LetterAgent
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The carrier flags the address as vacant and your mail comes back to you. Carriers are trained to notice empty houses: mail piling up, no one collecting it. Once an address is marked vacant, letters for the old resident are returned to sender instead of being left in the box, and delivery only restarts when someone moves in.
Carriers learn their routes intimately, and an empty house gives itself away. The mailbox stays full day after day. Nobody brings in the flyers stuck in the door. The lawn goes uncut, the lights stay off, and sometimes a neighbor mentions the move. Carriers can also see change-of-address filings. Once the carrier is convinced nobody lives there, the address gets marked vacant in the route records. From that point, the mailbox is effectively closed: mail addressed to the old resident stops being delivered there.
| Mail type | What happens at a vacant address |
|---|---|
| First-class letters | Returned to sender, usually with a vacant endorsement |
| Forwardable mail with an active change of address | Forwarded to the new address instead |
| Marketing mail and catalogs | Typically not forwarded or returned; disposed of |
| Packages | Held briefly, then returned to sender |
Expect the letter back. A first-class letter sent to a vacant house comes back to the return address with an endorsement noting the vacancy, which is actually useful information: it tells you the address is dead rather than merely slow. Do not just remail it to the same address and hope. Track down the recipient's new address, or reach them another way. If you keep sending to a vacant address, you will keep getting the same result, because the vacant flag stays until someone new moves in.
It restarts when a new resident claims it. The practical steps are low-tech: put your name inside the mailbox so the carrier knows who lives there now, file a change of address if you moved from elsewhere, and introduce yourself to the carrier if you get the chance. Carriers work from route lists, and a name in the box is the fastest way to update the mental record. Until the carrier is confident someone lives there, expect the first few pieces of your mail to be treated cautiously.
The mechanics rhyme. Canada Post carriers also stop delivering to addresses where nobody collects the mail, and letters for a previous resident come back marked to show the person is no longer at that address. The fix is the same on both sides of the border: the new occupant makes themselves known, and the sender verifies the address before remailing. A returned letter is the postal system's way of telling you to update your address book.
Ready to mail it? Send your letter with LetterAgent: describe it to your AI assistant, approve the exact quoted price, and it is printed and mailed.
LetterAgent is a working name. Prices include print, postage, and our service fee. US prices in USD, Canadian prices in CAD (Canadian prices exclude applicable sales tax, added at checkout). Currently in private testing.
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