The Undeliverable Letters

A postal service had a problem: some letters couldn't be delivered. Wrong addresses, deceased recipients, buildings that no longer existed.

At first, they discarded these letters. But sometimes the letters contained valuables. Sometimes the addresses were simply smudged and could be deciphered with effort.

They created a special room — the dead letter office — where undeliverable mail was examined, corrected when possible, and held for investigation.

Better than lost. Better than blocking the system. A place for problems to wait.