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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

#31

Post by withinrafael »

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…

Yep, same here. I've closed accounts folks opened with my email address, sent replies to humans confused why I haven't shown up to an appointment, etc. I just can't stop the flow of emails from these folks using my email address for seemingly legitimate business.

Google doesn't offer anything in the way of migration or consolidation of various email-linked data (e.g., store purchases) so I just let mail accumulate and delete everything manually once every few months.

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

#33

Post by tomrod »

bpodgursky wrote: post #14

The 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.

Genuinely curious -- was your comment directed towards the post author?

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

#34

Post by pwg »

nemomarx wrote: post #3
duxup wrote: post #2

I 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 .…

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?

> like Amazon reporting something is delivered the day before it actually shows up

I feel like this one happens because the driver needs to meet quota today, so they scan the package delivered today, then when they are in the area tomorrow they actually deliver the package.

Unfortunately, this makes "delivered today" not a reliable indicator of "I actually received the package today".

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

#35

Post by nottorp »

garciasn wrote: post #6

I get this semi-frequently too; but, the biggest problems for me w/this system are: 1. I get the pictures DAYS before the actual mail (weekends ignored). Why?! 2. I sometimes don't get pictures of the mail at all, particularly mail that's not bulk mail--it's from individual to individual. I could give a flying fuck that I'm going to be getting 5 advertisements in a few days. I want to know when I'm getting ACTUAL mai…

> 1. I get the pictures DAYS before the actual mail (weekends ignored). Why?!

I'd bet it's because the envelopes are photographed in some central location, the photos get sent at the speed of light but the physical envelopes only start getting to the last mile physical delivery people after.

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

#36

Post by anonu »

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…

This happens to me too - mostly from people in South America: i get their phone bills, receipts, etc... And now the knock on effect of spam is crushing my inbox. I know its spam related to these emails because its all in Spanish. I am thinking of abandoning my gmail to something new.

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

#38

Post by encom »

What's the point of a service that emails you pictures of your snail mail? You'll know about it anyway when it's delivered, and unlike a parcel, no action is required to receive it. Not snark, I'm legitimately asking - I'm probably missing something.

I legitimately can't remember the last time I received actual mail in my mailbox. Everything goes to e-boks.dk.

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

#39

Post by 1970-01-01 »

somehnguy wrote: post #12

Where 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.

Not really. It's good for snagging coupon codes, but not much else. Anything important will (should) be inside an envelope that is thick enough to block this trick.

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

#40

Post by lvl155 »

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…

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.
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