U S Mail

[hazmic]

Soon those of us that are long timers and those that are full timers,I have HEARD that the US mail service is going to change. What I have heard that they will no longer forward 1st class mail after 60 days and that 3-Th class will be helded for 1 week and destroyed. I have NOT been able to get any answers about this and has any one else heard anything? I realize that this time it is rummer but if something is coming down I would like to get it taking care of before going south.

[Art-n-Marge]

Yes, I heard that kind of stuff on the last rate hike recently. It was all over the news, that their service is getting costlier while they reduce what they provide.

I have learned to limit our reliance on the U.S.Mail but it's that one time you need it that will be a problem.

I can't imagine what you full-timers with no stick house are gonna run into over time. My hat's off to you for figuring this out.

[Waynem]

I'm not full timing so when I'm on the road I pay them $11 a week to bundle all my mail up and send it to whatever address I have provided them. I can walk into any post office and update the service, although I usually only have a few addresses to send to.

[mail2us]

Go to www.usps.com and look up Postal Bulletin(s) or do a search once on usps.com for Postal Bulletin. It's an official publication that usually spells out changes in policy or changes such as upcoming mail forwarding procedures. For years, many, forwarding was/is free. The postal service like other services is examining the entire process of handling forwardable mail. Shame on them for thinking like others!!!

[ols1932]

When you have a mail service like we do, Escapees Mail Service, there is never a problem with mail being forwarded to us. We get it when we ask for it. If I ask for mail to be sent out on Friday, we usually receive it by Monday or Tuesday. The USPS policy does not and will not affect us.

Orv

[Al B]

Waynem,

I'm curious about how the USPS handles your mail when you move from place to place. I knew you could pay them to forward it once a week, but didn't realize you could have it sent to various places. It sounds like you would have to keep updating where you are.
Would appreciate any info you have on this.

Thanks,
Al

[richfaa]

Was at the local P.O Office friday to put a hold of mail for a couple of weeks. The only actual change they told me about was that you can no longer do a temporary or permanent change of address at he post office but must do it online.. I looked at the online form for a temp change of address and it is much improved over the last on line form as will be no problem.

check this http://www.usps.com/all/optionsforre...il/welcome.htm

We have been using the USPS for forwarding for 3 years and no problems... IF.... you completely understanding the procedures and follow the instructions correctly. It appears that many things will be now done on line much like every other organization.


Also here for the postal bulletin

http://www.usps.com/all/optionsforre...il/welcome.htm

[ols1932]

What Rich says is correct IF you are going to be situated in one spot for a period of time. However, if you're like us (except for last year when I was recovering from back surgery), you're moving all the time. Then the USPS forwarding service doesn't work well.

Orv

[Waynem]

Al,
Orv is correct. If you are moving, it's not very feasible. We have relatives that we visit so we just make the change when we get to where we will be. Example: If we know we will be at my son's house for a couple weeks, and it takes a couple weeks for us to get there, we forward it to his address until we are ready to leave. Then, We forward to my brother's house. Each of them can open the priority box and tell us what the envelopes are. If it is something that is important the can open it and read it to us, scan it in if necessary and email it to us. If you are expecting important papers then it is not really a good way to go, and some of the other mail services would be a better method. So far, with the short 3 month travels we do, USPS has worked for us. It was $11.95 a week and now it is up to $13.95. I'm not sure I will continue to use it if the prices keep going up. I wonder what they think they will accomplish when the raise the prices and lower the demand.

[richfaa]

ORV is correct .You can have the mail forwarded if you move from place to place. We did it the first year out and spent 6 weeks in Lake Havasu city and 6 weeks in Apahe Junction. It would be very, very difficult to do it if you moved frequently and for short periods of time. You can find the procedure to do that in one of the links I provided above. We also belong to Escapees and would use their mail forwarding if we moved around a lot. On our wintering trips the USPS service works well. We do a hold mail for short trips like the G.L rally and the after the rally rally (about two weeks) you can do that for 30 days and if you have a friendly Post office a bit more. Of course we have a stick house for a address. will do a temp change to our Florida address and in the 4 days it takes to get there the mail will be there.
Actually the majority of the "mistakes" that occur in change of address or temp change is on the part of the consumer that did not pay attention to detail and fouled up the paperwork. (don't ask how I know that)

[Art-n-Marge]

LOL RichFaa, we don't have to ask how you know that mistakes can occur. I guess Helen didn't save your rump that time.

I always wondered how you full-timers got mail moving around like you do, but between all the posts in this topic I am beginning to figure it out. I think in spite of the problems, it is all very clever between Escapees, Mail forwarding, yada, yada, yada... there is a way.

I hope the internet makes some things easier, but I don't expect snail mail will every truly go away.

[sreigle]

This is probably more of a problem for longtimers who need to have their mail forwarded part of the year but still come to the stick home the rest of the year.

Most of us fulltimers use a mail forwarding service, non-government. Our forwarding service provides us with our legal residency address in South Dakota. Our mail always goes there first, then they forward our mail when and where we tell them to send it. So our concern with the postal service is getting our mail to our legal address and, of course, the postal service's cost to send our mail package. The prices have gone up enough we told our service to send our package First Class and use Priority Mail only when the package weight exceeds the allowable weight for First Class. We're finding First Class is considerably cheaper and arrives the same day of the week the Priority Mail does.

We do occasionally order something by phone or online and have it shipped directly to the rv park we are in, if we will be there long enough. That saves the forwarding costs. We do this only when we're sure the package/mail will arrive before we leave the area.

[simonsrf]

Six months before becoming fulltimers, we purchased a mailing address at the local UPS store. It is expensive, but it keeps our residency in our state of choice. By purchasing this mailbox early, we were able to change our mailing address BEFORE we left the other permanent address. Then we had several months of mail-forwarding that also made it possible for us to find more address changes.

The address looks just like an apartment address and there is never any problems with deliveries.

When we need our mail forwarded, we call or email the UPS store and they charge us for the freight, but send it and usually, we have it in about 3 days via UPS or longer if they ship it the cheaper way, USPS. They always ask us about the urgency before sending so they can save us the money.

We are very satisified with this setup.

[sreigle]

Robbie, there are several choices and you pointed out another one. As for delivery, we usually have our shipped on Monday and it arrives on Wednesday 98% of the time, Thursday the rest of the time. Texas seems to take that extra day for some reason. Just a note to point out that two days seems to be the norm for our method. I'm expecting my Dodge recall notice today along with the South Dakota letter excusing me from jury duty!

[simonsrf]

quote:Originally posted by sreigle..... I'm expecting my Dodge recall notice today along with the South Dakota letter excusing me from jury duty!

Let me know how that works out for ya, still got that swamp land for sale.

[sreigle]

Robbie, yesterday's mail did not have a Dodge recall notice. The online system says mine is included, though.

I got the jury duty exemption letter and filed it for safe keeping. I think it's just for this one time, though. It was so easy, I just followed the instructions and wrote on the back of the questionnaire "fulltime rv'er" then dated and signed it, per instruction. Yesterday I got the exemption letter. And I didn't have to fill out the questionnaire, either. As I've said many times before, South Dakota is very rv'er friendly. Even the people in the courthouse, etc. They deal with so many they know exactly how to handle things.

[Glenn and Lorraine]

We have a great system for our mail. Lorraine's niece lives in Clearwater Florida. Not so coincidentally we chose Florida as our home state. 24/7/365 Lorraine's niece's home address is also our mailing address. As he lives just a couple miles from our RV park, during the winter Sno-Bird months we pay her a visit about once a week and pick up our mail. When we are on the road, she receives our mail and keeps Lorraine informed of what is there. If it's something important we have her mail it to us at whatever location we will be at for a week or more. Usually we use General Delivery to which ever PO is the closest to our location. Been working for us since October 2003.

[Art-n-Marge]

Well Robbie, your swamp land might be for sale for a little bit longer.

Steve has this mail thing pretty much wired correctly but does require a service. Glenn's method works because he has a relative acting as his forwarding service. Others have very good ideas that work for them as well. I suppose I could even find more ideas if I ever get the patience to peruse the USPS website. This has been very eye-opening.

In the meantime, since I doubt I'll ever be able to longtime/fulltime, if your swampland is in the southern California desert, I might be interested.

[hazmic]

Thanks everyone for their input on this subject and we also have some options that we can pursue. I also wish they would it alone. The say they need the money but yet was sponsoring Armstrong. Just dose not add up. Thanks again for the input.

[bigmurf]

Sponsoring Armstrong? Your a couple of years behind on the teams. JMHO

Now spending several millions on George C Scott to try to tell us they were NOT a government agency was a real joke.