7 ms·

I wonder if a sufficiently famous, public, and unique name could get delivered. Would a letter simply addressed “Biden” make it to the White House?

HarHarVeryFunny 4y ago
It works for Santa !
Symbiote 4y ago
I'll bet "Rishi Sunak" would get to 10 Downing Street. Although that's also an address with it's own postcode, so "SW1A 2AA" would also get there.
- dfxm12 4y ago
  I'll bet "Rishi Sunak" would get to 10 Downing Street. I wonder if random mail sent to top level politicians actually gets to them. The intention is clear, yes, but there's probably layers of security that will prevent it from getting to its intended address...
  - dhosek 4y ago
    For mail to the U.S. president, it goes to a facility near the White House where it’s screened, sorted, replies are sent (usually selected from a set of pre-generated forms) and (depending on the incumbent) a handful are brought to the president’s personal attention.
    - Kon-Peki 4y ago
      I sent Clinton an invitation to my high school graduation party, and got a letter back that said good luck in college.
  - treeman79 4y ago
    Don’t know about others but Reagan used to respond to a lot of letters people sent. He complained that it usually took months through the bureaucracy. Excellent book has a collection of such letters. “Reagan: A Life In Letters“
  - Symbiote 4y ago
    If it's a reasonable letter, I doubt the way it's addressed makes any difference. Members of Parliament have a duty to listen and respond to their constituents, which in Sunak's case is the people of Richmond, North Yorkshire. I don't live there, but I have lived in a senior government minister's constituency in the past. I wrote one letter, and I did get a reply — I doubt my letter was directly read by the minister, but it was probably tallied up by an assistant "15 letters supporting this so far, 8 against".
    - dfxm12 4y ago
      I also doubt the way it is addressed makes a difference. I doubt my letter was directly read by the minister, We seem to be in agreement.
    - pm215 4y ago
      The difficulty these days is the volume. Rory Stewart (an ex-MP) mentioned on his podcast recently that one of his predecessors in his seat in IIRC the 1950s got about 5 letters a week to deal with; when Rory was an MP in the 2010s he was getting over 20,000 emails a year. It's much easier to have a personal touch in correspondence at 5 a week!
      - zhte415 4y ago
        That's about 55 per day, or a little over 100 per working day. Perhaps too many for a detailed personal response for each, but certainly enough to read. Categorising well for future action, response, ongoing follow-up, a part of a staff member's job.
        pm215 4y ago
        Perhaps, but how much time do we want MPs to devote to reading correspondence versus all the other aspects of their job, such as holding constituency surgeries, reading up on legislation, doing ministerial jobs (which Stewart was at this time), and so on? Especially when a significant fraction of the incoming emails will be the result of some campaign group or another having encouraged its supporters "write to your MP" with a template letter with set of suggested arguments...
  - retrac 4y ago
    Almost all paper mail received by politicians in Canada is read by their staffers. You'll get a form reply, at a minimum. Some actually do read a lot of it. Whether curated by staffers, or a random selection, or both. I imagine it depends on the individual politician. Some do reply. R B Bennett, Canadian PM from 1930 - 1935, was an eager correspondent with random people across the country. He read and wrote tens of thousands of letters throughout his career. During the Depression he would include cash from his personal wealth in the envelopes if people described hardships. I wonder if that would be seen as vote-buying today but it was probably genuine charity. I don't believe that basic tendency has really changed. Some politicians do genuinely want to be close to the people and random conversations and letters with ordinary people are one way to do that. And seeming approachable is useful politically, if nothing else. Some want nothing to do with the filthy masses, of course.
  - multjoy 4y ago
    I used to work in the correspondence unit of 10 Downing St. Very few letters made it as far as the PM's desk, but all letters received a response.
  - spzb 4y ago
    I wonder if a letter addressed to “Liz Truss” would have got there in time for her to still be in residence.
- tazjin 4y ago
  Many buildings in London actually have multiple postcodes. In general UK postcodes are granular enough that almost any combination of a name and code should make it, save for situations like several people with identical names living in flats that are fewer than N floors apart.
  - harvey9 4y ago
    Postcodes are designed to facilitate sorting and last mile delivery so no surprise if large buildings have multiple codes. DVLA in Swansea has several, probably because they get a lot of post in a few distinct categories.
- M2Ys4U 4y ago
  Likewise "W1A 1AA" would get to the BBC's London Broadcasting House.
kotaKat 4y ago
Fun fact: depending on your local postal unit, God/Santa letters can be slung around to local volunteers: https://faq.usps.com/s/article/What-does-USPS-do-with-letters-addressed-to-Santa-Claus-or-God https://faq.usps.com/s/article/What-does-USPS-do-with-letter... ""Dear God" letters are sent to Mail Recovery offices or local churches."

HarHarVeryFunny 4y ago

It works for Santa !

Symbiote 4y ago

I'll bet "Rishi Sunak" would get to 10 Downing Street. Although that's also an address with it's own postcode, so "SW1A 2AA" would also get there.

dfxm12 4y ago
I'll bet "Rishi Sunak" would get to 10 Downing Street. I wonder if random mail sent to top level politicians actually gets to them. The intention is clear, yes, but there's probably layers of security that will prevent it from getting to its intended address...
- dhosek 4y ago
  For mail to the U.S. president, it goes to a facility near the White House where it’s screened, sorted, replies are sent (usually selected from a set of pre-generated forms) and (depending on the incumbent) a handful are brought to the president’s personal attention.
  - Kon-Peki 4y ago
    I sent Clinton an invitation to my high school graduation party, and got a letter back that said good luck in college.
- treeman79 4y ago
  Don’t know about others but Reagan used to respond to a lot of letters people sent. He complained that it usually took months through the bureaucracy. Excellent book has a collection of such letters. “Reagan: A Life In Letters“
- Symbiote 4y ago
  If it's a reasonable letter, I doubt the way it's addressed makes any difference. Members of Parliament have a duty to listen and respond to their constituents, which in Sunak's case is the people of Richmond, North Yorkshire. I don't live there, but I have lived in a senior government minister's constituency in the past. I wrote one letter, and I did get a reply — I doubt my letter was directly read by the minister, but it was probably tallied up by an assistant "15 letters supporting this so far, 8 against".
  - dfxm12 4y ago
    I also doubt the way it is addressed makes a difference. I doubt my letter was directly read by the minister, We seem to be in agreement.
  - pm215 4y ago
    The difficulty these days is the volume. Rory Stewart (an ex-MP) mentioned on his podcast recently that one of his predecessors in his seat in IIRC the 1950s got about 5 letters a week to deal with; when Rory was an MP in the 2010s he was getting over 20,000 emails a year. It's much easier to have a personal touch in correspondence at 5 a week!
    - zhte415 4y ago
      That's about 55 per day, or a little over 100 per working day. Perhaps too many for a detailed personal response for each, but certainly enough to read. Categorising well for future action, response, ongoing follow-up, a part of a staff member's job.
      - pm215 4y ago
        Perhaps, but how much time do we want MPs to devote to reading correspondence versus all the other aspects of their job, such as holding constituency surgeries, reading up on legislation, doing ministerial jobs (which Stewart was at this time), and so on? Especially when a significant fraction of the incoming emails will be the result of some campaign group or another having encouraged its supporters "write to your MP" with a template letter with set of suggested arguments...
- retrac 4y ago
  Almost all paper mail received by politicians in Canada is read by their staffers. You'll get a form reply, at a minimum. Some actually do read a lot of it. Whether curated by staffers, or a random selection, or both. I imagine it depends on the individual politician. Some do reply. R B Bennett, Canadian PM from 1930 - 1935, was an eager correspondent with random people across the country. He read and wrote tens of thousands of letters throughout his career. During the Depression he would include cash from his personal wealth in the envelopes if people described hardships. I wonder if that would be seen as vote-buying today but it was probably genuine charity. I don't believe that basic tendency has really changed. Some politicians do genuinely want to be close to the people and random conversations and letters with ordinary people are one way to do that. And seeming approachable is useful politically, if nothing else. Some want nothing to do with the filthy masses, of course.
- multjoy 4y ago
  I used to work in the correspondence unit of 10 Downing St. Very few letters made it as far as the PM's desk, but all letters received a response.
- spzb 4y ago
  I wonder if a letter addressed to “Liz Truss” would have got there in time for her to still be in residence.
tazjin 4y ago
Many buildings in London actually have multiple postcodes. In general UK postcodes are granular enough that almost any combination of a name and code should make it, save for situations like several people with identical names living in flats that are fewer than N floors apart.
- harvey9 4y ago
  Postcodes are designed to facilitate sorting and last mile delivery so no surprise if large buildings have multiple codes. DVLA in Swansea has several, probably because they get a lot of post in a few distinct categories.
M2Ys4U 4y ago
Likewise "W1A 1AA" would get to the BBC's London Broadcasting House.

kotaKat 4y ago

Fun fact: depending on your local postal unit, God/Santa letters can be slung around to local volunteers: https://faq.usps.com/s/article/What-does-USPS-do-with-letters-addressed-to-Santa-Claus-or-God https://faq.usps.com/s/article/What-does-USPS-do-with-letter... ""Dear God" letters are sent to Mail Recovery offices or local churches."