Post by High Priestess on May 27, 2019 18:48:53 GMT
For hosts who have a rule that guests cannot receive mail or packages at your home, what do you do if they do this anyway?
Here are a couple blogs on this topic:
globalhostingblogs.com/2017/11/15/mail-and-the-boomerang-guest/
globalhostingblogs.com/2019/05/26/house-rules-thermostat-settings-duvets-and-keurig/
A summary of your legal obligations regarding mail and packages arriving at your home in spite of your rule prohibiting this:
(1) The only legal obligation you have is with first class mail delivered by the US Post office. With this, if you are refusing the mail, you're required to return it to sender such as by writing "return to sender" on the envelope and putting it in any USPS box, or writing "refuse delivery" on it and put it in any USPS box. If you open the mail by accident, which is easy to do if you're not expecting other people's mail in your mailbox, you would still be required to try to return it if possible. However if you've already disposed of the envelope by the time you notice the mail isn't addressed to you, this may not be possible.
(2) Any other delivery, you are not obligated to make any attempt to return the item. This includes any USPS mail that is not first class, such as third class mail or junk mail, as well as any packages delivered by USPS which are not first class, or any packages delivered by any other entity such as UPS, Fedex, or Amazon's "Logistics" delivery service. In fact, if you do attempt to return the item, you may find it difficult or impossible to do so, since for whatever reason, Amazon and other companies don't seem to figure misdeliveries into their structure and have no clear way to do such returns if you are not the person who ordered the item.
IN fact, though it may seem odd, FTC guidelines seem to indicate that for any type of "misdelivery" (and for someone to use your address for a delivery when they have no permission to do so, counts as a misdelivery) you are entitled to keep any such item as "a free gift."
www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/business-guide-ftcs-mail-internet-or-telephone-order
www.consumerreports.org/consumerist/amazon-sends-me-someone-elses-order-why-dont-they-care-if-i-send-it-back/
Now a host may not want to say that they will be keeping any items that their guest has delivered to their home, as "a free gift", because you could see where this would result in tension in the relationship and the potential for a retaliatory review!! But this does seem to be the law on the matter, for whatever you or others make of it.
Here are a couple blogs on this topic:
globalhostingblogs.com/2017/11/15/mail-and-the-boomerang-guest/
globalhostingblogs.com/2019/05/26/house-rules-thermostat-settings-duvets-and-keurig/
A summary of your legal obligations regarding mail and packages arriving at your home in spite of your rule prohibiting this:
(1) The only legal obligation you have is with first class mail delivered by the US Post office. With this, if you are refusing the mail, you're required to return it to sender such as by writing "return to sender" on the envelope and putting it in any USPS box, or writing "refuse delivery" on it and put it in any USPS box. If you open the mail by accident, which is easy to do if you're not expecting other people's mail in your mailbox, you would still be required to try to return it if possible. However if you've already disposed of the envelope by the time you notice the mail isn't addressed to you, this may not be possible.
(2) Any other delivery, you are not obligated to make any attempt to return the item. This includes any USPS mail that is not first class, such as third class mail or junk mail, as well as any packages delivered by USPS which are not first class, or any packages delivered by any other entity such as UPS, Fedex, or Amazon's "Logistics" delivery service. In fact, if you do attempt to return the item, you may find it difficult or impossible to do so, since for whatever reason, Amazon and other companies don't seem to figure misdeliveries into their structure and have no clear way to do such returns if you are not the person who ordered the item.
IN fact, though it may seem odd, FTC guidelines seem to indicate that for any type of "misdelivery" (and for someone to use your address for a delivery when they have no permission to do so, counts as a misdelivery) you are entitled to keep any such item as "a free gift."
www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/business-guide-ftcs-mail-internet-or-telephone-order
www.consumerreports.org/consumerist/amazon-sends-me-someone-elses-order-why-dont-they-care-if-i-send-it-back/
Now a host may not want to say that they will be keeping any items that their guest has delivered to their home, as "a free gift", because you could see where this would result in tension in the relationship and the potential for a retaliatory review!! But this does seem to be the law on the matter, for whatever you or others make of it.