3 Month Trips

[BigJim45]

Will be going on a 3 month trip this summer that includes going to the National in Goshen. My question for those that travel 2,3,4 months at a time, what do you do about your mail at home if you don't have any family close by. The Post Office will only hold for 30 days at a time then you have to start it again but they deliver the first 30 day hold. We don't want to change our address but most mail forwarding companies state that you need to put in a change of address. The Post Office has a mail forwarding but they forward on a weekly basis.

So what do you do???

 

[Dawnnira]

Post office box

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[ram22]

UPS Store


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[danemayer]

USPS Premium Mail Forwarding. It's pricey, and ships weekly, but you get everything.

You do have to know where you're going to be, and allow for delivery delays of a day or two. And if you're using General Delivery, not every post office handles General Delivery any more; you have to check.

When sending stuff to the fairgrounds in Goshen during the North American Rally, keep in mind that the fairgrounds office closes around noon Saturday. So if you're expecting a delivery that's coming on Saturday, the office won't get it until Monday. And at the end of the rally, most people leave on Sunday. I recommend not planning any deliveries for later than Thursday of the rally. That leave a day for possible delays.

 

[BigJim45]

Post office box

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Post Office Box requires changing your address. We don't want to do that.

 

[RoadJunkie]

Jim, we have had friends collect the held mail once a month and ship it to our current “home”, but that turns out to be quite an inconvenience and requires a really accommodating friendship. If that solution isn’t feasible, I would suggest looking for an away-from-home business that would do the identical process without having to inconvenience a friend. Given your vicinity, there are several retirees that may satisfy this niche task. They could also do home-away inspection; flush toilets, fill drain traps, safety checks, etc. Leaving your current home in the harsh desert climate may be quite different than you are familiar with.

 

[CoveredWagon]

Forward it to our daughter. She opens it and lets us know what's what. I have all our regular bills utilities etc directly paid, and the rest electronictly mailed.

 

[Jesstruckn/Jesstalkn]

Will be going on a 3 month trip this summer that includes going to the National in Goshen. My question for those that travel 2,3,4 months at a time, what do you do about your mail at home if you don't have any family close by. The Post Office will only hold for 30 days at a time then you have to start it again but they deliver the first 30 day hold. We don't want to change our address but most mail forwarding companies state that you need to put in a change of address. The Post Office has a mail forwarding but they forward on a weekly basis.

So what do you do???

We have the same issue.
I haven't talked to our post office yet but online says 30day. I think we will have our naighbor get it and tell us if there is anything important. Its mostly junk mail when we pick it up anyway.
I don't want to change our address that's for sure.
I'll keep an eye on this.

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[mlpeloquin]

First I set up all bills to be paid by credit card or checking automatically. Then have a trusted neighbor put the mail, which is in a locked mail box, in a container in my garage using the automatic opener. My son will come by every three weeks or so and check it just in case. Four months of travel last year and no problems. All bills were paid and are still being paid automatically. All I have to do is a bank transfer to the credit card companies to pay them, and the checking account is covered because I am always sent an email letting me know the amount and date the bill will hit. Makes life easy.

We tried the post office thing and it is spotty. If you get a substitute, the mail gets delivered anyway. We tried to have out mail delivered to our son, but two tries and it never happened. So auto bill payment works best.

 

[danemayer]

If you ask the post office to change your address and forward your mail to a commercial mail handler, the post office won't reverse the change and forward it back to a residential address. Instead you must notify everyone you know and everyone you do business with, individually, to update your address. You'll find that even if you've set up most of your business accounts for email, you'll still need to update the address they have on record.

Doing so will create a lot of work for you on the back end.

 

[Alan_B]

We use a commercial mail service, St. Brendan's Isle (SBI). We file a temporary change of address with the Post Office, changing our address to our "address" at SBI.

Each day mail is received at SBI, we get an e-mail letting us know. Then we log into their website and we can see scans of the outside of the mail piece. We can then either 1) hold the item, 2) shred it, or 3) have them open and scan the contents. Every so often we have them box up the held items and send them to us, wherever we are.

I should add that all our bills are converted to on-line statements. So those bills arrive via e-mail rather than US Postal Service mail.

 

[travelin2]

Depends on how friendly your local post office is but our small town postmaster allows us to put a hold on our mail until we return regardless of duration with the stipulation our son who lives in town stops by periodically to pick up the accumulated mail.
It’s 99% junk as everything we can is sent to us electronically, no paper, and we pay utilities, etc the same.


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[kbausano]

We no longer have family in our area, so we’ve handled our mail a couple of ways:

1. We signed up for Informed Delivery Daily Digest on the USPS website. They scan our incoming mail, except sales sheets and magazines, and email us images of the envelopes. They also indicate if we have packages coming that day. This is very helpful!

2. I have opted for email delivery of bills and statements, as well as direct deposit of all checks coming in. I also do all my bill paying online...including my gardener!

3. If we are ordering items (Amazon, eBay, etc.), we will have them shipped to the park where we are staying. If we will be moving frequently, we will use our mail forwarding service address (see #4) and have them forward to wherever we will be ‘next.’

4. We just signed up for a mailbox and mail forwarding with “Your Best Address” in Sioux Falls, SD. They offer discounts for Family Motor Coach Association members, and are extremely helpful. You can choose to have your mail forwarded as often or as seldom as you want. We will use them for extended trips this year. They also have a scanning service and will send your mail to you digitally if you wish.

Hope this helps!!

Happy trails...😁

Deidra

 

[dewwood]

We travel for usually less than two months at a time and this is what has worked for us. We live in a rural area so no close neighbors and no family close by so we have a neighbor from about a mile away stop daily to pick up our mail, feed our cats(outdoor cats) and generally keep an eye on things. She does an excellent job and calls or texts us with any issues or updates. We pay her a few dollars for every day she stops and it is has worked well for us. We do trust her as she enters our home to check on things and flush toilets, run water and generally make sure there are no issues in the home or in our out buildings. I also have other neighbors that will come by randomly to check things as well as the family that I lease my ground to for hunting. This has worked well for us for several years.

 

[Gaffer]

Hey Jim, I would go to a UPS or Postal Connections store and rent a box for 3 months. Have USPS forward everything there. Put some money in a forwarding account with them to send mail to you on request via 2-3 day flat rate priority, this should cost 8-10 bucks each time.
We do this on a permanent basis as we don't even have a mail box at home. Our mail is always secure and we never have to worry about mail or package theft.

 

[superduty08]

We were going to be gone for 6-8 weeks and ask for an extended mail hold at our post office. We had to speak with our post master for approval but she was very cooperative.