Return to sender

We've been living in our house for two and a half years now, and every now and then, mail addressed to the previous owners ends up in our mailbox. At first it was everything -- especially for the husband (I think she put a mail forward on her mail, but he didn't) -- and I diligently wrote 'return to sender' on each letter before sending it back. At first, we received everything from flyers to Revenue Canada notices.

Now, when we get mail for the previous owners, I tend to just drop it in the recyling bin. Because no matter how often you send back promotional flyers or credit card pre-approvals, they keep coming. If something looks official, or personal (they got what appears to be a Christmas card this year), I eventually get around to returning it to sender.

But twice in the last month, we received mail addressed to someone other than us or the previous owners. Both times, they were official-looking letters (one was for life insurance, I can't remember the other) addressed to the same person. Could we really be receiving mail for the previous, previous owners? That's going back more than 10 years!

I don't really care who else we receive mail for, although it does get a little annoying after awhile. But it makes me wonder...how many of my old addresses are still receiving mail for me? In the last 10 years, I've had four or five permanent addresses -- plus the time I spent in rez at Ryerson. Are credit card companies, stores that have me on mailing lists, or worse, actual institutions that I do (or did) business with, still sending my mail to one of my former addresses? And if so, how in the world would I find out and get it to stop?