dead letter office

English

Noun

dead letter office (plural dead letter offices)

  1. The postal facility that deals with mail that cannot be delivered.
  2. (figurative) A channel of communications for which the recipient neither acknowledges nor acts upon any messages sent.
    • 2009, Mike Hockney, The Last Bling King, Lulu Press, →ISBN, page 101:
      The whole world is a Dead Letter Office. No one's listening to us. Our words vanish in the wind.
    • 1890 April 19, “Farm Topics”, in The Leader: A Weekly Journal of News, Politics, Agriculture, Literature, Science and Sport‎[1], Melbourne, Victoria, page 10:
      The agriculture department was merely a dead letter office until the present Minister gave it life and usefulness
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