dead letter office

plural dead letter offices

1. The postal facility that deals with mail that cannot be delivered.

   There are 4201 letters lying in the Dead Letter Office, London, which contain property to the amount of $200,000.

   1847, editorial staff, “(untitled: 4201 letters)”, in Scientific American, series 1, Volume 3, Issue 9, page 72

2. figurativelyA channel of communications for which the recipient neither acknowledges nor acts upon any messages sent.

   The whole world is a Dead Letter Office. No one's listening to us. Our words vanish in the wind.

   2009, Mike Hockney, The Last Bling King, Lulu Press, →ISBN, page 101

   1 more example

   The agriculture department was merely a dead letter office until the present Minister gave it life and usefulness

   1890 April 19, “Farm Topics”, in The Leader: A Weekly Journal of News, Politics, Agriculture, Literature, Science and Sport, Melbourne, Victoria, page 10