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Letters (Etc.) Delivered Despite Odd / Minimal / Missing Addressing

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... I had a friend who lived in New Orleans, and received a letter from California once which had his name and street address on it, but no city, state, nor zip code, so I wonder how the hell it got to him... and why perfectly addressed letters with sufficient postage often never reach their destinations.
 
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yurei said:
had his name and street address on it, but no city, state, nor zip code, so I wonder how the hell it got to him


Esther Ranson (a "personality" in the UK, known for her overbite, amongst other things) Once recieved a letter, as intended, with nothing more than a picture of some teeth on as the address.

This could however be an UL.
 
I have heard about the Royal Mail delivering letters with vague addresses along the lines of:

The woman in the cottage,
by the river,
across the bridge,
in the village with the big church,
near Bristol.


I have had no problems with the Royal Mail but I have also heard of them loosing passports and all sorts of vital documents. This always seems to be in London - especially in the East end.


There is an expose of the Post Office here.
 
austen27 said:
I have heard about the Royal Mail delivering letters with vague addresses along the lines of:

The woman in the cottage,
by the river,
across the bridge,
in the village with the big church,
near Bristol.


I have had no problems with the Royal Mail but I have also heard of them loosing passports and all sorts of vital documents. This always seems to be in London - especially in the East end.

I work in Royal Mail...and i can tell you that this is true (about the cryptic addresses)..

it was an art student, who came up with pictures and symbols instaid of addresses and every letter was delivered to the correct address to the surprise of the student..

As for missing mail, passports (royal mail dont deliver them anymore from the passport office)...and as i recall many thefts came from temp staff who had not been vetted..

Everyone now is given a criminal check

Other items such as missing money etc...I have never came accross it firsthand... but their is a chance items can be misplaced as every letter posted is taken to a central hub to be sorted and sent back out to local offices...

so even if you post a letter in a village to someone next door, it is taken to one of the main hubs (usually in a major city), sorted, only to be sent back out to the village...

seems to be a lot of effort, for something that could have been sorted internally..

But who am i to argue.?
 
On the other hand...
Mail finds 'washing machine man'

A postcard sent by a boy to his grandfather addressed only to "The Washing Machine Man, Ixworth" arrived at the right address two days later.
James Tungate, 6, posted the card while on holiday in Bude, Cornwall.

His father Richard wrote on top of the postcard: "I bet the Royal Mail can't deliver this."

Two days later the card arrived at the home of Gordon Palastanga, 62, of Ixworth, Suffolk, who is known as a washing machine repair man in the area.

James also wrote on the card, which was posted first class: "Dear Granddad, we caught 57 crabs. From James."

Mr Palastanga said: "I suppose I am well-known in the West Suffolk area as I have been working in the business for 27 years.

"But it was a great achievement for the Royal Mail."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/suffolk/5320256.stm
 
Three cheers for the Royal Mail!

Map leads postman to right door

A letter sent by a woman to an old friend addressed with only a first name, the town name and a map, arrived at the right house the next day.
Maureen McCartney, 72, from Hitchin, in Herts, needed to contact friend Monica, but did not know her married surname.

She had visited her home in Louth, Lincs, but did not know the address.

Ms McCartney, who wrote "Monica", "Louth", and drew a map of roads in the town and marked X where the house was, said she was amazed at the service.

'Very impressed'

She said: "I needed to contact Monica to tell her my sister was ill.

"I drew the main road out of Louth with two roads coming off it and marked where her bungalow was with an X.

"I was amazed when Monica rang me the next day to say the letter had arrived.

"I was very impressed as I had only posted it at 1500 BST the previous day. They could easily have put it in the bin."

Ms McCartney added: "Monica has not been able to track down the postman who delivered it to thank him. I have written to the post office to say thank you."




http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/engl ... 341572.stm
 
I used to work for the Royal Mail and we used to try our best to deliver badly-addressed letters. You'd be surprised how willing they are to track people down.
 
"That's Life" (UK consumer programme on BBC, no longer broadcast) did couple of pieces about mail delivered to people, with the barest of address details.
 
This thread reminds me of the famous (and probably apocryphal) letter addressed only:

Hill
John
Hants
 
Detective work for vague letter

A letter vaguely addressed to a "brilliant violinist" has found its way to a Staffordshire village from the other side of the world.
Postal workers said they were puzzled when a letter from Australia turned up at the Tamworth sorting office with hardly any address.

It simply said: "Roy Ashby (violinist - a brilliant one?) living in a village close to Tamworth, Staffs, England."

But after detective work, Royal Mail workers found its rightful owner.

'Detective agency'

The letter had come from Mr Ashby's long-lost friend John Bussey, who he had lost contact with decades ago.

Postal workers said they asked colleagues and van drivers to see if they knew Mr Ashby.

They also checked phone directories and the electoral register, but failed to track him down.


Postman Peter Armitage said: "Then someone came up with the wonderful idea of ringing a local music shop and they knew him and were able to give us his address."

Mr Ashby said: "When it came through the door I looked at the envelope and thought, 'how the hell did they find me?'.

"It was very vague, wasn't it? But it arrived. The Royal Mail must be a fantastic detective agency."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west ... 070336.stm
 
I've just realised that I haven't shared my story on this thread, although I may have shared it somewhere else.

I was sat at home one day when a postcard from Egypt (IIRC) dropped through the door. I didn't know anyone there on holiday and it wasn't addressed to me or Mr Bin. Closer inspection of the card proved that although it had the correct house number, street name, town, but the wrong country! I should have gone to the same address in the town of the same name in Australia.

I got in touch with the local paper for the town in Australia and reunited the card with the correct person.
 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-35174646

Edit to add explanatory excerpt:
Christmas card addressed to 'England' reaches right person

A German Christmas card with just "England" on the envelope has reached the right address in Gloucestershire.

Paul Biggs, from Longlevens, said he was absolutely shocked when his postman arrived at his front door with the card from his friends in Bitburg in Germany.

He said: "I can't believe it - it's eerie - it's just got 'England' and sent from a sorting office in Bitburg."
Royal Mail said its "address detectives" were renowned but "even by their standards" it was impressive.

Mr Biggs said the card had been sent by his friends in Germany on Monday and was handed to him by his postman on Wednesday morning.

The postman had been carrying the letter as he completed his round, asking his customers if the card was for them. ...
 
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I read this, and thought of posting it here, but can anyone deduce an explanation as to how the Royal Mail managed in their detective location task? If there's a detached label, sitting just off-camera (minus the word 'England'), this is a non-story, for sure.
 
I read this, and thought of posting it here, but can anyone deduce an explanation as to how the Royal Mail managed in their detective location task? If there's a detached label, sitting just off-camera (minus the word 'England'), this is a non-story, for sure.
"I said 'How on earth did you know it was for me?' and he said 'I didn't, I've been wandering around with this', said Mr Biggs.
"My wife and I are absolutely shocked but this puts posties at five or six stars and top of the tree for me this Christmas."

The card, it is believed, may have originally been addressed correctly and so was sent to the right area of England - but with an address label that fell off at some point.


Top of the tree local postie! :clap:
 
I once sent some with just names from Lisbon as I forgot to add the address labels. Always wondered if they'd somehow ever turn up. They didn't.

A Royal Mail spokesman said: "Royal Mail's team of 'address detectives' are renowned for their ability to ensure poorly addressed items of mail reach their intended recipients however, even by their standards, this is pretty impressive."

I'm now imagining a montage of an aging mail detective over a decade staring at my postcards pinned to his wall, rustling through files, rocking in his chair and banging his desk angrily as he realizes this is a case he will never solve.
 
The label's fallen off on the last leg of delivery. It'll be in the postie's bag somewhere, or in the gutter.

The Post Office're brilliant at deducing addresses, and so are Oxford porters, who handle their colleges' mail.

I sent my son a birthday card, addressed thusly:
Aid
Trin
OX

and it reached him, partly I suspect because the porters knew my handwriting. ;)

When I lived in Hungary he had postcards:
Aid
Trin
OX
UK

and they all arrived too.

It's about sorting. The 'England' letter would've been through several levels of sorting until it reached that postman's 'walk', at which level one assumes the label fell off.

So he knew it was on his round, and may even have got as far as sorting it himself into his correct street bundle before the label went astray.

Ex Post Office, y'see. :)
 
I once sent some with just names from Lisbon as I forgot to add the address labels. Always wondered if they'd somehow ever turn up. They didn't.



I'm now imagining a montage of an aging mail detective over a decade staring at my postcards pinned to his wall, rustling through files, rocking in his chair and banging his desk angrily as he realizes this is a case he will never solve.
Perhaps you could write to the Royal Mail Address Detectives - you might put him out of his misery! :p
 
The 'England' letter would've been through several levels of sorting until it reached that postman's 'walk', at which level one assumes the label fell off.
Yes, this is precisely my point...therefore, in a real sense, this is a total non-story.

The perception of a miraculous delivery is adduced by the customer, acclaimed and praised volubly, yet outside their letter-box stands a capable, competent and indubitably-mortal postie, with a wet label stuck to the sole of his shoe.

I demand that the Prime Minister addresses this situation by recalling the House, and making a statement that fully explains this entire episode. Or I fear I may have to continue doubting the journalistic capabilities of certain media reporters.
 
I am a postman and we get loads of partially or wrongly addressed letters,especially christmas cards.
A few years ago we had a letter come in with a small photograph of the house glued to the envelope. There was no address,name or postcode on it but the town was written on it.
The house was a macnamara style house so we got it down to about four possible roads. We stuck it on the notice board with a list of the possible roads and within a couple of days it was delivered.
 
When I worked on HM's Royal Mail we often had to try to deliver strangely-addressed letters. They were often from Ireland.

Yep, a lot of strange places here.

Ahoghil near me.

Places like Muff, Augher, Clogher, Clady, Claudy, Youghal, Trim etc.

Sometimes difficult to put the original Irish words into English
 
I first encountered that 'your man' thing when I worked at an Irish company.
After a while it got annoying.
'He's not my man...OK?'
:D
 
I first encountered that 'your man' thing when I worked at an Irish company.
After a while it got annoying.
'He's not my man...OK?'
:D

Ha it's a thing most people in Ireland say.

Personally I can't stand the English obsession with mate, particularly when talking to people they clearly hate.

"I'm going to break your neck, mate"

Makes no sense.
 
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The label's fallen off on the last leg of delivery. It'll be in the postie's bag somewhere, or in the gutter.

The Post Office're brilliant at deducing addresses, and so are Oxford porters, who handle their colleges' mail.

I sent my son a birthday card, addressed thusly:
Aid
Trin
OX

and it reached him, partly I suspect because the porters knew my handwriting. ;)

When I lived in Hungary he had postcards:
Aid
Trin
OX
UK

and they all arrived too.

I loved that story about the writer John Underwood, of Andover Massachusetts, receiving a letter adressed:

WOOD
JOHN
MASS

(geddit?)

Just checked this on Snopes where there are a couple of links to relevant articles and an amusing couple of further examples.
 
I am a postman and we get loads of partially or wrongly addressed letters,especially christmas cards.
A few years ago we had a letter come in with a small photograph of the house glued to the envelope. There was no address,name or postcode on it but the town was written on it.
The house was a macnamara style house so we got it down to about four possible roads. We stuck it on the notice board with a list of the possible roads and within a couple of days it was delivered.
Good Job Done!
 
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