Which Mail Service do you use?

[LuckeyUs]

We're planning a long outing & want to use a mail service for our mail and our mail order medicines. I'd like to find a service that will also send you a copy of the envelope when needed. Who do you recommend?

[Geobiker]

For mail forwarding we use Flat Rate Priority Mail. This works great as long as you have someone picking up your mail at your home.

Before we leave on an extended trip we call the post office in that location to confirm we can have mail forwarded to us c/o General Delivery. If they will, we pre-address the Flat Rate Priority Mail envelope to that location and affix the appropriate Flat rate postage. We ask the Post Office how long the priority mail will take from our home zip to the zip where we are going. Usually 3 business days, but if going to a rural area it can take longer. Then we leave instructions with the person picking up our mail on what date to send our mail to us c/o General Delivery. The only drawback is the Priority Flat Rate Mail Envelope must be taken to the Post Office Counter. It cannot just be put in the outgoing mailbox.

Your mail forwarder can stuff whatever mail the flat rate envelope will hold for the one price. We have used this for years for trips up to 3 months and only once did our mail not get to us before our expected departure from one RV Park to another and this was our fault since we forgot to find out how long it would take from one zip code to another.

Safe and happy travels to all.

[Fulltimer50]

We use My Home Address Inc in Emery SD

http://myhomeaddressinc.com/

[Dutch_12078]

One problem we had with USPS forwarding before we went fulltime was with mail from financial institutions, etc, that had "Do Not Forward" on the envelopes. That bit us twice when expected credit card renewals didn't show up while we were away. When they were returned to the issuer, they locked the account even though the existing cards had not expired yet. We don't have that problem with our private mail forwarder, plus they'll send our mail wherever we want it when we want it.

[DouglasC]

Cummins12V98 wrote:
Personally have had ZERO issue with USPS Forwarding.

X2

We have used USPS mail forwarding several times in the past few years and have never had a problem. The whole process of setting up the forwarding can be done on-line in minutes with only a small fee charged.

[Michelle_S]

GoodSam/PassPort America service out of Crestview, Florida

[Earl_E]

Dtank wrote:

rk911 wrote:
America's Mailbox,

X-2.......xln't service, great people.

🙂

X3. Great service. You don't have to be fulltime... you can use it just for the times you need it.

[Cummins12V98]

Personally have had ZERO issue with USPS Forwarding.

[STBRetired]

JimK-NY wrote:
The USPS does a horrible job of forwarding mail. When I sold my house and took off as a full timer, I put in a forwarding request. Instead the mail just piled up at the old address. I went to the post office three times and complained with limited success. The post office does not have an automated system. They seem to rely on the mail handlers to do this by memory.

In a few months we will be taking off for an extended trip. I am not sure what to do. We will have mail forwarded to my daughter's address and we will still need to find someone to check the mailbox on a regular basis.

It would have been great if they had delivered to our mailbox instead. They just flat out disposed of mail that they should not have. Things like my homeowners' insurance bill and renewal cards for my credit card. Had to call Chase and get the card number changed and new cards sent to the RV park where we were staying. We were supposed to get 2 months of magazines forwarded but got none. Things that did get forwarded would take up to 10 days or so to arrive. Looking at the date on the new address sticker, you could see that it sat around at the Post Office for up to a week before they printed the new address sticker and sent it on. All in all, just horrible service.

[JimK-NY]

STBRetired wrote:
We snowbird and used to use the temporary forward from USPS to get our mail. Every year there was something important that we did not receive because USPS messed up. We now use the Escapees mail forwarding service year round. Did a permanent change to that address (in TX as that is where we will most likely domicile when we go full time next year) and now we get everything that matters, and have them dispose of the junk mail.

The USPS does a horrible job of forwarding mail. When I sold my house and took off as a full timer, I put in a forwarding request. Instead the mail just piled up at the old address. I went to the post office three times and complained with limited success. The post office does not have an automated system. They seem to rely on the mail handlers to do this by memory.

In a few months we will be taking off for an extended trip. I am not sure what to do. We will have mail forwarded to my daughter's address and we will still need to find someone to check the mailbox on a regular basis.

[Dtank]

rk911 wrote:
America's Mailbox,

X-2.......xln't service, great people.

🙂

[STBRetired]

We snowbird and used to use the temporary forward from USPS to get our mail. Every year there was something important that we did not receive because USPS messed up. We now use the Escapees mail forwarding service year round. Did a permanent change to that address (in TX as that is where we will most likely domicile when we go full time next year) and now we get everything that matters, and have them dispose of the junk mail.

[RobWNY]

Not to hijack this thread but if you are a snowbird staying in one place for a few months does it make sense to have one of the mail services or would just having the Post Office forward your mail to your snowbird address be a better option? I always thought having a mail service like America's Mailbox was geared more for the travelers that go from location to location for extended periods of time. Please educate me!

[rk911]

our local post office will only hold mail for 30-days and they will not selectively forward mail. if we want some mail forwarded all mail from that point forward will be forwarded to that address. so we have all mail forwarded to a private PO Box where they will hold, selectively forward on our request and then resume holding for us. in the past we used a local UPS Store with mixed results. on our next snowbird trip we’ll be using America’s Mailbox in Box Elder, SD.

[PartyOf_Five]

Every post office has general delivery arrangements. If you know you'll be somewhere for a few weeks, or during a certain time- say late june, you can put in a forwarding request so the mail from there time you leave home, is there when you arrive. We had a parcel shipped to Calgary's downtown post office while we were still rolling through the Dakotas, and it worked fine.