Mail forwarding when you keep moving?

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herekittykitty

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Oct 26, 2013
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Birch Bay, WA
Haven't seen an answer to this one yet. My DH doesn't think he will want to stay in one place more than a few days at a time, at least for the first year or two (we haven't started fulltiming yet).

I think he'll change his mind once he adds up how expensive that gets, but I digress ;D.

If we do end up moving, say, twice a week, how DO we get our stuff forwarded? I already rely heavily on Amazon, et. al. for lots of supplements, even food, and other necessities.

The only thing I can think of is that you really have to plan ahead, and hope your choices are places you actually want to stay a few days once you get there? Also, to make sure that either the park will accept mail even if you're not staying a full month, OR that the closest PO will accept General Delivery?

Do I have it right, or are there other tricks I haven't thought of?

And how does General Delivery work? Will those that accept it just take anything that comes General Delivery and hold it for a specified period of time, or do you need to show up and register, or something?

Also, having lived in the boonies for years, I developed a habit for having things that I didn't know how the vendor was going to ship, when they require a street address, sent to my name but using the actual street address of the PO, with my box number after that, because FedEx and UPS will deliver to the post office that way. (We have no mail delivery to our home, but I have in the past given out my street address as required, only to have the vendor send things via USPS! Idiots.) But I do not know if this trick will work when things are being sent to General Delivery.

I understand the broad outlines of mail forwarding, but am wondering whether anybody has experience with the fine details of how to get packages, especially, when you're constantly on the move.
 
Since you rely on Amazon, Amazon Prime will be a big help in getting you packages in 2 days.  Most campgrounds will accept UPS and FedEx deliveries and mail too, but always ask to be sure.  Some won't accept mail and ask that you use General Delivery.  They will know which of the local post offices accept GD.  A post office that accepts GD will hold the mail for you until you pick it up, no registration is needed.  Just have ID ready when you go in.
 
We have our mail delivered to General Delivery several times.  You don't have to register ahead or anything like that.  Make sure that you have the proper Post Office for the delivery.  Use Google to search for (example):
usps general delivery nashville, tn This will bring up a page from the postal system that gives:
901 BROADWAY
NASHVILLE, TN 37202-4105



So address you mail to:
Your Name
General Delivery
Nashville, TN 37202-4105


I used Nashville as an example because last year we sent to Nashville General Delivery from a non-USPS website and had another zip code.  It took a couple of days to get the mail and it was at the one shown above. 
Times that we know that we will be in a certain town in about a week or so we have our mail sent to General Delivery at that town for pickup.  They will keep the mail for about 30 days before returning it to the sender's return address.
 
We have been Escapees since Day 1, three and a half years ago. By and large, that solves the snail mail problem, and some smallish packages, there is a fee, and you can learn how to easily have it hit your next destination with a simple online mail request at Escapees.

For packages, that gets a little expensive to have them move again, so we try to be one campground ahead. Yes, we have missed one or two, but if you catch the carriers in time, they will reroute. It's important in that case to have tracking.

We order prescriptions, special cat food, OTC drugs, and Amazon whatever and never lost anything. General Delivery is a good fallback, and we have even had them do a change of address when GD was late.

One of the challenges in this lifestyle is your ability to find more than one way to skin a cat. Seldom is one way the only way. If you are going to move twice a week, you will need to be light on your feet with your ordering and think ahead.

You will soon find mail forwarding to be a skill and not a show stopper.  8)
 
I seriously doubt you will want to move every few days - that gets old in a hurry. Besides, RVing is supposed to be a slower-paced lifestyle!  But in any case, plan on making some stops that are long enough to let mail & packages arrive and plan ahead. A mail forwarding service is a good way to collect snail mail periodically, but packages are better sent direct to a pre-planned stop. General Delivery works well too, but some shippers won't or can't ship to General Delivery addresses, e.g. those that use UPS or Fedex for delivery.

You will also want to re-arrange your business so that you are not dependent on snail mail for much of anything. These days you can arrange to get just about all important communications electronically, and pay your bills and such the same way.
 
We have had packages delivered to places we'll be in the future. Call ahead and confirm they'll hold a package, make your reservation for whatever day(s) you'll be there and place your orders. The package may well arrive a day or days ahead of you and be waiting when you get there.

Also, if you're package is sent first class mail, and perhaps you've missed it and moved on, the USPS will forward it for free. Just have the old campground write the new address on the package and give it back to the letter carrier.

Ken
 
If you know where you will be in 2 or 3 business days.....

For general mail I use a 3rd party post office box.. Like a UPS store or "America's Address" or in my case Postal Depot. these are stores that rent post office boxes, and they act as "Store and forward" services.  Now in my case I usually park for 1-2 weeks but they really need only a few days.

So pick a spot where you know you are going to be in 4 days.. Call the store & forward place and they will priority mail it to general delivery the post office you are going to be near.

I go pick up my mail monday.

For "Hot shipments" (Well really refrigerated shipments) I have it sent direct to the park.... Picked it up about a half hour ago.

So far this method has only failed me twice.. Had one park refuse a shipment so I neded up haveing to pay double.. Strange things the shipment was 2 boxes.. I got one, they refused the other.

And one shipment where the shipper sent it to BILLING instead of the SHIPPING address. cost me 35 bucks as that one was a hot shipment.. I had it ups-ed 2 day to the UPS store near me and picked it up for 30 shipping and 5 dollar pick up fee..  They too "lost" the shipment,  but found it before I could get out of the parking lot.
 
Thank you all so much. Great information from everyone and I'm going to bookmark this thread for the future.

[quote author=yolo]
I used Nashville as an example because last year we sent to Nashville General Delivery from a non-USPS website and had another zip code. [/quote]
Thanks very much for the detailed example! I was thinking this because of Amazon Prime. 2-day delivery is great...when you have a street address to send to. It sounds like I could actually combine General Delivery with Amazon Prime this way. All I'd have to do is include the street address of the PO on the third line and I think their system would accept it.

[quote author=skyking4ar2]
General Delivery is a good fallback, and we have even had them do a change of address when GD was late.[/quote]
That's great to hear!

[quote author=skyking4ar2]One of the challenges in this lifestyle is your ability to find more than one way to skin a cat.[/quote]
Aargh! No! No skinned kitties!

[quote author=skyking4ar2]Seldom is one way the only way. If you are going to move twice a week, you will need to be light on your feet with your ordering and think ahead. You will soon find mail forwarding to be a skill and not a show stopper.  8)
[/quote]
That's what I was really hoping to hear. My one big strength in life is planning, but even that doesn't help if other parties/entities haven't read my script and won't play their assigned parts. :)

[quote author=Gary RV Roamer]
I seriously doubt you will want to move every few days - that gets old in a hurry.[/quote]
Yeah, I already know that what he thinks he wants now and what he'll actually want once we're on the road are two different things. Wives often know their DHs better than they know themselves. Our job description :)

[quote author=Gary RV Roamer]
You will also want to re-arrange your business so that you are not dependent on snail mail for much of anything.[/quote]
That's already the case. It's actually the packages I'm more concerned about, and not interested in paying extra for a mail-forwarding company to do something I can do myself with some good advance planning. We will still have one for snail mail, but that's mostly junk these days.

[quote author=John From Detroit]
So far this method has only failed me twice.. Had one park refuse a shipment so I neded up haveing to pay double.. Strange things the shipment was 2 boxes.. I got one, they refused the other.[/quote]
See, things like this are the stuff of my nightmares.
Am also hoping I will become a little more...resourceful and nimble on my feet once we're on the road FT.
Do you know why they refused the second? Weren't you still there?

[quote author=John From Detroit]And one shipment where the shipper sent it to BILLING instead of the SHIPPING address. cost me 35 bucks as that one was a hot shipment.[/quote]
But why was that your responsibility, since the shipper sent it to the wrong address? Did you pay in the interest of just getting the shipment before it spoiled and being done with it?
 
As Gary pointed out, moving every few days does get tiresome.  Even we who are hyperactive need to stop every now and then for a week just to catch up with doing mail, clothes, food, and any other necessities where we just need to stop and do them.  Also, keep in mind you will no doubt be making visits to family, attending rallies (hopefully with the RV Forum!), attending other events like reunions, stopping for vehicle maintenance, and such.  Those usually are longer stays and by planning ahead you can make them mail stops as well.  Actually that's how we met one of our RV Forum couples the first time.  They lived in Fairbanks and after a month on the road we really needed to have some mail shipped and they kindly agreed to be our mail stop.  It was the start of a delightful friendship that continues to this day.

Your first year might be relatively constant travel but as time goes on you'll undoubtedly slow down.  I say this based on the many fulltimers we've known through the years on this forum.  Even those who keep on the move eventually stay a week here and a week there on a more frequent basis.

ArdraF
 
We tend to be travelers but as Ardra said we stop and do things.  I am planning a trip to the east coast this spring.  We will travel either 3 or 4 days and stop for 2 or 3.  After a few more days, we will stop for about a week.  Then off again for a few days then stay for at least a week.  Travel for a few then stop for a week or so and then turn for home.  It will probably take us 10 to 20 days to get home from our last stop in TN as we will be in new territory for us and we will take in a few of the sights.

We have hard dates in VA but everything else is subject to change as we go!
 
    Have been full timing for quite a few years now - and have used a UPS Store for the last 8 or so. When I want my mail I give them a call and they send it at whatever speed I need at the time. Sometimes I call and have them tell me what's in my box, what to toss, and what to send. Standard Ground gets if to me a couple of days.
 
  We've been using a UPS Store for mail-forwarding for several years and it's worked fine. Either we're in one park for a while and we have a mail packet routinely sent every couple of weeks or when we're on the move they'll save up the mail and send a packet when we call. If need be they can send the packet overnight or at most two-day and whether it's sent UPS or US Mail can be specified.

  Amazon can be difficult. Prime will get you usually fast delivery but the delivery date isn't guaranteed, it's just expected. One caveat is that ordinary Prime shipping is often via FedEx Smartpost in which final delivery is made by USPS. The gotcha is that if for some reason USPS can't deliver the package to the CG they'll just leave a note telling the recipient to pick the package up at the post office, which doesn't do much good when the post office is in East BFE miles away. The only way to avoid Smartpost is to pay for expedited shipping which assures FedEx or UPS delivery but they won't deliver to a PO Box.
  So what we've done is that when we'll be in one CG a week or more is to first of all verify that the office will accept packages and then order Amazon stuff all at once. This will also save you money.  ;)

 
Hi Bruce from your neighbor in FL.

  That mail service (although I have never used it and never need to anymore) was intriguing to me.
Very professional sounding and well thought out (good business plan in place). Longevity in business proves that. 
Thanks for a bright spot now-a-days.


 
carson said:
Hi Bruce from your neighbor in FL.

  That mail service (although I have never used it and never need to anymore) was intriguing to me.
Very professional sounding and well thought out (good business plan in place). Longevity in business proves that. 
Thanks for a bright spot now-a-days.

And they are really nice people too.
 
we just signed up with a company called www.pouchly.com and the service is free for the first few months. Looks to be the cheapest out there. The scan and email your mail and I think offer forwarding services although I haven't used them for that long yet!
 
kennyMiller said:
we just signed up with a company called www.pouchly.com and the service is free for the first few months. Looks to be the cheapest out there. The scan and email your mail and I think offer forwarding services although I haven't used them for that long yet!

Looks like a great thing. I NEVER need my paper mail, only packages. They can just send me PDFs for the paper.

Only problem is their address is in Georgia. Doesn't work if your domicile is in SD, TX, or FL.
 
Don't know too much about mail forwarding but have gotten a lot of info from your post. What I would like to comment on is moving every few days .It gets old real fast . We spent 6 months last year touring the western US and the most we stayed anywhere was for a week and that was only for a couple of times ,mostly 1 to 3 nights.After being on the road for a few weeks we sure looked forward to those week long stays . We have both decided that when  we  do it again we will plan to enjoy a lot fewer places and spend at least a week or two in each place,a lot more relaxing that way......Alan
 
Hi herekittykitty,

It doesn't matter where your domicile is as you just have your mail forwarded to Pouchly (or change your address with anyone who sends you mail) and they scan it and email it to you. Our bank required a US address for our statements and since we just sold our house, we signed up for the service. I just looked at their website and they do offer package forwarding but I use amazon prime.
 
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