what to do about your mail when snowbirding
Hello All, My husband and I will be snowbirding for the first time next winter. We are only going for Jan/Feb. What is my best option for getting our mail sent to us while gone? The post o...
Forum Discussion
We have used the Premium Hold Service from the USPS, where they hold the mail for a week and then forward it in a Priority Mail envelope. The first two times we did that it worked fine, but it is expensive. For 6 weeks, with the mail forwarded 4 times, it cost us about $100. There's a setup fee and then it's about $16 every time they send it.
Last summer we planned to be away for 4 months and had our mail forwarded. Then we decided to stay 3 more weeks. Since I was waiting for a few payments from customers, I decided to use the Premium Hold Service for the last 3 weeks since I did not alert the Post Office soon enough that I wanted to extend the forwarding. The Premium Hold Service did not work so well last summer. It was supposed to be forwarded twice. Never got it the first time. The second time, we got a large package that had a Priority Mail envelope from the first week with that weeks mail they wasn't sent. We still paid for it even though it wasn't mailed on time.
Our Post Office stinks. I don't know if it is the same at every PO, but our carrier is responsible for forwarding and handling the Premium Hold Service. When we first moved here, we had a great carrier. She was replaced by another great carrier. A couple years ago she was replaced by 3 different carriers that work the route. Since then, it's been a problem getting mail forwarded. If we hold it for a week or two while taking short trips, it never gets delivered on the day that we schedule our return and there is usually mail in the box from the first day or two that we are away.
If mail isn't addressed First name first followed by Last name, it will not get delivered. Our water & sewer bill is the only bill that we don't receive online. We can pay it online, but they don't have paperless billing. It is mailed to Girardo, Michael instead of Michael Girardo. In 2 summers of having our mail forwarded, our water bill has never been forwarded. The Post Office told me I had to fill out a separate request to have mail for Girardo, Michael forwarded. Even though I choose the option to forward mail for the entire family, they can't figure out that Girardo, Michael is the same as Michael Girardo.
-Michael
Last summer we planned to be away for 4 months and had our mail forwarded. Then we decided to stay 3 more weeks. Since I was waiting for a few payments from customers, I decided to use the Premium Hold Service for the last 3 weeks since I did not alert the Post Office soon enough that I wanted to extend the forwarding. The Premium Hold Service did not work so well last summer. It was supposed to be forwarded twice. Never got it the first time. The second time, we got a large package that had a Priority Mail envelope from the first week with that weeks mail they wasn't sent. We still paid for it even though it wasn't mailed on time.
Our Post Office stinks. I don't know if it is the same at every PO, but our carrier is responsible for forwarding and handling the Premium Hold Service. When we first moved here, we had a great carrier. She was replaced by another great carrier. A couple years ago she was replaced by 3 different carriers that work the route. Since then, it's been a problem getting mail forwarded. If we hold it for a week or two while taking short trips, it never gets delivered on the day that we schedule our return and there is usually mail in the box from the first day or two that we are away.
If mail isn't addressed First name first followed by Last name, it will not get delivered. Our water & sewer bill is the only bill that we don't receive online. We can pay it online, but they don't have paperless billing. It is mailed to Girardo, Michael instead of Michael Girardo. In 2 summers of having our mail forwarded, our water bill has never been forwarded. The Post Office told me I had to fill out a separate request to have mail for Girardo, Michael forwarded. Even though I choose the option to forward mail for the entire family, they can't figure out that Girardo, Michael is the same as Michael Girardo.
-Michael
