December 2, 2022

It's Moments Like This That Tells Me Blogging (in some form or another) Will Always Be With Us

 So, if anyone is counting (and I am), we have been in this house seven years in February.  Remember this detail because it is key to what's been going on around here.

As I am sure we all know, when you purchase - or rent - a home that had previous owners/tenants for a while there you will still receive their mail for a time.  But, generally, it all gets sorted out eventually and the only things you will continue to receive for them is junk mail.  

And that's not a big deal - we can all spot junk mail a mile away and it just lands in the recycling.  Odds are they aren't going to miss it...because it is JUNK mail.

So imagine our surprise when we discovered that a vacuum had been delivered to our front door.  At first, I thought, "Oh, The Husband must have lost his freaking mind and ordered a vacuum cleaner for me as a Christmas present."  But even he knows the rules, unless I specifically ask for an appliance of any kind, they are not Christmas gifts.  Although, I'm not going to lie, I HAVE been wanting a new vacuum cleaner - but I have not uttered this desire to him.  And, this particular vacuum would not have been on my radar anyway.

So when I questioned him about the said appliance he noted that it was addressed to one of the previous owners.  

And we don't have her forwarding address.

So the vacuum cleaner sat there as we pondered how to handle this issue.

And then ANOTHER box landed on our porch - again addressed to one of the former owners.  We looked at these two things and pondered on how to handle both of these boxes.  We finally decided that The Husband should take these boxes back to the Post Office and explain what happened and let them figure it out.  Which he did.  And as he left the house he said, "How much do you want to bet that these come back to us?"  And we laughed and joked about how the vacuum cleaner would be ours then.

My question in this whole saga is HOW in the hell did these boxes land on our front porch in the first place?  As I mentioned, we've been here almost SEVEN years and, as if any of us could forget, there was a VERY LONG lockdown in place during some of those years.  A lockdown which had everyone buying just about everything online.  And yet, during that lockdown we never received not one, much less two, packages for this previous owner.

And now here we are.

It's baffling.  The one box was from a popular department store.  I know that this owner has children, who were very small seven years ago.  And I also know, from experience, that very small children grow very quickly.  And that, back in the day, I spent quite a bit of money at this department store acquiring larger sizes for my once small, but quickly growing, child.  So, I would imagine, that this owner acquired quite a bit of children's clothing from this particular department store during the lockdown.  I know I would have.

So, if that's the case, one would think they would have changed the delivery and billing addresses of their account back then.

And I am also imagining, that this person is looking at the tracking info - which is surely telling them that the items have been delivered - and wondering what in the hell is going on - pretty much like we were when these items landed on our porch.

****

I kid you not, as I was in the process of editing this post, guess what showed up on our front porch?  The box.  (Not the one with the vacuum, unfortunately .  I'm guessing that will show up tomorrow.  At this point, it wouldn't surprise me) *sigh*  The Husband just carted it back to the Post Office where, hopefully, this time it will either land at the previous owner's new address or back to the place whence it came.

And that is how I know blogging will never completely go away.  Because life keeps throwing up these random, baffling things which practically BEG to be blogged about.



16 comments:

  1. I mean, what. We have received mail for previous owners - even recently, when we have been in this house over 22 years - but packages? For a vacuum? That is so strange!!

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    1. Nicole, it IS the oddest thing. The vacuum still hasn't come back, so fingers crossed it gets to where it needs to be.

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  2. Oh yes, this is perfect blog fodder. It's also baffling how after 7 years anyone would not have changed their address with companies. I mean, one year maybe-- but 7? I do hope you can rectify things, but if you can't... MERRY CHRISTMAS!

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    1. The only thing I can think is that they changed their billing address and maybe never updated the delivery address.

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  3. This is the sort of story a blog is perfect for! How extremely weird. How does anyone order items to be mailed to them and not notice the address is 7 years out of date??

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  4. This is hilarious! We have an odd situation where we live on a street that, without any clear delineation, merges with another street. So - essentially - in a straight line there are two houses with the same number that are technically on different streets. Things seem to be getting better, but for the longest time, parcels for us were constantly being left down the street at the neighbours with a matching number. Once I received a delivery notification that my annual Christmas cards had been delivered. I checked everywhere and couldn't see them. It was pouring rain outside and since the cards were paper, I thought it wise to drive down the street and check at the other house - sure enough there were my cards, sitting outside their door...soggy, but without any damage.
    One other memorable time, I noticed a delivery truck in our driveway; when I went out the driver was just finishing unpacking the second of two VERY large, obviously VERY heavy boxes. The picture on the side showed end tables. Turns out, they were for the people down the street! The poor driver had to load those two VERY large, VERY heavy boxes back on the truck and cart them to the other house...and unload them again.

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    1. Oh wow! I can see how that would confuse delivery people. And I'm glad your Christmas cards weren't ruined.

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  5. I agree that it is very, very strange after all this time for those things to show up. What is going on, I wonder?

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  6. Even tax records can be ditched after 7 years. What the heck?! If that vacuum shows up again, I say, hey, you tried, and now you can keep it.

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  7. Oh my GOODNESS, that is so weird and bemusing! We have been in this house for 11 years now and we still get occasional mail addressed to someone who lived here before the person we bought the house from. Very odd! I also very much love your rule about your husband not ordering appliances for gifts unless expressly requested. That's a smart one.

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  8. That is SO weird. SEVEN YEARS? If the vacuum comes back, that is your sign to keep it. Or gift it.

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  9. I ordered something for Sarah several years ago and didn't realize that the last time I ordered from this company I had the purchases shipped to a family member in Massachusetts. It wasn't until I got the email saying they were delivered that I realized what had happened - I had never updated the shipping info and just used what had been input and saved several years prior. Sadly the relative no longer lived there and I never got the packages back. I appreciate your attempts to return the packages to the rightful owner.

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  10. Write all over the box "ANK", black out the bar code. It is computer coded to your address. Then it's in God's hands. If it comes back, it's yours. If, by chance, the USPS label has an "S" Or an "H" in a square on it, it was delivered to you by fed-ex. In that case, it will come back to you indefinitely. You'd be doing everyone a favor by keeping it really.

    I could explain the logistics of the postal ways at length here, but I won't . You're welcome. But I will say that when I started for the PO, 20 years ago, I was delivering a route where I lived when I was 11. So, it had been roughly 16 years or so since we lived there. And yet, there I was holding a catalog for my mother at that address. The junk mail never stops. Like ever.

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  11. Let us hope blogging continues as long as we do.

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