The awesome power of the government mind

We still get a surprising amount of mail for people who no longer live here. This coming October we'll have been here three years, but still it dribbles in. Mainly for the people we bought the house from but still, occasionally, for other names who must be long gone.

I address this issue with undiminished vigour, as I long for a day when the only mail to be delivered here is ours. To that end I always seek out the contact email or webform of the senders and send them a standard note requesting they desist.

With the most recent example, it was easy to find a contact. It was a government letter. Their response was almost immediate, and beautifully demonstrates the capacity of civil servants to behave as if they only have one brain between them, this being one of days when their head was empty. Names and addresses have been changed to protect their blushes:


Dear John

Thank you for your recent email.
Please provide us with the address that the mailing was sent to so we can remove it from our list.
Please also accept my apologies for the inconvenience this matter has caused.

Kind regards,
Brian Dead
The Government Information Team for Improper Mailings


-----Original Message-----
From: John Beresford [mailto:john@thingummyjig.com]
Sent: Thursday, July 16, 2009 1:13 PM
To:
Cc:
Subject: Ralf Previous-Owner

You are receiving this email because you have sent postal mail to Ralf Previous-Owner at 11 My Road, My Suburb, Manchester M11 1AA, specifically a notification of the change in the law following the introduction of the Improper Mailings Scheme.

Mr Previous-Owner has not lived at this address since October 2006. Your letter states that you will be in touch with him again to remind him of the November 2010 deadline. Please don't bother. He's not here. We would be grateful if you would send no further mail for him here.

Thanks in anticipation.

john beresford