't yours, would you open it?

No. When something like that happens, I personally take the mail to the proper recipient, if I know who the recipient is and where he / she lives, which I usually do. An advantage of living in a small village where everybody know each other.