3 ms·

Very interesting article. One tangent note: The author appears to have committed a felony by opening someone else's mail. Even if they're dead. A random quirk

Very interesting article. One tangent note: The author appears to have committed a felony by opening someone else's mail. Even if they're dead. A random quirk of the law.

astura 9y ago
I'll admit I only skimmed TFA but it doesn't look like we have enough information to conclude that. It's illegal to steal mail from a box that's not yours, or from the post office, or a mail carrier. It's entirely possible to accidentally open someone else's mail - many of us just open whatever's in the box, especially homeowners. That's not illegal, it was in your box and it was unintentional and done without malice. What's illegal is if you then intentionally prevent that mail from being delivered, IE, throw it away. So if you scrawl "return to sender" on it and put it back in the box then you're perfectly legal. There's no indication that the author didn't do that. Edit: that's what I get for skimming, they didn't do that, but are trying to track down the heirs. Furthermore, you are certainly allowed to open the mail of the deceased if you are the next of kin. In fact, you can put in a request to get their mail forwarded to you with the post office. There's other cases where it's entirely legal to open someone else's mail, such as mail addressed to your minor child.
- sleepychu 9y ago
  >There seemed no point in returning Heilman’s check to Ameritor, which was out of business, so instead I tried to track her down. >I still have the check from Ameritor (signed by Carole Kinney’s husband Jerome), and I’d love to pass it along to Heilman’s survivors Doesn't seem like the author returned it to the sender.
  - astura 9y ago
    Return to sender is all you're legally required to do. If you know returning to sender will go into the void so you're making a legitimate effort to track down the legitimate owner instead then I wouldn't say you're intentionally interfering with that person's mail delivery, quite the opposite, which is what is illegal. It's like when my neighbors mail ends up in my box and just drop it in their box instead of returning it.
  - Overtonwindow 9y ago
    And the author was not next of kin.. The letter has obviously been opened. How is unknown but then by not returning to the postal service, and instead trying to track them down himself, I think is the crime. Has he simply left it unopened and attempted to locate this wouldn't be an issue. The violation in law arises when the envelope is opened.
Overtonwindow 9y ago
Technically. 18 U.S.C. § 1701 Says if you accidentally open it it's not a crime, but then not notifying the post office and returning it to them is when it becomes a crime. By a) opening the letter (apparently deliberately as he doesn't say accidentally) and then b) NOT returning it to the postal service, the author has committed a crime.
- goialoq 9y ago
  It's a crime to not go out of way to do someone else's job for them? I see nothing about that here: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1701 https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1701 "Whoever knowingly and willfully obstructs or retards the passage of the mail, or any carrier or conveyance carrying the mail, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six months, or both." Reading/trashing mail in my box isn't obstructing or retarding anything in passage or conveyance.
zrail 9y ago
It is 100% legal to open any first class or lower mail with your street address on it that the USPS puts in your mail box. Source: asked my attorney because for the past three years running we've received the previous owner's W2 in the mail. First year I called the company and sent it back. We just shred it all now.
mikestew 9y ago
I'm sure the U. S. Postal Inspectors will get right on that. Perhaps they make it an episode of their television show: https://www.21cpw.com/usps-the-inspectors-postal-themed-tv-drama-to-debut-this-fall/ https://www.21cpw.com/usps-the-inspectors-postal-themed-tv-d...

Very interesting article. One tangent note: The author appears to have committed a felony by opening someone else's mail. Even if they're dead. A random quirk of the law.

astura 9y ago

I'll admit I only skimmed TFA but it doesn't look like we have enough information to conclude that. It's illegal to steal mail from a box that's not yours, or from the post office, or a mail carrier. It's entirely possible to accidentally open someone else's mail - many of us just open whatever's in the box, especially homeowners. That's not illegal, it was in your box and it was unintentional and done without malice. What's illegal is if you then intentionally prevent that mail from being delivered, IE, throw it away. So if you scrawl "return to sender" on it and put it back in the box then you're perfectly legal. There's no indication that the author didn't do that. Edit: that's what I get for skimming, they didn't do that, but are trying to track down the heirs. Furthermore, you are certainly allowed to open the mail of the deceased if you are the next of kin. In fact, you can put in a request to get their mail forwarded to you with the post office. There's other cases where it's entirely legal to open someone else's mail, such as mail addressed to your minor child.

sleepychu 9y ago
>There seemed no point in returning Heilman’s check to Ameritor, which was out of business, so instead I tried to track her down. >I still have the check from Ameritor (signed by Carole Kinney’s husband Jerome), and I’d love to pass it along to Heilman’s survivors Doesn't seem like the author returned it to the sender.
- astura 9y ago
  Return to sender is all you're legally required to do. If you know returning to sender will go into the void so you're making a legitimate effort to track down the legitimate owner instead then I wouldn't say you're intentionally interfering with that person's mail delivery, quite the opposite, which is what is illegal. It's like when my neighbors mail ends up in my box and just drop it in their box instead of returning it.
- Overtonwindow 9y ago
  And the author was not next of kin.. The letter has obviously been opened. How is unknown but then by not returning to the postal service, and instead trying to track them down himself, I think is the crime. Has he simply left it unopened and attempted to locate this wouldn't be an issue. The violation in law arises when the envelope is opened.

Overtonwindow 9y ago

Technically. 18 U.S.C. § 1701 Says if you accidentally open it it's not a crime, but then not notifying the post office and returning it to them is when it becomes a crime. By a) opening the letter (apparently deliberately as he doesn't say accidentally) and then b) NOT returning it to the postal service, the author has committed a crime.

goialoq 9y ago
It's a crime to not go out of way to do someone else's job for them? I see nothing about that here: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1701 https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1701 "Whoever knowingly and willfully obstructs or retards the passage of the mail, or any carrier or conveyance carrying the mail, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six months, or both." Reading/trashing mail in my box isn't obstructing or retarding anything in passage or conveyance.

zrail 9y ago

It is 100% legal to open any first class or lower mail with your street address on it that the USPS puts in your mail box. Source: asked my attorney because for the past three years running we've received the previous owner's W2 in the mail. First year I called the company and sent it back. We just shred it all now.

mikestew 9y ago

I'm sure the U. S. Postal Inspectors will get right on that. Perhaps they make it an episode of their television show: https://www.21cpw.com/usps-the-inspectors-postal-themed-tv-drama-to-debut-this-fall/ https://www.21cpw.com/usps-the-inspectors-postal-themed-tv-d...