How do you deal with the mail when on extended trips?

[TNFLineage]

How FT'ers handle mail? We will be in Florida for January, 2015. The post ofc clerk told us we can only stop the mail for 2 weeks, then they have to deliver it for 2-3 days. Then we can submit another hold. Doing mail forwarding or change of addr for 30 days seems awkward as we would be arriving in FL and then have to do a stop and have the mail come back home. What do you do? Thanks.

 

[Navigator-MGRV]

We're not full timers but we were away from home for two months this summer. We had our mail temporarily forwarded to a company that would hold it until we wanted it, shred it if we didn't want it or open an envelope and scan the contents and sent the scan to our email address. None of the mail was opened unless we requested it be opened & scanned.

Now that we're home we're waiting to make sure the company has received all of our forwarded mail before I ask them to send what we want back to us and destroy what we don't want. If anyone is interested here's a link to the company. https://www.mailboxforwarding.com

Hope this helps!

Kathy

 

[cgoodnight]

I go online to USPS, hold mail, and complete a request. They held mine for 4 weeks this past summer.

Robert

 

[TucsonJim]

We were on the road for three months this summer. We paid a neighbor $15 per week to pick it up daily and place it in a very large bin in our locked storage shed. We had given him a key to access the shed, but not the house. Once every 3-4 weeks, our son came by the house and transferred the mail from the storage shed to the house. We pay all of our bills on line, so we weren't worried about anything being time sensitive. We also cancelled several magazine subscriptions. When we got back in September, the stack of mail was huge! But there was not one important item of mail in the whole pile! I wish we could completely opt out of mail delivery. It's usefullness has come and gone.

 

[TNFLineage]

Thanks all; Navigator, thanks for the link - we'll check it out. cgoodnight - that's two weeks more than the clerk said they would, so it's a possiblity. Tucson, that's also a possiblity as we have family living nearby.

 

[Midfla]

Hi, I am a retired carrier for USPS. The info the clerk gave you is wrong, you may hold your mail for a maximum of 30 days! I have seen people put their mail on hold for the 30 days and then when it gets close to the end, they put in a second request with overlapping dates. Caution the policy is 30 days max and if you get a lot of mail and/or the clerk is real stickler you may risk getting the mail relturned to sender if you do cheat! USPS has a service called preimium forwarding, basically they hold your mail for a week, then box it up and send it to you, (PO box, RFD campground c/o, etc), it is fine if you know where you will be check out at USPS.com for rates and info!

 

[arhayes]

We're full-timers and are members of the Escapees FT group and use their Mail Service. Since we sold our home in Texas, our Escapee address also serves as our domicile. Their service to date has been flawless and we have received our mail from them 8 or 9 times since we began our adventure in July.

 

[Lloyd_TX]

We're full-timers and are members of the Escapees FT group and use their Mail Service. Since we sold our home in Texas, our Escapee address also serves as our domicile. Their service to date has been flawless and we have received our mail from them 8 or 9 times since we began our adventure in July.

What is your opinion on the different levels of escapees mail service?

Thanks

Barb

 

[Second Chance]

What is your opinion on the different levels of escapees mail service?

Thanks

Barb

I know you asked Alan, but we've used Escapees domicile and mail services for over eight years and have been very happy with them. I added scanning to our mail service a couple of years ago which has actually saved me money since I don't have to have everything forwarded, now (at 50 cents/page, scanning is cheaper than mailing a packet). All of our meds from Express Scripts go there, too, when we're on the road and not in one place long enough to put a temporary address in Express Scripts.

Rob

 

[Grandesigner]

Yes on the 30 day hold. This summer I upgraded our mailbox to a large locking type so the 30 days of mail will fit along with another few weeks of mail. It worked fine for our 7 week trip around September...

 

[Lloyd_TX]

I know you asked Alan, but we've used Escapees domicile and mail services for over eight years and have been very happy with them. I added scanning to our mail service a couple of years ago which has actually saved me money since I don't have to have everything forwarded, now (at 50 cents/page, scanning is cheaper than mailing a packet). All of our meds from Express Scripts go there, too, when we're on the road and not in one place long enough to put a temporary address in Express Scripts.

Rob

Thank you. That definitely helps us make the decision about scanning.

Do you have them throw away your 3rd class mail using their own discretion? Have you had any trouble with them throwing away things like refund checks or bill pay checks that look like 3rd class/junk mail?

We are trying to decide if it is worth calling in and discussing the 3rd class mail with them before having them throw it away. How do y'all handle it?

Thank you,

Barb

 

[ocbizman1]

We are now full-timers. Even before selling our house we had managed to remove ourselves from most junk lists. So we don't normally get much mail. Everything we do is now fully electronic, including banking and financial, credit cards, phone and internet services, streaming accounts, insurance, etc.

We built a pad with hook-ups at my son's house in the Portland/Vancouver area and stay there in the warmer months when not on the road. We use that as our home address. My son recycles all the junk mail, and will scan anything he thinks is important. The only thing he has to physically forward to me is any kind of voting material or ballots, or vehicle registration and tags. Normally I just have him use my FedEx account to overnight those if they come when we are on the road.

I can even handle all my taxes online. My CPA has a portal where I can upload all my documents in PDF format.

 

[alaskar]

Yes on the 30 day hold. This summer I upgraded our mailbox to a large locking type so the 30 days of mail will fit along with another few weeks of mail. It worked fine for our 7 week trip around September...

]

I wish I had this option. My community has no street service, so everyone with a home address gets a USPS PO Box at no fee(though you do have the trouble of verifying your address annually, or they will either bill you or close your box).

I'll most likely have a family member check our mail, but I didn't realize services like https://www.mailboxforwarding.com/ were even a thing... That makes me kind of want to give it a try. So much of my mail is junk anyway. It would be nice to be able to click a button online and have it shredded for me.

 

[Second Chance]

Thank you. That definitely helps us make the decision about scanning.

Do you have them throw away your 3rd class mail using their own discretion? Have you had any trouble with them throwing away things like refund checks or bill pay checks that look like 3rd class/junk mail?

We are trying to decide if it is worth calling in and discussing the 3rd class mail with them before having them throw it away. How do y'all handle it?

Thank you,

Barb

Yes - when you elect that option, they throw away all 3rd class mail. It has caused zero problems. 3rd class it totally junk mail.

Rob

 

[Lloyd_TX]

Yes - when you elect that option, they throw away all 3rd class mail. It has caused zero problems. 3rd class it totally junk mail.

Rob

Thank You!

Barb

 

[Steven@147]

Yes - when you elect that option, they throw away all 3rd class mail. It has caused zero problems. 3rd class it totally junk mail.

Rob

I would second what Rob has said about Escapee's mail service. We have been using it for almost 4 years now. We dump 3rd class mail, and have thought about it but currently don't use the scanning service. We get very little USPS mail. We'll usually have it forwarded about every 2 weeks. There really isn't much mail collected so it doesn't cost that much to forward. We received an email alert from Escapee's mail saying a priority US government package was received, it was our renewed passports we were expecting.
We also receive Polk County jury notices through our Escapee's USPS service but also receive text and emails from Polk County informing us about Jury duty. Very easy to go to the county clerks office online portal and request an excused absence from jury duty.