getting your mail while moving around

[jareddustin]

i have been the mailing industry for about 6 years now, i do some mail management systems for a few business and thought i might be able to help out some RV guys.
what do you guys do about your mail now? use temp mail forwarding or a family member?

something I do for a business right now that has employees spread across is the US is that all of their mail gets sent to me, i have a PO Box at the post office i go to everyday for all of my business mailings. they have asked me to open all of their mail, scan it and send it to them, depending on the mail i archive and store it for them, shred it, or send the actual mail piece to the correct person.

I could easily set up a similar system, my first thoughts were to have your mail forwarded to a PO BOX, or even set your mailing address up to the PO BOX if you wished. i could open and scan everything and send them to you in an email or a secure connection with my companies web site. then dispose of or save the mail based on your preference. or another option would be to let me know where you are camping and i can send your accumulated mail to you.

i wanted to ask you guys if this has been an issue at all and if there is a need for something like this.
thank you for your time

Jared Drinville

[CA_Traveler]

Well if my mail went to CA then you can bet that CA would decide that was my permanent address. I suspect that scanning etc cost more due to labor than mailing the unopened mail. But scanning does give you quick access.

We live in a gated community which does help with security. We have a large mailbox with a removable bottom. When gone the mail drops down into a cement storage area. Once a week for $10 a trusted person brings in the mail, dumps the junk and lets us know if anything important looking arrived. We mostly pay online while traveling or on the road. She also checks the house which includes turning the house water on (90 degree ball valve so easy to operate), flushing toilets, etc and turning the house water off as she leaves. The yard water is on a separate valve.

[C-Bears]

Well, apparently there are a vast majority of full time folks, past and present, that use a mail service and have had a wonderful experience with it.

I just know what works for us. My son get the mail out of the mail box and if there is any for us it goes into a bucket on the washing machine. If he even has the slightest suspicion that it could be something important, which rarely happens, he will mention it to us when we talk on the phone or text. Then every few weeks if there is some we want sent to us he simply drops it in one of the large 8 x 10 padded prepaid envelopes we have left with him and mails it to us.

Maybe we are more completely paperless than some, I don't know. If a mail service works for you as a full timer then I am not making fun of you or saying you shouldn't be doing it.

Everyone's family situation is also different. My oldest does not find it a burden for us to use his address, just as I do not find it a burden to spend time this month remodeling his basement while in the area. We are from a small Midwest area and have a close family.

My apologies to anyone who may have been offended by my posts on this subject. (but I still think Monkey44's post was funny)

[cpaulsen]

I use a small mail service here in Oregon. They get the mail from USPS and hold it till we need it. Usually we have them send it to wherever we are twice a month...have never had any problems.

[2gypsies1]

C-Bears. We've used Escapees for 19 years now with absolutely no problems. We choose not to live in a paranoid state about everything.

[xctraveler]

C-Bears wrote:

BarbaraOK wrote:

C-Bears wrote:
Good one monkey44!!!!! To me having some mail service handle your mail is just asking for trouble. I mean, its not like those folks are paid $25.00 an hour. I am sure they will hire anyone at those places.

It would be like if there was a rash of break-ins around your neighborhood and you decided to put a lock on your screen door to keep from being victimized.

You just insult a large number of people who work very hard and do a good job. And you base it on what? No, they don't hire just anyone, at least Escapees doesn't. Of course we've only been using Escapees for 8 years and they have only been in business for something like 30 yrs, so obviously they are a fly by night outfit.

And no one has ever heard of a US Post Office mail carrier who mishandled mail?

Barb

So they have been around for 30 years, the USPS has been around for just under 239 years and they still have employees arrested for ripping off mail.

It is just my opinion that you are less secure by allowing two groups to handle your mail (USPS and Paid Mail Service).

It is also my opinion that most full timers travel to S. Dakota or some other state and sign up for mail services and transfer their RV registrations there because it is much cheaper than paying their annual RV registration fees in their home states. It usually has nothing to do with not wanting to be a burden on their children or other family members by asking them to help with mail.

Everyone has to make their own decisions on how to handle a lot of different issues when full timing. What works for some just doesn't work for others.

C-Bears, you certainly are entitled to your opinion and no one is suggesting that you change your thought process or way of doing business. My mail has gone through Escapees for 5 or 6 years with nary a hitch. There is no financial mail since that is all taken care of online, choose your poison 🙂 Mostly what I get is magazines I subscribe to that I would rather not read online. I pay Escapees a bit extra ($105 v $80 per year) to discard all 3rd class mail so I don't have to pay for forwarding it.

My reason for choosing a service in Texas is there is no income tax as of now and the Estate tax comes to net zero compared to NY. Vehicle registration and insurance are both greater than in NY. We just voted in TX, absentee where my vote is about as useless as it is in NY, just the other way 😞

When I had an office and an assistant I forwarded my mail to the office and my assistant opened and scanned the "important" stuff and sent us a bundle when I knew where I would be. Retired, no office and no assistant.

[C-Bears]

BarbaraOK wrote:

C-Bears wrote:
Good one monkey44!!!!! To me having some mail service handle your mail is just asking for trouble. I mean, its not like those folks are paid $25.00 an hour. I am sure they will hire anyone at those places.

It would be like if there was a rash of break-ins around your neighborhood and you decided to put a lock on your screen door to keep from being victimized.

You just insult a large number of people who work very hard and do a good job. And you base it on what? No, they don't hire just anyone, at least Escapees doesn't. Of course we've only been using Escapees for 8 years and they have only been in business for something like 30 yrs, so obviously they are a fly by night outfit.

And no one has ever heard of a US Post Office mail carrier who mishandled mail?

Barb

So they have been around for 30 years, the USPS has been around for just under 239 years and they still have employees arrested for ripping off mail.

It is just my opinion that you are less secure by allowing two groups to handle your mail (USPS and Paid Mail Service).

It is also my opinion that most full timers travel to S. Dakota or some other state and sign up for mail services and transfer their RV registrations there because it is much cheaper than paying their annual RV registration fees in their home states. It usually has nothing to do with not wanting to be a burden on their children or other family members by asking them to help with mail.

Everyone has to make their own decisions on how to handle a lot of different issues when full timing. What works for some just doesn't work for others.

[BarbaraOK]

C-Bears wrote:
Good one monkey44!!!!! To me having some mail service handle your mail is just asking for trouble. I mean, its not like those folks are paid $25.00 an hour. I am sure they will hire anyone at those places.

It would be like if there was a rash of break-ins around your neighborhood and you decided to put a lock on your screen door to keep from being victimized.

You just insult a large number of people who work very hard and do a good job. And you base it on what? No, they don't hire just anyone, at least Escapees doesn't. Of course we've only been using Escapees for 8 years and they have only been in business for something like 30 yrs, so obviously they are a fly by night outfit.

And no one has ever heard of a US Post Office mail carrier who mishandled mail?


Barb

[jareddustin]

thank you for all the replies. dont think i will be moving foward with this as of now, looks like there are more than enough options out there for everyone.

[C-Bears]

Good one monkey44!!!!! To me having some mail service handle your mail is just asking for trouble. I mean, its not like those folks are paid $25.00 an hour. I am sure they will hire anyone at those places.

It would be like if there was a rash of break-ins around your neighborhood and you decided to put a lock on your screen door to keep from being victimized.

[monkey44]

We usually have our mail forwarded to an outfit in Nigeria, they open it and check to see if we have any awards or won the lottery, or have relatives that suddenly died and left us a pile of money ... saves returning the emails to Nigeria for processing ...

Don't know how well it works yet, we haven't won any money or lotteries on over six months -- got no mail either -- weird -- but we keep trying. But I've noticed lately that my CC billing are really huge, and I don't recall buying that much stuff. Will have to track down the S/O and see what she's buying ... dang it !! 🙂 :):)

[lbrjet]

I wouldn't trust you or anyone else with my personal information. I think most people probably feel the same way and your customer base would be extremely limited.

[C-Bears]

BarbaraOK wrote:

C-Bears wrote:
Here are my problems with mail services. I don't want another group of strangers having access to my personal mail. I don't want some stranger opening, scanning, or reading my mail. The only person touching my mail is going to be the mailperson and my son.

Every time you turn on the news you hear about Target or some large retailer having their computer system hacked and everyone's credit card information put at risk.

We limit our debit card and credit card usage in an attempt to cut down on the possibility of identify theft. We sure don't want to give a whole group of strangers access to our mail everyday.

Well no one opens our mail but us. You don't have to use a service that opens, scans & reads your mail. We've been using Escapees for 8 years and are very happy with it. Not any different than having the mail person carrying it - they receive, sort and stick it in your bin until you call/email and ask for your mail to be forwarded to xyz. And I don't want my child opening my mail, nor would I dream of imposing upon her (or any other relative) to have to receive, shred the junk mail, and forward it whenever I wanted. She's going to have to take care of us later when we can't do it for ourselves.

Computer systems being hacked have nothing to do with the mail. In fact, all of our financial dealings are done online.

Barb

There are thousands of credit card scams and check writing scams that are started everyday by taking someone's mail. It is the oldest most common method of personal fraud. It doesn't have to be some computer wizard sitting in front of a bank of laptops hacking into a large retail chain store's system.

[Dutch_12078]

Full time RV'ers often use their mail forwarding service address as their domicile address for vehicle registrations, driver's licenses, income taxes, voter registration, health insurance, etc. Domicile use typically requires a valid street address, not a PO box. Just offering a scanning service doesn't begin to scratch the surface of many RV'ers mail handling needs.

Here's a link to one of the larger mail forwarding services that many full-time RV'ers and boaters use. Check out the services they offer...

http://www.sbimailservice.com/

[jareddustin]

C-Bears wrote:
Here are my problems with mail services. I don't want another group of strangers having access to my personal mail. I don't want some stranger opening, scanning, or reading my mail. The only person touching my mail is going to be the mailperson and my son.

Every time you turn on the news you hear about Target or some large retailer having their computer system hacked and everyone's credit card information put at risk.

We limit our debit card and credit card usage in an attempt to cut down on the possibility of identify theft. We sure don't want to give a whole group of strangers access to our mail everyday.

i understand your concerns, scaning is not an option everyone would want but for some people it is great, and in my case if i did this it would all done in a secure enviornment.