This happens when the letter or package carries an incomplete or illegible address or the recipient refuses to accept it. When the post office cannot deliver it, it tries to return it to the sender. If the sender as not provided an address or refuses to accept it, then the letter or package lands up in the ‘dead letter office’ or DLO, informally called the ‘mail morgue’.
Thousands of pieces of such mail find their way into the DLO. The mail is then opened and if no clue is found, the letter is destroyed. If it is a package which contains goods, these are auctioned.
While clothing, books, watches and rings are common ‘dead’ items, boxes of home-made laddoos or other sweets are also frequently unclaimed, as also jewellery, electronic gadgets, leather goods, expensive mobile handsets, musical instruments, carpets and even bronze idols.
Picture Credit : Google