Wednesday April 20, 2022 | LANGFORD, BC
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
Do you know what to do with mail that is delivered to you in error?
Sometimes a helpful neighbour will pop the letter into your mailbox. But that can be hit and miss, especially if you only have community mailbox delivery and not letters to your door.
Not receiving your mail on time — or at all — means you could be missing important things like bills and bank or tax notices.
Here’s what Canada Post says about what to do about misdelivered mail. That includes contacting the sender to inform them of the error so they can update their mailing information; or just cross out the name and write ‘Moved’ or ‘Unknown’ and deposit the item in a street letter box.
Mail-forwarding service:
Long ago, mail forwarding used to be a free service provided by Canada Post; you could submit your next-address and mail would get forwarded.
Nowadays, people may assume that their mail will just get forwarded, or they perhaps don’t know about the online mail-forwarding service registration, or don’t want to pay for that service. The paid period does expire.
Mail forwarding is available for residential and businesses. For residential forwarding within your same province for a permanent move, the basic price for four months is $58.25 or $89.25 for a year. Across provinces, that goes up to $72.50 for four months, or $111.75 for a year. Canada Post mail forwarding prices (permanent and temporary, residential and business) are on the Canada Post website.
Here’s what Canada Post suggests:
- If you are receiving someone else’s mail, or you know someone is receiving your mail, Canada Post has an online form where you can create a service ticket to report mail delivered to the wrong address.
- If the mail was delivered to the correct address but addressed to the wrong person — such as when you move to a new location but the previous resident’s mail is still arriving at your mailbox, write ‘Moved’ or ‘Unknown’ on the items and deposit them in a mailbox.
- If you write a forwarding address on the envelope, add additional postage before dropping it back into the mail system.
Legal requirement:
Canada Post is legally required to deliver mail to the address on the envelope.
They go by address, not name.
“Sometimes, this means you might keep getting a previous resident’s mail until the senders receive a change of address,” says Canada Post.
Sometimes mail is not delivered to the intended address.
“Measures will be taken at our local facility to correct these delivery issues,” says Canada Post. Launching a Canada Post customer service ticket helps move things along.
When you move:
Canada Post offers Mail Forwarding for when you move or temporarily relocate to a new address. You can forward your personal or business mail from your Canadian address to anywhere in the world.
“Rest assured you’re not missing infrequent mailings such as tax slips, licenses or health card renewals,” says Canada Post.
You need a Canada Post account to purchase a service. New customers need to register first.
When you purchase Mail Forwarding for moves (residential) you’ll get personalized information about your new neighbourhood as well as valuable coupons and offers.
Two types of mail forwarding:
Don’t miss any mail when you move. Set up Mail Forwarding to have your mail sent to your new address. If you have a Canada Post community mailbox, learn about how it works.
===== CANADA POST LINKS:
Mail forwarding by Canada Post
Canada Post community mailboxes
===== ARTICLES about Canada Post:
City encourages use of LANGFORD in postal address (March 14, 2020)
Langford steps up to support Canada Post local community mailbox cleanup (September 3, 2021)
Canada Post community mailbox management & municipal responsibilities (July 17, 2021)
Post-pandemic social anxiety in dogs leads to incidents for Canada Post delivery agents (July 17, 2021)
Canada Post employees require safety around dogs (July 12, 2021)
Canada Post on relocating retail outlet within Westshore Town Centre (April 19, 2021)
COVID pushes Canada Post outlet to new location in Langford (April 16, 2021)