How to make sure your neighbors get their mail if it ends up in your box

This is a guide to contributing to a culture of respect in your building by making sure your neighbors get their mail if it winds up in your mailbox. It's one of those unbelievably easy things that most of us don't bother to do, but goes a long way towards making your building more neighborly, and thus a better place to live. Plus, a neighbor who returns mail is more likely to have their mail returned as well. And heavens knows you would hate to miss your US Weekly because your neighbor got it instead.

This Instructable is based on an item from Neighbors Project's Neighbor's Checklist.

If you live in an apartment building, you're probably used to getting your neighbor's mail in your mailbox or finding random pieces of mail on the ground. Not all mail carriers are as diligent as they could be about matching names and apartment numbers, particularly if your building gets a lot of people coming and going.

To do this Instructable, you will need:
-A home
-A mailbox

Step 1 Open your mailbox and take out your mail

Open your mailbox and remove your mail. This step needs no further explanation.

Comments

[lemonie]

What exactly does this show anyone how to do, or what am I supposed to learn from this?

L

[Punkguyta]

Apon stumbling across this like you, I found myself rather dumbfounded/stoned as to WHY this is here? -Punk P.s.: Next time I hope he shows us how to go tell the neighbors to turn the musac down at 4am, and how to do it nicely.

[Vendigroth]

Bang on the wall and make a lot of noise. Everyone else was probably still awake anyway.

[Punkguyta]

I'd have more fun drilling/punching a hole through the wall and poking them in the face with a wooden dowel.

[CamillaLuvzMusic]

hah but do they really make any other type of dowel?

[Vendigroth]

:O You've just given me mu quote of the day!

[Vendigroth]

well....it shows you how to put unreadable magazines down outside someone you don't like's door... I actually liked it. Maybe now i should stop stealing people's mail.

[neighborsproject]

Thanks. Yeah, you should probably stop stealing mail. In the off chance that one of your neighbors pops by your apartment one day and notices that you have four months worth of her Teen Vogues, it's safest just to break that habit...

[Vendigroth]

the way i see it: If it's not nailed down, they probably won't mind it disappearing.

[pocketwatch]

If 9/10ths of the people on here weren't 14... but they are.

[catlingmex]

Wow, I was surprised to see all the *grouchiness* in many of the comments here. Hopefully people are not so grouchy in real life!

[Esmagamus]

Loved the joke!

[blodefood]

This is just general etiquette when dealing with misdelivered mail. If the purpose of this instructable is to be neighbourly, then why not include a note with your name and apartment number on it and an invitation to your community pot luck dinner or movie night at your church or whatever?

If you do this you can make it more possible that your neighbours will think to give you your mail if Canada Post delivers it to them in error.

[Knuten]

Just put it in the outgoing mail slot; the Letter Carrier will take care of it the next day. I'm a retired mailman so I know whereof I speak.

[TechDante]

why not just keep a roll of tape in your box then if you get someones mails stick it to the front of their box (note if it is large like a magazine then just post a note saying that you have it and ask them to pop round and collect it)

[Vendigroth]

If you're posting the note, why not go all out and just post the whole damn thing? Unless you're planning to lure them into your lair? Hmmm...so many ideas.

[TechDante]

yes that would work with letters (even magazines if they will fit) that would fit in the mail box slot but not for packages or thing that would not fit in the box thats all

[x1987x]

I usually highlight the address and put it back in the mailbox -flag up. Sometimes I write "mail person: please re-deliver" or something to the like on it. - Especially If they're someone a few houses down or a wrong street - things like that.

[dpocius]

Most centralized mailbox clusters have an outgoing mailbox with a slot in it. I drop mis-delivered mail into the outgoing slot. My reasoning is this: 1) It's the Postal Service's responsibility to deliver the mail. Postage pays for delivery from sender to addressee. If the Post Office screws up, they should have to do it over until they get it right. If it's a chronic mis-delivery scenario, I'll mark the address, circling or highlighting the error, with a message that gets more pithy the more frequently the particular error is made. 2) I'd hate to feel responsible if I screwed up playing amateur mail carrier and caused someone to miss something important by sticking their mail somewhere they don't find it because they don't expect to see it there. Better late than never, for most mail. 3) If the item looks really time sensitive (e. g., late drivers license renewal notice) and the intended recipient lives nearby, I'll make an effort to knock on the door and hand it to them personally, along with an explanation why I'm there. Then we both call the postmaster and give him/her an earful. Failing this, it's back to step 1 and cross my fingers. The only thing is, I don't really know if errant mail gets re-delivered in a timely fashion. Any postal-type folks out there care to comment? Does the P.O. have an approved procedure for this?