We’ve been renting for the last six years at this stage and one of my pet peeves is getting previous renters post in our letter box!
Most of the time, I do the right thing and write “not known at this address” on it and leave it out for the postman. However, in the past in order to do that, I’ve had to bring the offending letter up to my apartment, find a pen, write out the note and then bring it back down to the lobby letter box. What a pain! Sometimes, I can’t do it for a few days, so this letter is sitting in my hallway looking at me, reminding me of something else I have “to do”.
So every now and then, I didn’t address the letter as unknown and just left it out for the postman. That was until I got a wrap on my knuckles from said post man. Post men and women must deliver the letter to the address on it, obviously. However, I just thought that if I left it out, then they would know the addressee mustn’t live there anymore. But no, it’s their duty to return this letter back into my letter box unless I write on it that the letter must be returned to sender. Fair enough. That’s what I get for being lazy.
At the time, I was getting a lot of letters addressed to other people so I decided to implement two strategies to stop or at least reduce the number of these letters.
First up, I did as the French and placed our names on the outside of the letter box. French people do this all the time and I thought, sure why not do it here, it might help!
Secondly, I decided to leave a pen in my letter box at all times. This way, if I get a letter not for me, I can quickly write a note for the postman and leave it out there and then. No traipsing upstairs with it and back down again. And more importantly, no bringing excess paper into my home.
I am happy to report both strategies have really worked! The amount of wrongly address letters have greatly reduced and it’s so easy to write a quick note on those letters that do arrive.
I’m sure this is a regular problem for other renters, so I hope these two ideas might help you too!
Happy Organising!
Sarah
