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Occasionally USPS sends me pictures of other people's mail

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Re: Occasionally USPS sends me pictures of other people's mail

#141

Post by Symbiote »

zippergz wrote: post #53
nemomarx wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get that with normal tracking lately too, like Amazon reporting something is delivered the day before it actually shows up. Have we misaligned some metric where now shippers want to announce stuff early so they can claim speed?

I've definitely gotten the sense that the flip side of that is happening - in many cases, items get marked as "shipped" when the label is printed, but often shippers don't hand the package off to the carrier until days later. I can't prove it but sometimes it very much feels like sellers, especially on platforms like etsy and ebay, make sure to print the label immediately and mark the item as shipped so they can clai…

Delivery companies in Europe have an initial status of something like "notification of package received", which should be followed by "package received from sender".

I assume they do this to avoid complaints of slow delivery when the sender takes a whole to post the item.

Re: Occasionally USPS sends me pictures of other people's mail

#142

Post by Symbiote »

oarla wrote: post #27
7e wrote: post #11

You have it easy! Occasionally USPS delivers me other people's mail!

This is an epidemic in my community. At least twice a month I walk over to my neighbors and deliver their mail left in my mailbox. They do the same to me. We’ve complained to the local post office, but they’re dealing with staffing issues and can’t guarantee anything. I feel it’s a major invasion of privacy. I don’t want to know stuff about my neighbors like who they bank with, have student loans with or which doctor…

Assuming your country follows the path of Denmark (I think the western country with the least post per person) the situation will resolve itself: you'll stop getting letters for anything.

I receive about 6 letters a year, though the average was 33 per person last year.

Re: Occasionally USPS sends me pictures of other people's mail

#143

Post by pentamassiv »

masfuerte wrote: post #79
lvl155 wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is me. I was one of first batches of gmail users when it went public. I have a common name. It’s wild that people will just use my email because they forget their own email address.

I'm in the same boat. I assume people do it because some website is demanding an email address and they don't want to give one, so they give the "default" one.

I have to admit, I do this. Sorry John Smith!

I always assumed that the "default" email addresses get flooded with spam nowadays. I can't imagine the email address lee@gmail.com or similar to be usable by now

Re: Occasionally USPS sends me pictures of other people's mail

#144

Post by phil21 »

1a527dd5 wrote: post #10

I 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 get quite a few misaddressed e-mails to my gmail address as well. Everything from residential solar install invoices through a facebook account that someone continues to try to recover every couple months for years now I cannot delink (and thus cannot sign up for a Facebook account if I even wanted to with my primary e-mail address short of taking over that existing account in the wrong full name).

The best one so far is I've been on a group e-mail chain from some folks in France (I'm in the US) who organize a skiing trip each year to the Alps. I initially sent a couple "I am not the Phil you are looking for!" e-mails, but they continue to re-add me. I have thought about one day just showing up since I've been "invited" and have all the details for booking and just seeing what hilarity ensues.

Re: Occasionally USPS sends me pictures of other people's mail

#145

Post by framapotari »

1a527dd5 wrote: post #10

I 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…

My first name is "Save" in Spanish and Portuguese, and apparently people think they are saving documents when they send them to that gmail address. I have received medical records, employment documents, so many photos, insurance information, you name it.

Re: Occasionally USPS sends me pictures of other people's mail

#146

Post by sejje »

mystraline wrote: post #130
sroerick wrote: post #123

I posted this on the Substack, but At one point, I entered the wrong address when I was forwarding my mail. As a result, I got my mail sent to a strangers PO Box. As a side effect, I then began to receive Informed Delivery for this stranger to this very day. In addition, I once had the Post Office disable my address. It was like a 101B address and they didn’t consider it legitimate with the city. As a result, they we…

You can solve this. Contact your federal senators and/or federal house reps, and tell them that USPS is sending pictures of other peoples' mail. Or if you dont want to do that, then contact USPS Office of Inspector General. uspsoig.gov/ The IG's are absolutely terrifying if you're on the wrong side. And you're 100% in the right, and they're in the wrong.

Terrifying?

What was your experience with an IG?

Re: Occasionally USPS sends me pictures of other people's mail

#147

Post by zoklet-enjoyer »

I recently started getting notifications and pictures of mail from a place I moved out of in 2013. I think I must have had informed delivery set up for that address back then and the new resident signed up and now I'm getting notifications again?

The first time I noticed this was after I had renewed my passport. I got a notification saying that I was expecting a package in Tacoma. I was so confused, thinking maybe someone has stolen my CC number. The ln I remembered my passport should be on the way. I freaked out, contacted my ex and asked her to go back there and talk to the current resident to see if they had my passport. Then I got another notification, logged into the USPS website, and saw that I had notifications for this guy's mail at my old house.

Re: Occasionally USPS sends me pictures of other people's mail

#148

Post by gibolt »

dantillberg wrote: post #139
bigstrat2003 wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have one like that. I have the email first.last@gmail.com, and I have a very uncommon last name. Lo and behold, Google let some dude in Australia who happens to share my name sign up with firstlast@gmail.com. According to the docs the two should be equivalent, so they shouldn't have let him sign up, but they did... and now I get his email all the time. I have gotten job offers, bills from medical offices, even one…

If this story is true, this would appear to be a simple vector for hijacking email intended for other gmail users. Hard to understate the severity if true. Have you tested whether you can receive email directed to firstlast@gmail.com? Perhaps theirs is really firstlastt@gmail.com and all their contacts "correct" it.

This feels like a bug that he snuck through early or during a temporary window, before Google started defaulting to . as an ignored alias. Maybe not ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Re: Occasionally USPS sends me pictures of other people's mail

#149

Post by kshacker »

1a527dd5 wrote: post #10

I 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 have a reasonably common name. I am in Bay Area, and have received mail meant for people in Fresno or Bakersfield, someone in Toronto, someone in Australia, and I think someone in a London suburb. There are drug test results, online orders, legal discussions, store receipts and hotel bookings. I even connected with 2-3 folks with my name - don't recall how I figured their other email. It was quite common for a while, but then I haven't seen anything like this for 2-3 years. When I say common, I mean once every 6-8 months and I guess I have had that email for 15 years or so. Maybe my universe of overlap was finite and all those people have figured out how to type their email now :)

That email is my first name dot last name but at one point I had been able to secure both first name at email provider dot come and last name at email provider dot com which somehow I abandoned. I wonder what level of erroneous emails I would have received at them.

Re: Occasionally USPS sends me pictures of other people's mail

#150

Post by Spooky23 »

sejje wrote: post #146
mystraline wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can solve this. Contact your federal senators and/or federal house reps, and tell them that USPS is sending pictures of other peoples' mail. Or if you dont want to do that, then contact USPS Office of Inspector General. uspsoig.gov/ The IG's are absolutely terrifying if you're on the wrong side. And you're 100% in the right, and they're in the wrong.

Terrifying? What was your experience with an IG?

Anytime you are a counterparty to Fed law enforcement, not fun.
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