Your Letters for Feb. 7, 2025

Return to sender

The postal service continues to surprise me. The organization delivers millions of pieces of mail daily, at a reasonable cost. But then there are incidents such as these: My son and daughter-in-law and I last week each received back a piece of mail, each marked “Return to Sender. Not deliverable as addressed. Unable to forward.”

This apparently was simply a generic label, as both pieces of mail were addressed to a couple using a Kansas City post office box at the time. That should not have been difficult to locate. (They have since moved and now have a residential address.)

As noted, the mail was returned a week ago. Mine was a Christmas card, postmarked 16 December — 2020. Yes, four years-plus from the date it was mailed.

The mail returned to my son and his wife was an invitation to my 90th birthday party, two-plus years ago. It was postmarked 9 August — 2022.

I’m curious as to where the pieces of mail have spent the last few years. Adding to the intrigue, both were returned the same day, to addresses several miles apart. The intended recipients are still alive, and I telephoned them to wish a belated Merry Christmas 2020. I also told them that if I were around for a 95th birthday party, I would either email or telephone them.

Bob Slater

St. Joseph