Crap in the Mail

Thanks to a comment from my pal Jolene, I was taken back to the time after we'd just moved to New Paltz... a dark time when our innocent mailbox would be crammed with unsolicited offerings or items for Mr. and Mrs. Previous Owner.

A part-time mailman was responsible for most of the erroneously delivered mail. We could tell when Postman Steve was off duty by the large volume of mail not meant for us. Another problem was the unsolicited stuff. It wasn't addressed only to Mr. and Mrs. Previous. Instead, it had their names on one line and "Or Current Resident" on the next, so there was no way to forward it. Most of this junk mail was seed or clothing catalogs, so a few phone calls to the offending companies put that to rest.

There was still one source of unwanted mail: Welcome packages. For some reason, we received dozens of fat envelopes full of coupons for items we'd never want from shops we'd never visit. I guess mortgage companies sell their lists to Wal-Marts. But new home-owners, despair not: The mailings eventually die down.