Opening other peoples mail

[Elf]

I sent a parcel to a friend of mine in the U.S. that (we thought) went missing since he never received it.

Today we found out that somebody else had taken the parcel from the mail box (which they are entitled to since, it is their name on the lease) and opened it and kept hold of the contents.

It was my friend's name on the parcel, c/o of the place I sent it to. Is it illegal for anyone else to open that parcel without consent of the intended recipient and subsequently keep hold of the contents?

All advice, much welcomed.

[rickbitch]

In australia, opening mail addressed to someone else without permission is a federal offence, afaik. Then keeping the contents is theft.

[Elf]

It's pretty much the same here I think. I need to know what the offense is in the U.S. or somewhere I can look to find out.

[Seeker]

The same the world over....serious biz here in the US.

[Haggisboy]

The misconception lies in who the mail is addressed to.

Mail is supposed to be delivered to the address on the label, the name of the recipient is largely irrelevant. Many years ago my mum moved in with my sister, but for several weeks didn't get any mail. Turns out the letter carrier saw my mum's name on the envelopes, and as far as he knew, there was nobody there by that address so he was bringing her mail back to the post office. My uncle, who was a letter carrier in the same town at the time, found out about it and informed him that mail must be delivered to the specified address, irregardless of whether or not any person by that name actually resides there.

Ergo, if the address is correct, no laws were broken. Sure it's unethical as the recipient should have marked it return to sender (assuming you included a return address) and returned it to the post, but legally, it's a grey area.

[Seeker]

I think it's a felony.

Then again that might just apply to vandilizing postal property.


http://www.usps.com/postalinspectors/mailthft.htm

[Elf]

I think it is too. I found the following site and dug up some old threads and came up with this http://counsel.net/chatboards/privacy/topic64/1.16.06.10.12.10.html and this http://counsel.net/chatboards/privacy/topic64/1.16.06.10.12.10.html

As far as I remember, I did write a return address on the back of the parcel.

[Asmodeus]

Yss, afaik, it is a violation

http://counsel.net/chatboards/privacy/topic34/8.31.04.23.47.56.html

[ShinymetalASS]

You cant even reach into someone's mailbox and remove anything.

YES YOU LITTLE TURD GET YOUR FUCKING HANDS OFF MY MAIL.

[rickbitch]

The misconception lies in who the mail is addressed to.

Mail is supposed to be delivered to the address on the label, the name of the recipient is largely irrelevant. Many years ago my mum moved in with my sister, but for several weeks didn't get any mail. Turns out the letter carrier saw my mum's name on the envelopes, and as far as he knew, there was nobody there by that address so he was bringing her mail back to the post office. My uncle, who was a letter carrier in the same town at the time, found out about it and informed him that mail must be delivered to the specified address, irregardless of whether or not any person by that name actually resides there.

Ergo, if the address is correct, no laws were broken. Sure it's unethical as the recipient should have marked it return to sender (assuming you included a return address) and returned it to the post, but legally, it's a grey area.

That only applies to the postman.