Letters to the Departed
February 8, 2011 1:33 AM Subscribe
(Canadian Detectives!) What is at PO Box 4585 Stn "A" Toronto ON M5W 4W7?
It's the return address for mail for a deceased person.
Could it be important? If so, then I'll track down the relatives. (Illegal to open someone else's mail, so I haven't opened it.) Hiding behind a PO Box, it's probably junk, but who knows.
I returned prior letters to sender, but new ones keep coming every now and then. Window envelope. Pre-printed Canada Post stamp, Postage paid, Lettermail, 1985000.
It's the return address for mail for a deceased person.
Could it be important? If so, then I'll track down the relatives. (Illegal to open someone else's mail, so I haven't opened it.) Hiding behind a PO Box, it's probably junk, but who knows.
I returned prior letters to sender, but new ones keep coming every now and then. Window envelope. Pre-printed Canada Post stamp, Postage paid, Lettermail, 1985000.
All you can do is return them to the sender (also write 'recipient deceased' on the front).
If you get to a point where it's been a year and they're still sending them, it's reasonable to give up and destroy them. You've done everything you can.
Legality aside, if I was getting a lot of these, I'd probably tear open a corner to get a general idea of what the letters were, and stop reading at the point where I could tell if they were junk or something important. At least then I'd be in a position to know whether I should forward them to relatives or just shred them as junk.
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 1:59 AM on February 8, 2011
If you get to a point where it's been a year and they're still sending them, it's reasonable to give up and destroy them. You've done everything you can.
Legality aside, if I was getting a lot of these, I'd probably tear open a corner to get a general idea of what the letters were, and stop reading at the point where I could tell if they were junk or something important. At least then I'd be in a position to know whether I should forward them to relatives or just shred them as junk.
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 1:59 AM on February 8, 2011
wiskunde, where do you see that address on the website you posted?
coffeefilter, just return to sender.
posted by amro at 6:44 AM on February 8, 2011
coffeefilter, just return to sender.
posted by amro at 6:44 AM on February 8, 2011
I googled as well, and although the first hit was CIBC Credit Card Services, the address on their site is close, but not identical.
http://www.cibc.com/ca/faq/credit-cards/crdt-crds-cntct-info.html
The second link google returned was this page...
But googling that postal code by itself only brings up 1.5 pages of results in google total, all of which seem to be just generic listings of postal codes or businesses that are near or deliver there.
I'd either just open the corner as suggested, forward all the mail at once to the relative, or most likely (because I'm lazy), return to sender.
posted by cgg at 7:22 AM on February 8, 2011
http://www.cibc.com/ca/faq/credit-cards/crdt-crds-cntct-info.html
The second link google returned was this page...
But googling that postal code by itself only brings up 1.5 pages of results in google total, all of which seem to be just generic listings of postal codes or businesses that are near or deliver there.
I'd either just open the corner as suggested, forward all the mail at once to the relative, or most likely (because I'm lazy), return to sender.
posted by cgg at 7:22 AM on February 8, 2011
Best answer: Canada Post's reverse lookup (http://www.canadapost.ca/cpotools/apps/fpc/personal/findAnAddress) returns
COMPUTERSHARE TRUST CO
PO Box 4585 STN A
TORONTO ON M5W 4W7
I've never heard of Computershare, but the company allegedly "specializes in the provision of software solutions and professional services to the securities industry and their shareholders."
posted by FlyingMonkey at 7:29 AM on February 8, 2011
COMPUTERSHARE TRUST CO
PO Box 4585 STN A
TORONTO ON M5W 4W7
I've never heard of Computershare, but the company allegedly "specializes in the provision of software solutions and professional services to the securities industry and their shareholders."
posted by FlyingMonkey at 7:29 AM on February 8, 2011
(and when I say 'returns', I mean that when you put in the postcode, that's the only result; Canadian postal codes are sufficiently granular that's not as surprising as it may seem at first from the States...)
posted by FlyingMonkey at 7:30 AM on February 8, 2011
posted by FlyingMonkey at 7:30 AM on February 8, 2011
Best answer: Computershare is legit. When I had options in a company I worked for turn into actual shares, all correspondence (and the actual share certificates) came from Computershare.
posted by rocket88 at 7:34 AM on February 8, 2011
posted by rocket88 at 7:34 AM on February 8, 2011
Best answer: Computershare also handles dividend re-investment programs for stocks.
posted by dripdripdrop at 8:02 AM on February 8, 2011
posted by dripdripdrop at 8:02 AM on February 8, 2011
If the addressee is deceased, why can't you open it to see what it's about? It doesn't seem like it could reasonably be illegal. (Of course, not all laws are reasonable.)
posted by SLC Mom at 8:08 AM on February 8, 2011
posted by SLC Mom at 8:08 AM on February 8, 2011
It doesn't seem like it could reasonably be illegal.
It is. Unless you're the executor of the estate or similar.
posted by amro at 9:18 AM on February 8, 2011
It is. Unless you're the executor of the estate or similar.
posted by amro at 9:18 AM on February 8, 2011
Well, I don't know if it is in Canada. But I'd say it's pretty likely.
posted by amro at 9:27 AM on February 8, 2011
posted by amro at 9:27 AM on February 8, 2011
Shares/dividends may be important enough to track down a relative. Good on you for trying.
posted by caution live frogs at 10:29 AM on February 8, 2011
posted by caution live frogs at 10:29 AM on February 8, 2011
My apologies, I didn't double check the PO box number on the address, nor the postal code it seems! I originally misread the 4058 as 4585 and did not look further. Sorry about that; I will definitely not be answering any more questions before 5am. :)
posted by wiskunde at 3:46 PM on February 8, 2011
posted by wiskunde at 3:46 PM on February 8, 2011
Response by poster: Thanks, all, for your efforts and knowledge, and thanks, FM, for your expertise in the Canadian deep web.
posted by coffeefilter at 11:40 AM on March 14, 2011
posted by coffeefilter at 11:40 AM on March 14, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by wiskunde at 1:54 AM on February 8, 2011