Passport America or Escapees Mail Service?

trailertraveler wrote:

rkortes wrote:
We came across two fulltimer couples last summer in our travels. Both used Escappees; one in SD and the other in Texas.

There are some problems with the Escapees South Dakota service that are currently being discussed on the Escapees Forum. Apparently folks are having trouble getting permanent South Dakota driver's licenses and are being issued temporary ones.

Good to know... the young couple that we met in Boise were "rooted" in SD and did not mention that. They just became full timers. The other couple took the Texas route and said it was easier than they expected.

rkortes wrote:
We came across two fulltimer couples last summer in our travels. Both used Escappees; one in SD and the other in Texas.

There are some problems with the Escapees South Dakota service that are currently being discussed on the Escapees Forum. Apparently folks are having trouble getting permanent South Dakota driver's licenses and are being issued temporary ones.

We came across two fulltimer couples last summer in our travels. Both used Escappees; one in SD and the other in Texas. They were both EXTREMELY happy with the service. We're leaning towards that company when we hit the road.

We use Americas Mailbox in Box Elder, SD and have been very happy with them. However, we established our legal residence in SD using Americas Mailbox.

Not only do they do our mail forwarding, but give updates on changes in SD laws that effect us, acted as my resident agent when I was running a business (LLC), and have gotten our license plates/tabs for us.

One question you should ask yourselves is where will you travel to on a regular basis? We have to physically go to SD to renew our Driver Licenses. We spend more time in Florida than in SD and it may have been better to use RVmail. We have planned to travel through SD this year to renew our licenses. SD will let you extend your expiration date by six months so you can schedule it easier. My expiration is in March, my wife's is in Dec. I will get an extension and she can renew six months early so we got it covered. Just something to consider.

Here are the Escapees rates. Compare them with others.

Escapees Mail Forwarding Rates

Also, it makes no difference where your mail forwarding service is. You can travel to Paris and still get your mail. :)

Mail isn't charged by distance. You will pay the same as if you sent a letter from home to XYZ as you would from Texas to XYZ. It will be the regular post office rates. You will be requested to give a mail deposit and that's what they'll use to send out your mail. When your funds get low, just authorize more using your credit card.

The different charges for the whole SERVICE of setting up your mail forwarding and monitoring is different from company to company. Just do comparisons. We used the basic service for 16 years. Now we get very little mail. All bills are by AutoPay so we don't have worry about getting the bill on time. It's just deducted from our credit card or bank funds.

Thanks all for the comments. Looks like Escapees is the preferred, that matches our comparison of the two.

Haven't decided on Escapees TX vs SD addresses. I suspect the TX operation is larger, but SD might be cheaper when they forward mail to our home address. TX address would be closer in winter when we're looking to get out of the snow. Not sure if there are other differences, we'll probably call Escapees and discuss.

Teachers Pet - not sure I understand the comment about SD vs MN?

Wondered why you didn't look at a SD mail service then I saw MN in your screen name. Can't blame you for going farther out, with them checking RV parks for SD plates in the past.

Howdy!

We fulltime and use Escapees mail service and they have been great. But I have read people having problems with the service when they only use it for a short time. I would con tact the Escapees and ask them about it before hand. You may also check into using USPS as they also have a service they offer. I did even know that PPA had a mail service.

"Happy Trails"
Chiefneon

We've used Escapees for over 16 years. No problems.

Do you want to have a 12 month forwarding company when you are home 8 months of the year? We use a UPS Store private mail box in our town. When we travel, they can pack up and send mail to us. When we are home, we just go there and get our mail, with no forwarding needed.