Why does some of my mail have small scribbles on it?

February 25, 2006 11:22 AM

Why does some of my mail have small scribbles on it?

My credit card bills (but not applications) and other financial stuff I get in the mail have a small scribble at the top. I can't tell what it is, but its hand written with a black pen. Sometimes it looks like a 21. Why is this there? Do postal carriers write on certain pieces of mail? Why is it just my credit card bills and other financial stuff?

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

Perhaps they mark sensitive mail that needs to be treated with extra care? That's just my guess -- I have no expertise in this matter.
posted by randomstriker at 11:39 AM on February 25, 2006

Do postal carriers write on certain pieces of mail?

I've heard of PO personnel (but not necessarily the mailman) grouping mail, bundled in rubber bands, writing identifiying codes on the top letter of the bundle. Picture postcards were damaged this way, but that's not near as common as used to happen, in my experience. They've also used stickers for this, often machine-readable bar code stickers.

Why is it just my credit card bills and other financial stuff?

Hmmm... coincidence, or maybe something else is going on? Ask your mailman, or take a sample down to your PO and ask the Postmaster.
posted by Rash at 11:42 AM on February 25, 2006

During the holiday season, my postcarrier rubberbands all my mail together and writes the last two numbers of my address on the topmost piece of mail.
posted by michaelkuznet at 12:09 PM on February 25, 2006

I know my local postal workers always write: a) the postage and b) some other two digit number on everything I bring to the post office counter. I don't know if that is what's going on for you, but perhaps it has something to do with getting your mail to you (as has already been suggested). It seems weird that it's just on your financial stuff.

On the other hand maybe someone is looking at every piece of mail you're getting for some reason (believe this if you're paranoid about something).
posted by sablazo at 12:16 PM on February 25, 2006

I’d guess that yours is the first address in the 21st leg or section of the carrier’s route, and the “21” is a reminder of which mail to grab when getting out of the vehicle. It shows up on bills because those are machine-sorted – the hand-sorted mail is already divvied up by the carrier when sorting.
posted by hilker at 12:54 PM on February 25, 2006

I'm a Letter Carrier in Miami, FL. I can think of a couple of possibilities: if the 'scribble' is a two digit number, it will be identifying the route number of a rubber-banded bundle of mail...about 80-90% of our letter-sized mail is machine-sorted into delivery sequence, and the remainder comes to us bundled by route for sorting into delivery order; or it could be an abbreviation, most usually 'MS', which means the sorting machine MisSorted that letter, and it is being returned to the station for correct delivery the next day. As to why the scribbles show up on financial stuff, the banded bundles are usually First Class mail, and the majority of First Class mail consists of bills, bank statements, and the like.

Occasionally, a route will be given to a substitute(s) to deliver. In this case, various information may be marked for the benefit of the carrier unfamiliar with the route. This may include 'Tray 1,2,3,etc.', 'Shelf 1,2,3,etc.', "P" if there is a parcel for that address, etc.. Theoretically, we are not supposed to 'deface' mail, but in practice it happens all the time.

Now I'm sure you know more than you really wanted to!! ;-)
posted by MiamiDave at 5:13 PM on February 25, 2006

Not my question MiamiDave, but I appreciate the answer. Well written answers by experts is the reason AskMefi exists.
posted by tayknight at 8:42 PM on February 25, 2006