Postal service

[Nicktravel]

Hi guys, new year here, wife and are going to be on the road for about three consecutive months this year. Wondering what to do about postal service.....I was told that the post office will only hold our mail for about three weeks.....was wondering how everyone gets there mail while on the road.
Nick & Bobbi

[A32Deuce]

We have a neighbor that collects our mail then sends it to us when we stay for 2 weeks or more before moving. Great deal are those it it fits it ships boxes. You can get a lot of mail in them.
We left home the Monday before thanksgiving and won't be home till April.

[5picker]

Originally Posted by A32Deuce

We have a neighbor that collects our mail then sends it to us when we stay for 2 weeks or more before moving. Great deal are those it it fits it ships boxes. You can get a lot of mail in them.
We left home the Monday before thanksgiving and won't be home till April.

X2
Our neighbor (also relation) collects our mail when they get theirs down at the end of our road where the mailboxes are located. We purchased several prepaid/already addressed mailers and when they get enough of our mail to fill one, they drop it off at the post office and we have it in a few days.

It 'usually' isn't anything much of importance as we do most everything online.

[HangDiver]

Thought I was going to be on the road for an extended period recently and found this. Have not used them, yet. Others here have more experience and may be more helpful. https://www.sbimailservice.com

[bedubya]

Nicktravel, USPS will hold mail for up to 30 days. Beyond that, use the suggestions made above. From the USPS website:


Schedule a USPS Hold Mail™ Service. You can notify us up to 30 days in advance or as early as the next scheduled delivery day. Request your start date by 3 AM ET (2 AM CT or 12 AM PT) on your requested day, Monday – Saturday. (NOTE: For hold times greater than 30 days, please sign up for a USPS forward mail service.)

[Funengineer]

We do a “temporary” change of address with the USPS for about 70 days. Cost $1.05

https://www.usps.com/manage/forward.htm

[TitanMike]

Almost every city and town has a mailbox rental establishment. Get mail forwarded there by filling out card with USPS.

The box rental place can then pack any mail received when you contact them and ship it to you wherever you land for a few days.

My daughter picks up my mail at the house, texts me photos of it, then i have her open bills to tell me how much i owe. I then pay them electronically.

[lcv800]

Just my experience. Post office hold is good for 30 days only as previously stated. Many government and financial institutions won't forward their mail (all my vehicle registrations were returned to the state). Change of address is a huge hassle for short term, as you have to also change back. I lost a lot of mail. Best bet is having a neighbor grab it for you, toss out the junk mail, and have them send it to you when you know you are staying somewhere for a while. Take them out to dinner when you get home.
Rusty

[Funengineer]

You definitely don’t want to put your mail on hold because you have no access to it while being held at the post office.

The suggestions above regarding forwarding or change of address to family, friends or rental box in your new location are good options. We are signed up for “USPS Informed Delivery.” This allows us to view actual pictures of the mail we will be receiving the next day online.

So we do a temporary change of address to our sons house (18 miles away). He tosses any junk mail and when we see something on our USPS Informed Delivery that needs our attention we either have him open the mail or mail it to us in a pre addressed envelope. All our bill pay is now done online. We’ve never had a problem receiving State of Michigan mail with our temporary change of address.

[bubbles]

We are away from home about 3 months straight every year and just initially fill out the mail hold card to hold all mail (where it asks for names just write "all mail") and will pick up. That's good for 30 days and to extend the hold go to the USPS web site and just extend the hold for another 30 days and do it again when needed. My post office continues to hold till I pick it up and activate delivery again. Never had a problem but sure have a box full of mail to sort through though.

[ependydad]

Originally Posted by HangDiver

Thought I was going to be on the road for an extended period recently and found this. Have not used them, yet. Others here have more experience and may be more helpful. https://www.sbimailservice.com

I’ve used them for fulltime RVing for 3 years. Great service and friendly folks.

For someone who is just going on a 1-time 3-month trip, it’ll likely not be worth the hassle.

[formerFR]

my post office does not have any limit of 'time' for our PO BOX, but only once did they have a limit of 'space', since the box was already full and they could no longer stick any more 'spam mail' in my box!
(in that one case, they simply placed a notice in my box that my mail could now be picked up at the desk...)

We've gone many months without any issues with the mail continuing to be placed in our box - they post office is not 'holding' our mail, they are just placing it in our box, whether we decide to retrieve or not is on us.

If you don't already have a PO BOX, you can easily get one and have your mail forwarded there, rather than being 'held' for your home's mail box at the street. The larger the box the better, depending on how 'long' you will be gone, and how much mail you 'normally' receive.

I'd bet that our po box has 90 percent spam mail, and even though I've asked the post master not to clutter my box with those items, they say they are bound to since the sender paid for it to be sent. Oh well.