The parcel post system is remarkably versatile and flexible, and although the best, most secure results are always found with the correct labels being affixed to custom, dedicated cardboard boxes, it is remarkable the levels the postal service will go to ensure letters are delivered.

The remarkable works of Willie Reginald Bray and the mail artists and puzzle letters he inspired showcase the lengths that the British postal system will go to in order to ensure that a letter or parcel ends up in the right place.

In most cases, a parcel will be delivered without any issues, although if the address is incorrect or unclear it can sometimes be delivered to the wrong place or is simply returned to sender.

What happens if neither steps are possible? What happens if due to damage, insufficient postage, an invalid address, an inability to forward the post to a new address and the lack of a return address to send it to, there is no way for a parcel to reach its destination?

The Dead Letter Office

A parcel returns centre, also known as an undeliverable mail room or a dead letter office, is an office of last resort where postal workers will hold letters and parcels whilst attempting to find clues to where their intended destination or origin point was.

This is extremely unlikely for parcels, which typically have printed labels that have both the recipient’s address and a return address by default, but it can sometimes happen if a parcel is damaged or the label is torn off or defaced during the shipping process.

The Dead Letter Office was an attempt to fix this and is one of the few places where the implicit right to secrecy of correspondence can be broken, as letters and parcels may be opened to try and find an address or any clues to an address for the sender.

Items are then typically kept for a month and if there is no claim or enquiry from a customer, they will be disposed of, either through destruction in the case of letters or occasionally through auctions in the case of valuable items worth more than the compensation cut-off.

Parcels are X-rayed to check if they contain any dangerous items, and these will be destroyed alongside food, photographs and advertising materials.

Remarkably, at least 20 per cent postal items that pass through the National Return Centre are successfully returned to the sender of the item.

Who Invented The Dead Letter Office?

Before the establishment of the universal penny post and the fundamental shifts that caused throughout the British postal service, the first Dead Letter Office was established in 1784 in London for letters that were sent to the wrong postal service where an addressee couldn’t be found.

Due to the localised nature of British postal services at the time, similar offices were established by the postal services in Edinburgh and Dublin to fulfil the same function.

Typically, the only letters preserved contained money or were parcels with items that were considered sufficiently important to not merit destruction.

It became a branch of the Circulation Department in 1854, and since then most major sorting offices have a returned parcel and letter office alongside the much larger centre in Belfast, chosen because it was the only building owned by the Royal Mail at the time large enough to process the countless dead letters.

Why Do Parcels And Post End Up Undeliverable?

With the development of more advanced postal tracking systems and improved parcel boxes, reducing the chances of a parcel being either lost or damaged in transit, dead letters and parcels are far rarer today than they used to be, but there are still instances where it can happen where there is no sender address to return it.

Typically there are only a few reasons why a piece of post becomes undeliverable.

One of the main ones is because the address is unclear to the extent that the address cannot even be guessed at with the help of local knowledge. This is also true if the address no longer exists, which can be the case if an office or block of flats is closed and demolished.

Another issue is if the delivery is stopped, typically the result of a security system that makes no allowances for parcel deliveries or if the person receiving it refuses to accept the parcel or is not at home to sign for a parcel which requires it.

It can also be a problem if the parcel is paid for with stamps but not enough postage is put on the package before it is sent.