Mail forwarding for 3 months

[Ted Couch]

We are wondering what mail forwarding service others use when down south for 3+ months. We are especially concerned about W2 forms for taxes.

Thanks for any info.

Ted

[Bill Stireman]

Ted-we are in the Keys from November to March and we use the USPS Premium Forwarding Service.  It costs $17 per week.  They package up all of our mail on Wednesday and we receive it generally on Friday.  We have been using it for four years and it works well.

Bill Stireman
'04 Beaver Monterey
400 HP Cat

[Bill Sprague]

Bill Stireman's method works very well if you are staying in one place.   As far as I know, the USPS does not allow your to change your receiving address if you are a traveler using the Premium Service.  It seems perfect for people that have a vacation home or own an RV resort lot where they stay several months a year.

We move around too much!

We use a small company in South Dakata called My Home Address.  They've been flawless for 10 years.  When we abandon The Condo for more than about a month, we file a Temporary Change of Address with the USPS and have any mail going to The Condo go to My Home Address.  

We have My Home Address hold our mail and then email them when we know a destination RV park where we will be long enough to get it.  My Home Address will send it to you Priority Mail, UPS or FedEx.  

Many of our "important bills" like Verizon and banking have our My Home Address as the primary mailing address.  When we are in The Condo or semi-permanently parked somewhere we have My Home Address forward to us automatically every Tuesday.  

There is a reasonable annual fee.  Each time they forward mail to us, we pay the postage plus a dollar or two.  

Contact them at http://myhomeaddressinc.com/ or 605.449.4499, 888.494.4499 or email at ron@myhomeaddressinc.com.  Ron or Bruce will probably answer if you call.  

[Stan Simpson]

Just a quick comment about mail forwarding while traveling. We used FMCA's service on our summer trip to the west coast (gone 87 days). If you know in advance you are going to be at a certain RV park, be careful about having mail forwarded to their address. We found out the hard way. When we arrived, the RV Park said they don't get actual delivery to the park, they have a PO box for their mail.

To get around that problem, when you know the town you will be in, just have your mail forwarded to yourself. c/o General Delivery, and the PO will automatically hold it there until you pick it up.

For example, we knew we were going to be in Waldport OR on certain dates, so we had our mail forwarded, c/o General Delivery, Waldport OR, and just picked it up there.

Stan

[Joel Ashley]

We've done the same thing as Stan before, but that was our daughter forwarding it at cost.  Stan, don't you have to sign a document at your home P.O. formally authorizing the temporary "address change" forwarding?  And as Bill Sprague surmises, you'd have to do it for each new location.  Or can you sign the request at any P.O. encountered as you travel, forwarding from your home P.O. to a planned destination you know you will be at for several days?

At least by paying the cost of a mail forwarding company, you'd have some degree of peace of mind.  There is a fair amount of uncertainty just using the P.O., at least with regard to timing.  When our daughter forwarded us stuff, it came fully 3 days after it was expected.  You don't know how long it might take a remote P.O. to get the info to your home P.O., and for the whole thing to get processed.  For those on long trips and not snowbirding at one spot or something, Bill Sprague's method mitigates all that - his company holds everything and forwards by quickest requested means upon a simple email.

Joel

[David T. Richelderfer]

Last year we went south for five months.  We had a golfing friend staying at our house over the winter.  It was cheaper than an apartment for him and he kept the house heated, plus he paid for the heat and power.  It was a good deal for both of us.  Before we departed we went to the post office and picked up a dozen or so large (approximately 12" x 12") prepaid mailing envelopes.  When we knew we would be at a place (RV park, city, specific area) for a week or so, then we would get the local post office info and have him send the important mail to us via general delivery - not including the junk mail.  This year we may not have a house sitter, but we have two neighbor kids (we think of them as our local grandkids) ages 9 and 6 who will pick up our mail everyday, and their dad will park his pickup in our driveway.  Again, we can use the prepaid mailing envelopes this winter.  As for the house, we have found a lady who will come by at least once per week to check on the heat, flush all the toilets, and run water in all the sinks and tub/shower.  She charges $20 per month - can you believe that? - and performs this service for our friends who go to Scottsdale over winter and several other local snowbirds.  All my monthly bills I get by internet now, except one, and that I have to call to get when I am away for the winter.

[Stan Simpson]

We've done the same thing as Stan before, but that was our daughter forwarding it at cost.  Stan, don't you have to sign a document at your home P.O. formally authorizing the temporary "address change" forwarding?  And as Bill Sprague surmises, you'd have to do it for each new location.  Or can you sign the request at any P.O. encountered as you travel, forwarding from your home P.O. to a planned destination you know you will be at for several days?

At least by paying the cost of a mail forwarding company, you'd have some degree of peace of mind.  There is a fair amount of uncertainty just using the P.O., at least with regard to timing.  When our daughter forwarded us stuff, it came fully 3 days after it was expected.  You don't know how long it might take a remote P.O. to get the info to your home P.O., and for the whole thing to get processed.  For those on long trips and not snowbirding at one spot or something, Bill Sprague's method mitigates all that - his company holds everything and forwards by quickest requested means upon a simple email.

Joel

Joel.

When I said we had our mail forwarded to General Delivery at the local PO, it was forwarded there by FMCA Mail Forwarding. not our local Post Office. Yes, we put in a temporary change of address at our local PO before we left home. THEY forwarded it to our temp address at FMCA and then FMCA forwarded it to wherever we wanted, every Thursday.

Its confusing, isn't it?  

Stan

[Keith Oliver]

Our solution to this problem is to try to get all of our regular correspondence to email, which needs no forwarding.  So far we are reasonably successful at this.  Magazine subscriptions allow on line change of address, so we send a CoA every time we move to a place we will be staying at for awhile.  Bills generally go on line, most everyting else is really unnecessary, but this year we will get a family member to check our home mailbox evry once in a while and call us if there is anything that looks im[ortant.

[Edward Buker]

Check into American Home Base in Pensacola. They have been in business for years with service that has been great and inexpensive. You will set up a PMB (personal mailbox) once and your mail gets forwarded to them. They will sort the junk if you like or not and send your mail in an envelope via UPS or Fed Ex. We just call, tell them where we will be for a few days and the office of the campground will get our mail. The cost is between $10 and $15 a month plus shipping. We turn the service on and off as needed for our home stays vs travel time. They keep your PMB in tact so that is set up just once.

http://www.amhomebase.com/

Later Ed