what to do about your mail when snowbirding

2gypsies wrote:
Thunder Mountain: I think your way would be a rarity. :)

Guess we are lucky. One of the advantages of living in small town rural America:)

Thunder Mountain: I think your way would be a rarity. :)

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

mirwin wrote:
I could also ask my neighbor to get the mail and just send us the important stuff. I would give her money for postage too.

That is the easiest and best solution, and it does not inject a host of complications like lost mail being forwarded.

Our solution is to have virtually all the bills paid via direct withdrawal through the bank. The very few that aren't (municipal tax, auto insurance etc.) are handled by (over) estimating municipal tax then adjusting on the next quarterly billing. On the auto insurance our house checker (who picks up the mail at the post office) forwards it to our daughter who scans or photos the invoice and the cover slip and emails it to us, I can pay electronically.

It's wise to check with the campground to see if they will receive mail for you, the campground where we stay won't accept mail for campers, but courier deliveries are accepted and delivered to our site.

After several years of "birding", we found the ultimate solution. We live is a rural Colorado mountain town; so, this solution may not apply.

Our local UPS/FedEx storefront offers forwarding services. You give them your PO box key. They pick up your mail. If everybody got the same flyer or mailer, they put it aside for your return. They forward first class mail and a lit of approved magazines. We gave her a list of dates and places where to forward the mail. When we got home, the junk box had ONE piece of mail that should have come to us in 3 1/2 months. The charge was $10 per month plus forwarding postage. She forwards probably 100 plus residents per month. If you have a street address only, you forward your mail to her business.

Just might work for you.

the USPS is a joke... 2 years running.. sent to wrong address.. they told my bank I moved out of state... lots of trouble.

local office is useless at fixing anything... took months to correct.

just returned home.. postman placed a note inside my mail box.. Vacant .. when I have a P.O. box how.

If you will be in one place, its easy. Get the address of the campground. Then go to your post office and talk to the postmaster.
They have a form to fill out.
We have our mail forwarded every 2 weeks. It costs something like 7 or 8 dollars for each time they send. So for 2 months if you do it every 2 weeks, you would need 7 mailings as you would be home to pick up the last 2 weeks. They will hold your mail, then put it in an express envelope and you get it 2 days later. One of the good things, tell them you just want the first class mail and they will throw away all the junk adds etc. Or you could make it every 3 weeks if you like.
Or as others have said you can make a complete change of address and it costs nothing. They will forward your mail thru the system.

I have it forwarded to my son, he drops me an email if anything comes in. If you're careful setting everything up, you can have close to everything auto pay. Over 10 weeks this winter not 1 thing needed him to cut a check.

I do find the post office lacking on their end. Took close to 2 weeks at each end of the trip before the mail was actually forwarded or the forwarding cancelled. I did it on line, or tried to. 2nd year in a row like this.

Mail doesn't get "lost" like some lead on. What does happen is if you have an envelope that says "do not forward" or has the micr code on it for that action. So lets say if you're getting a new credit card mailed out it will never get to you regardless where you forward it. So I guess you could say it got lost.

When we were on the road a lot we would have our mail held then forward to "General Delivery" and the town we plan on being at in a week. Worked surprisingly well. Then again, we have a great small town Post Office to work with.

Now that we settle down in one park for 3-4 months we just have our mail forwarded to that park. Never had an issue other then the do not forward stuff. Not much you can do about that but be aware.