Will the USPS redeliver mail that has already been delivered?

November 11, 2009 9:53 AM

Will the USPS redeliver mail that has already been delivered?

I just got back from work today after being out Monday and Tuesday. I received a book for a class I'm taking in my work mail box, took the package out, then was sidetracked by a colleague. I accidentally laid the package down and forgot about it. Naturally, the woman who takes our work mail to the USPS every day thought it was something going OUT, and went and dropped it off at the drop slot since the USPS is closed today.

I plan to give them a call in the morning to find out if I can intercept, but I was wondering if I should just kiss my book goodbye? Since it's in the same town, I wonder if they will redeliver...? Does anyone know what happens when mail goes back to the post office (by accident) once it's already been delivered?

Thanks in advance!

posted by kleenkat to law & government (7 comments total)

I expect that when the box gets dumped into the sorter at the post office, they'll just assume that they haven't delivered it yet and will send it back out to you on Thursday. As far as I'm aware, postage is cancelled at the point of entry into the USPS system--not exit--so there's no way to tell that they've delivered previously.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 10:01 AM on November 11

Dunno about packages, but I've had even opened mail that accidentally got mixed in with the outgoing, and it always came back to me.
posted by Oriole Adams at 10:02 AM on November 11

If your P.O. opens at 9am, try calling at 8:45. They're there, and they often will pick up. Explain the situation and they should be able to help you. I wasn't in your exact situation, but a book was mistakenly delivered to the wrong door once and the driver took it back. It took me three days to get the delivery, but through calling them early, they kept an eye out for the package for me.
posted by cmgonzalez at 10:05 AM on November 11

Ok, great, thanks for the info guys! I will call them first thing at 8:45. It was a small USPS priority mail envelope/package. A book the size of a catalog or so. Thanks again!
posted by kleenkat at 10:09 AM on November 11

Last week, I received mail addressed to someone else but with my address. (The intended recipient has a similar address, so this happens often.) I fixed the address, first with a pen, and mailed it. It came back the next day. I then taped a new address over the original, but it still found it's way back to me, with new address still intact.

You'll probably get your book back.
posted by alligatorman at 10:57 AM on November 11 [1 favorite]

Most likely, your local post office did not get your book back. Generally, all mail goes from the collection box, whether it is on the corner or in your building, and is dumped into a large wheeled bin that goes to a central sorting facility. Since there is no mark on the mail to show it has been delivered, the machines wouldn't know any better and your book will go back into the mail stream to your post office for delivery. The only exception to this is if the book carried a "Delivery Confirmation" label. If so, the book would have been scanned as delivered by your carrier and, when it went through the sorting machine and was scanned it might get kicked out because there was a suspicion that the postage was being re-used.

I would wait until next Monday to see if it was delivered back to you. It takes time to go back through sorting and then back to you at a less-than-first-class rate. If you don't have it by Monday, call your local post office during business hours and ask to speak to the carrier supervisor (or whatever they're called these days) and explain the problem. They can help after you have given the normal process time to work.
posted by Old Geezer at 5:24 PM on November 11

One of the things at work here -- note alligatorman in particular -- is that the automated sorting that handles most US mail nowadays prints a barcode on the envelope or package. (Example of a Postnet barcode, one of several types used.) Even if you write the correct address on the envelope, that barcode will still be there and the automated sorting equipment will chuck it right back to the same place it came from -- your carrier's route. Unless the carrier specifically notices, or your office is small enough to have human sorters at the route level, it might well come right back to you.

If you really need to make sure it doesn't, black out the Postnet barcode when you write in the correct address. That way the sorter machine will toss it out for human handling.
posted by dhartung at 6:08 PM on November 11