Mail Forwarding Delay

Yes, plus not everything is making it to us like years past. Had friends e-mail us that their Christmas card was returned to them, and wanted to know if we changed our primary address.

2-3 weeks for USPS mail forwarding.

We now have a UPS mailbox, where we have most of our important mail sent all year long. We changed all our important account addresses to the UPS mailbox. That mail is forwarded whenever I want and promptly done.

Premium forwarding (if it fits it ships), JMO, is only way to go. Yes, it will cost you, but you get a better service. It works like this....your mail accumulates at your regular post office (hold area) for a week (or two) and a clerk addresses a priority box to your forwarding address and fills it with you mail - 2-3 days later your get your box of mail.
Standard forwarding (for snowbirds) is a pain in the a$$....the change of address card gets sent to the CFS office for entry. Then a label is generated at the local office (3-5 days later) to notify your carrier of your change of address. Once the first piece of mail is put into the forwarding tray, it could take 7-10 days before you receive it. Yes, this service is free, but....you get what you pay for.
Keep in mind that when you have a temporary forward (a forward with a start and ending date) ALL of your mail goes to your permanent post office first...then gets forwarded on to you - that is most of the delay!
And yes, my wife works for the USPS.

We use Escapees Mail Forwarding. We send an email request when we want it shipped and we always receive it Priority Mail within 2-3 days - even in the Tucson area. It only took 5 days to ship it from Texas to Alaska!

2gypsies wrote:
We use Escapees Mail Forwarding. We send an email request when we want it shipped and we always receive it Priority Mail within 2-3 days - even in the Tucson area. It only took 5 days to ship it from Texas to Alaska!

The problem here is with those that are using the USPS temporary forwarding service to forward their mail while snowbirding, etc. Those of us that use a PMB forwarder such as Escapees, St Brendan's Isle, etc., as our primary address, would not be seeing the same delay issues.