This is a true story. The names and addresses have been changed.
Once upon a time John Wilson bought a house at 2001 Elm Street from Joseph Wilson. The two Wilsons were not related to each other. It was a mere coincidence that they happened to have the same last name. Joseph Wilson, a retiree who was ready to downsize, moved into a smaller house nearby in the same postal (Zip) code. John Wilson, who had moved in from out of state, took up residence. Both men filed changes of address with the United States Postal Service (USPS). That was the end of their association, or so they thought.
Soon, John Wilson began to receive mail addressed to Joseph Wilson. At first he simply sent the pieces of mail back indicating “no such person at this address.” But all the mail addressed to Joseph Wilson kept coming back to John. For awhile John simply bundled up the mail every few days and took it over to Joseph, and found that Joseph was in turn receiving mail addressed to him. They hoped maybe it was temporary. But the problem persisted.
When John finally asked his letter carrier about it, the letter carrier explained that when USPS processed changes of address to figure out how to forward mail they used a unique identifier for each address. This identifier (called a “key” in data lingo) consisted of the first four letters of the last name plus the first four numbers of the street address. It looked like this: “WILS2001.” Since both men had the same last name and had been involved in a real estate transaction at the same address, and lived in the same Zip code, the USPS system in place at that time couldn’t tell what mail was meant for which person. The letter carrier apologized but said there was nothing he could do.
Almost ten years later, John Wilson, who has since moved twice more, still receives mail addressed to Joseph Wilson, who sadly is now deceased.
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