Outgoing Mail

Daily writing prompt

Have you ever unintentionally broken the law?

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That’s a good one. And I’m not going to confess to anything here. But did you know it’s a felony to throw away mail sent to your address but belonging to another person? Yep, a felony, even if it’s junk mail. The proper way to handle this is to write, “not at this address” on the envelope and put it in your outgoing mail.

The problem I face is there is no way to send outgoing mail at my apartment complex. They took away our mailbox and there’s been nothing to replace it. You may not believe this, but I’ve actually driven a mile to the post office near my workplace to return mail that isn’t mine. Given the return address on those envelopes, they looked important.

Fortunately most of the junk mail I receive is addressed “Occupant” and that’s me, so I don’t worry about it. And I confess, I’d feel pretty silly taking a credit card offer for another person to the post office. I wish they’d get us a box for outgoing mail, but so far, they’ve refused to do so.

Have I unintentionally broken the law? Perhaps I did before I knew about this law, but I don’t remember for certain.

Image Credits: Pop Art Mailbox © sapunkele–stock.adobe.com; Outgoing Mail © Kathy images–stock.adobe.com