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Old 04-29-2007, 12:16 PM   #1
Wannabe Full-timer
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Temporarily forwarding mail to one post office

We will be staying in one campground for probably most of the summer (mid May-September), in our home state and not really that far from where our stick house is, but we would prefer not to HAVE to return to our home just to pick up mail and we sure don't want to let it pile up in the mail box as we do receive quite a bit (most junk of course). We don't want to ask someone else to pick it up all the time. We don't want to have it held at our local post office as that is even farther for us to drive from the campground than to our home, so we would be better off just stopping by our house. We will want to stop by our house periodically but we don't want to HAVE to do it a couple times a week just to pick up mail. (I don't want to change all our bills over to electronic bills/payments either.)

Anyway, I did a search on the forum here and read that you can have "temporary change of address mail forwarding from the USPS". Now, will that notify everyone you receive your bills from that you have changed your address and/or will they be contacting you regarding this??? We don't want that to happen since we will just temporarily be staying in our RV and it will just be more convenient for us to get our mail there.

The next question I have is if we did do the "temporary change of address mail forwarding from the USPS", on average how long does it take to receive your mail? We would be in a campground only two counties away from where we live, only about an hour from one post office to another.

Thanks so much.
 
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Old 04-29-2007, 12:44 PM   #2
rldriver
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Get all the information you need at your local post office or go here

http://www.usps.com/receive/premiumf...miumforwarding

Have not tried it yet but looks good to me, enrollment fee is just $10.00, plus $10.40 for each weekly Priority Mail shipment.
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Old 04-29-2007, 01:00 PM   #3
ols1932
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USPS will forward your mail to another address that you put on the form you have to fill out at the post office. However, this does not notify those who communicate with you that you are at the new address. As far as how long it will take, that remains up to the postal service. You have to know that the USPS delivers first-class mail in 7-10 days so I would imagine that it could be another 7-10 days before you get forwarded mail.

Orv
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Old 04-29-2007, 01:02 PM   #4
richfaa
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We did the temp change of address via the USPS this winter. We filled out all the forms exactly as we were told to and it was a total disaster. We wound up having our address permanently changed twice. Credit agencies lowered our credit rating because "we changed addresses to often" We still have not been able to have all our mail changed back to our home address.When I went to the local post office to ask how this happened they said..you did not fill out the forms correctly despite the fact that I did exactly what they told me to do.. We will not let the USPS do anything to our mail ever again...don't know what we will do..but the USPS will not be doing it////
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Old 04-29-2007, 01:37 PM   #5
vabluebird
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Our Stick house is in VA and that's where we spend most of our time in the summer. Most of our kids live here. When we go to Fl for the winter months, (they accept mail at the park) I go to the post office and make out a simple tempory change of address form. The main postal anex then puts an address lable with our FL address on it and sends it off to FLA. I also give them a stop date and ask them to hold the mail for a few days till we get home.

This past Dec. we changed from VA to FL residents. This will save us a lot of money on personal property taxes and no state income taxes. To do this we had to have a post office box in the town where the camp ground is. Now, any mail I get in FLA is being transfered here to VA the same way. The people sending me the mail in the first place, have no idea their mail is being forwarded to us.

It has worked for two years for us. If we go on a trip during the summer, they are very good about holding our mail till we return. This has never cost us any money.
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Old 04-29-2007, 02:31 PM   #6
Mrs. CountryGuy
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Heads up, some financial institutions do not allow the mail to be forwarded, but instruct the USPS to return it to them. You might find you have to deal directly with your financial institution and follow their temporary address rules.
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Old 04-29-2007, 02:44 PM   #7
vabluebird
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Carol,
I guess we got lucky. All my financial statements were forewarded
to us. We have tried to make it simpler by opening CD's in the area we are in and doing business with SunTrust BAnk which has banks from VA to FLA. When traveling north we use our ATM card to get cash and bit the bullet when it comes to paying $2 at the ATM we are not associated with. I also get my statements online when I can and avoid the statement in the mail. If my computer decides to fail, I always have the local library.

During Tax time we will be in FLA and they have the FLA Post Office Box address. This helps. This past tax time we filed on line and had the rebate check deposited to our checking account. It worked this time. I know for some it was a nightmare. Hackers took their money.
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Old 04-29-2007, 04:52 PM   #8
illapah
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We used the usps temporary forwarding system last year. worked great. Go to your local PO or do it online. I was told by my local USPS office that if you go in person it is free, the online route is for fee.
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Old 04-30-2007, 02:08 AM   #9
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After reading everything I could on this forum and particularly since we are going to be within an hour of our home from the campground and will need to come home periodically to mow lawn, check on the house, (and I could even do laundry some of the times when I come home instead of going to the laundry mat), etc., we think we may just pick up our mail at our home and leave things just the way they are. Kind of worried about the mess ups that could potentially happen.

Do you think it will be a problem having 5-6 days of mail sitting in our mailbox??? We do not want to hold it at the post office as that would even make it more inconvenient for us as it is even further away from where we live and travel. We could get someone to perhaps pick it up maybe in the middle of the week if need be so there would only be a couple day's worth of mail laying in the box instead of 5 or 6 but we really don't wan to do that but could.

Thanks for all your great info!
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Old 04-30-2007, 03:35 AM   #10
ols1932
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Accumulated mail can be an invitation to unwanted visitors.

Orv
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Old 04-30-2007, 03:39 AM   #11
DonandJudy_12
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Our friends have their kids forward their mail. You can have it sent general delivery to the post office you are near. Since we are full-time we use a mail service, they sort out the junk mail. I don't know if they have a 6 month agreement, but if you are interested send a PM and I will give you their address, website and phone. Of course, we do pay for the service. Judy
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Old 04-30-2007, 03:48 AM   #12
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We don't get an daily newspapers, just free newspapers on the weekend. Otherwise, I think it would be technically illegal if people were opening and looking in our mailbox (not saying they couldn't or wouldn't, but.... ) As I mentioned, there probably wouldn't be more than a couple days of mail accumulated if we had my Dad pick it up (and knowing him he would do it without us even asking anyway) I think it would bee difficult for anyone to know if someone had a couple days worth of mail accumulated in their mailbox or just one day with the amount of mail that some people get anymore.

Rather than forwarding, it will just be easier for us, in our particular case, to just come home periodically and check on things and pick up our mail we think. We will try it out first and see how it goes. Will need to come home and pick up wood for the campfire, mow line and I can do laundry and water a couple huge plants I can't take with me!
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Old 04-30-2007, 07:29 AM   #13
5ER
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We also have a mailing service that we use as required but it costs. I thought that the Post Office could stop delivering and you would pick it up there when needed?
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Old 04-30-2007, 01:07 PM   #14
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It is just too inconvenient for us to pick up our mail at our own local post office with our working as we work in one town and the post office is in another town and we will be staying yet in another town. We rarely even go to the town where our post office is and it is out of our way to do so. Also, we would only be able to then pick up our mail on Saturday, up until noon when they are open, so that would make it where we would HAVE to go on Saturdays and we like to have more flexibility.

We have decided against the temporary mail forwarding thing as it sounds like some people have had horrible experiences (while others have not) and it is not worth it to us to take the chance of a bad experience (would just be OUR luck - lol) when we will be close enough to drive home to check on things and get mail anyway.
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Old 04-30-2007, 02:00 PM   #15
richfaa
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We did have a horrible experience but let me expand on that a bit. the online forms and the forms that you fill out at the post office have NO provision for Rv' ers wintering and perhaps staying at two or three C.G's over a period of 3 or 4 months. We are told there IS a way to have your mail forwarded when wintering but thus far no one at our local office or any other post offive knows how that is done...
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Old 04-30-2007, 02:11 PM   #16
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Yeah, and that is the scary part (they should know). That is really too bad and what a mess it has caused you and Helen. I figure it is not worth the trouble for us. It would be different if we were going to be further away. We would just use some other service but we don't feel it is necessary in our type of case. I will just come home periodically and do laundry, pick up mail, pay bills, and do things around the house or else husband will when he needs to mow lawn and/or pick up more campfire wood. We can take turns if need be.
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Old 05-09-2007, 09:49 AM   #17
rrheik
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We are getting ready for our four month summer trip. We had friend forward mail from Dec thru Apr. which worked out with the exception of certified mail. My father passed away end of Novembeer, and I had a few pieces of registered and certified mail that was flowing back and forth, and the UPSP wouldn't turn it over to my neighbor for forwarding until I could assign her as my agent, which I was glad the UPSP doesn't hand out our mail to just anybody. Last summer I had my mail forwarded by UPSP, but we moved around a lot so it got complicated. Since I am a member of Escapees, I am going to try their mail forwarding this summer. So far it works great.
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Old 05-09-2007, 10:06 AM   #18
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I just contacted our local post office and I really probably shouldn't say too much but I believe we may have worked something out that will work for us.
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Old 05-09-2007, 01:55 PM   #19
Lije Baley
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Mum's the word, eh?

Although it may not affect you, the accumulated mail, even if it is not enough to invite burglars, can be a treasure trove if the right mail falls into the hands of identity thieves. I'm glad to know it probably won't be a problem.
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Old 10-30-2007, 12:22 PM   #20
stuart01
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Hi! We have used the pilot USPS Premium Forwarding Service on two approximately 8 week trips (from Maryland to Seattle area and from Maryland to Florida). It worked great! We plan to use it again on our trip to Florida in Jan-Feb.

We live in a small town but they were able to set it up with no problems. They sent all of the mail each week (each Wednesday?)via priority mail and we received it in 2-3 days. On the Seattle trip, we used several post offices: picked up our mail in Ohio, Minnesota, several places in Washington state, etc. We did find that forwarding mail for pick up via general delivery at the smaller post offices in the Northwest could run a day or two over the expected 2 days so do recommend some flexibility in that regard. When that occurred, they delivered the mail to a post office further along our route at no extra charge.

As mentioned, cost is not cheap but is reasonable (enrollment $10, weekly $10.40). The USPS folks were quite helpful and using this approach avoids the problem that your temporary change in address will be interpreted as a permanent move re credit cards, etc.

Tim Stuart
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