You have it easy! Occasionally USPS delivers me other people's mail!
Occasionally USPS sends me pictures of other people's mail
11–20 of 193 posts
Re: Occasionally USPS sends me pictures of other people's mail
#12Where this gets interesting is that very often you can see through the envelope slightly.
It's similar to if you hold a flashlight to the back of an envelope and can then see 'through' it to read the paper inside.
Re: Occasionally USPS sends me pictures of other people's mail
#13This is no big deal. From the photograph in the blog, it's clearly a problem with the mail handling machine. No big whoop. As a reminder, there is no legal expectation of privacy for the outside of your mail. Envelopes are no different than post cards. Anyone can legally read them. Years ago, I'd signed up for the Informed Delivery service, which is where these images originate. When I moved, I forgot to cancel the s…
Same thing happened to me except I wasn't able to stop it. I still receive pictures of mail going to an old PO Box I had.
Re: Occasionally USPS sends me pictures of other people's mail
#14The government does a ton of genuinely bad privacy violations. Leaking pictures of the outside of an envelope is not one of them.
Please stop getting people riled up about fake problems. You are pissing in the pool.
Re: Occasionally USPS sends me pictures of other people's mail
#15This is no big deal. From the photograph in the blog, it's clearly a problem with the mail handling machine. No big whoop. As a reminder, there is no legal expectation of privacy for the outside of your mail. Envelopes are no different than post cards. Anyone can legally read them. Years ago, I'd signed up for the Informed Delivery service, which is where these images originate. When I moved, I forgot to cancel the s…
I was going to write the same thing. Only thing I will add that these scanners can actually peer into the envelopes due to I guess the bright light used by the scanners. I can sometimes read letters before I actually physically receive them.
Therefore, the thicker the better and use privacy envelopes if you are really concerned.
Re: Occasionally USPS sends me pictures of other people's mail
#16Where this gets interesting is that very often you can see through the envelope slightly. It's similar to if you hold a flashlight to the back of an envelope and can then see 'through' it to read the paper inside.
This is why some envelopes have a pattern on the inside for privacy, right? I thought that was standardized a while ago for anything official and important. Smaller card sized envelopes maybe not though
Re: Occasionally USPS sends me pictures of other people's mail
#17I have a version of this; I have the email {{popular-asian-surname}}@gmail.com and I've seen _everything_. I've had many many bank statements from India. I've had someone in California order a brand new BMW and got the details for collection. I've had paypal invoices and statements (this is one funny because they refuse to action the delink). I used to reach out and tell them I didn't sign up for their service. But h…
I had someone send me their entire credit report. Luckily I am not a scammer and I deleted it for them. They sent me an Amazon gift card to thank me for not stealing their PII.
I get DoorDash order notifications, Uber notifications, etc
I am not sure how they signed up with my email as I never got a sign up notification
Part of this also is because email / gmail is not case sensitive Jsmith@gmail.com is the same as jsmith@gmail.com. I see a lot of Jsmith vs jsmith (like how I actually use my email).
Nothing is getting stolen from me but not sure how this is actually working for people.
Re: Occasionally USPS sends me pictures of other people's mail
#18I have a version of this; I have the email {{popular-asian-surname}}@gmail.com and I've seen _everything_. I've had many many bank statements from India. I've had someone in California order a brand new BMW and got the details for collection. I've had paypal invoices and statements (this is one funny because they refuse to action the delink). I used to reach out and tell them I didn't sign up for their service. But h…
Same for me... I have a relatively obscure last name, but that's my Gmail address. I receive numerous random emails intended for other individuals with a similar name.
Re: Occasionally USPS sends me pictures of other people's mail
#19Where this gets interesting is that very often you can see through the envelope slightly. It's similar to if you hold a flashlight to the back of an envelope and can then see 'through' it to read the paper inside.
This is why some envelopes have a pattern on the inside for privacy, right? I thought that was standardized a while ago for anything official and important. Smaller card sized envelopes maybe not though
Yeah I believe so. Going through some of my old informed delivery emails I see a few with the crosshatch privacy pattern which seems to work reasonably well. I wonder if manipulating the image in some way (brightness, etc) may reduce that effect.
I also have a number of mailings from my bank that include things like account balances & numbers, with no privacy pattern. So it seems hit or miss.
Re: Occasionally USPS sends me pictures of other people's mail
#20I wonder he he also receives that mail or was going to but someone caught it? My post office for a good year was horrendous about delivering me my neighbor's mail. I felt like a Jr. Mail Carrier in training ;) Last few years they've been SPOT on. I tried informed delivery but honestly it's more of a hassle for me as my wife says "this should have arrived today" and of course it doesn't so she thinks it's stolen and .…
No, these scans happen in sorting facilities in automated machinery far before delivery. A human still delivers the mail.
>A human still delivers the mail.
Yes I'm aware of that ;)