It’s A Smaller World Than You Think

I met up with a friend; let’s call him John Jones. John Jones is married to Mary Smith and they recently gained new acquaintances. This is the story of how they met those acquaintances.

My friend, living at, let’s say #1 Maple Street, received a registered letter, and without thinking signed for it as it was addressed to John Jones. The mailman did check his ID as is required and all. After the mailman left, my friend inspected the letter more closely and, checking the sender, started wondering why [Company] would send him a letter by registered mail.

That is when he checked the address. The letter was sent to John Jones living at #1 Maple Lane. The same ZIP code is used for the whole village — cities have more than one ZIP code — so the ZIP code was the same.

Being a good citizen, my friend brought the letter to John Jones living at #1 Maple Lane. John Jones at #1 Maple Lane, married to Mary Smit, and my friend found out at that moment that they had been getting each other’s mail for a while. As it was mostly companies sending targeted mailings, they didn’t really notice until the registered letter arrived.

Both families see each other on a weekly basis now, swapping their mail.