Traveling with mail delivery?

[Mickey Bitsko]

A question for snow birds,
I'll be spending 6+/- months at a time, winter and summer homes.
How do I do you deal with mail delivery?

 

[Alley-Kat]

Six months at a time may be easier than those that are full time RV'ers, depending on the amount of mail you get and want.

Go paperless for all your bills and payments, if you can. Paying on-line is pretty neat through my credit union (banks do it too). I did that a few years ago and it is a great way to pay the important recurring bills (cell phone, credit card, insurance - life, auto and medical). If at all possible I put all other costs on a credit card and can get cash at an ATM when I want to. It's a freedom I never imagined before.

Here's how some RV'ers get their mail in a handy guide. Some of it may apply to your situation.

I'm not sure how medicare, the supplemental insurance and the Part D prescription programs work when changing residence locations. I thought that the rates are tied to the residence location (health statistics based on location) and how changing the residence location works for either someone like yourself (6 months here, 6 months there) and how it works for full time RV'ers. Still figuring that part all out.

 

[Advmoto18]

I've used USPS General Delivery for mail forwarding. Just be sure to use a small town Post Office away from major urban areas. Big city General Delivery usually goes to the main PO down town which could be a royal PITA to travel too/park with one's truck/camper rig.

The down side to USPS. The agency will only forward mail for 30 days. As such, I usually cancel before the 30 day deadline and reestablish a new forwarding address to General Delivery.

Typically I setup mail forwarding to General Delivery for a 7-10 day period to a PO along my tentative route. I will setup a new PO before arriving at the previous forwarding to PO. That way, there is generally not a lapse in forwarding. Further, with 7-10 days to bounce around between POs, I'm not locked into a travel itinerary and can easily deviate along my general direction of travel.

It's not pain free or 100% reliable, but, the best I've found without paying a third party company a premium to forward mail.

I have opted out of all the junk mail and solicitations I possibly can. You don't want unsolicited credit card offers with your name and address sitting around POs across the country. Best not to have any important paperwork going through the forwarding process to General Delivery.

On a side note...

All of my banking, insurance, investing/brokerage is done paperless, online. These items are my biggest concern and paperless is definitely the way to go. You don't want statements sitting around in some PO. Individuals bent on fraud, while not able to hack an account simply from a statement, can eventually data mine to the point they may be able to hack a financial account. Why it's imperative to use robust online security and at a minimum, two step authentication to access these accounts.

 

[larryqp]

We've been full-time RVers for over 20 years, we tow our FWC Eagle behind our motorhome. We have one legal domicile, which is the Escapees mail service in Livingston, TX. We have our drivers lic, vehicle registration, voter registration, insurance etc with that as our address. We have gone paperless on all bills etc, but some stuff still has to come by mail. When we want our mail we email the Escapees man service, tell them when and where to send our mail. We don't change our residence or domicile, its always the Livingston address on every form we fill out just like people who live in sticks and bricks.

 

[Mickey Bitsko]

Thanks for the replies,
For now USPS forwarding.
We have a third option, my niece can mail for a month in between forwards.
Two small town post offices with in 5 miles.

 

[craig333]

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Don't ask me what all that means. I'm a few years away yet.