Address/mail issues in Illinois

[Queen]

Since I'm a state retiree and my health care is tied to the state, I will have to keep Illinois as my permanent residence (it's a cost thing, the insurance for out of state is way outta my league).  I got really tired of trying to figure out how I can function without an actual address here.  Since IL went Real ID it's harder to get a license than a passport. So, I thought why not ask the state what I'm supposed to do.  LOL  I emailed them with this request the other day, I'll post back up if/when they ever reply.  I imagine if they hold true to form, they will either a) answer a completely different question, or b) tell me to use a family members address, since NO ONE can EVER read and entire letter/post before commenting.  

[font=arial, sans-serif]I am considering putting my belongings in  storage and using a UPS mailbox for my mail so I can travel for a year or two.  Can I use the UPS mailbox to change the address on my truck plates and drivers license?[/font]

[font=arial, sans-serif]I will not be returning to the same apartment when I come back, but will rent elsewhere in Champaign IL.  I do not have any family whose address I can use either.[/font]

[font=arial, sans-serif][font=arial, sans-serif]Should be funny as hell to read[/font][/font]

 

[Queen]

Heard back (sigh):

Thank you for your inquiry.

Unfortunately, you may not use a UPS mailbox for your Illinois address.

If we can be of further assistance, please contact us.


So, I asked this in my reply:


[font=arial, sans-serif]Thank you for the reply.  Can you tell me what options I have if I have for formal address for a while?  It could be as long as two years so I'm not sure what to do about a change of address for my drivers license and registration?[/font]

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

I see Il is one of the few states to have passed a Homeless Bill of Rights.  I wonder if you can leverage that somehow by identifying yourself as a "homeless Il Resident living in her vehicle"?

http://www.chicagohomeless.org/illinois-becomes-2nd-state-to-enact-a-homeless-bill-of-rights/

 

[BobBski]

I never asked that question, just used the UPS address and instead of saying box number I used the term Apt #. You can also use a friends or relatives address for a physical address and still use the UPS address as your mailing address. I still have to go back to Ohio when I need a new DL but tags and registration are done my mail to UPS mailing address.

 

[Queen]

I see Il is one of the few states to have passed a Homeless Bill of Rights.  I wonder if you can leverage that somehow by identifying yourself as a "homeless Il Resident living in her vehicle"?

http://www.chicagohomeless.org/illinois-becomes-2nd-state-to-enact-a-homeless-bill-of-rights/

I used to be a caseworker/clinician for homeless folks, if I'm willing to sign in at a shelter, I can get a letter using it as my address.  Easy on the surface, but it involves entering "the system", they'd have access to my banking info and all sorts of other things... they frown on you using their facilities if you have resources elsewhere.

 

[Queen]

I never asked that question, just used the UPS address and instead of saying box number I used the term Apt #.  You can also use a friends or relatives address for a physical address and still use the UPS address as your mailing address.   I still have to go back to Ohio when I need a new DL but tags and registration are done my mail to UPS mailing address.

Think that's the route we will end up going, but not having a physical address we can use is causing the hitch.  Our closest friends are selling their place and hitting the road, we've no family we're close enough to, and other acquaintances have said they'd rather not.  Guess folks are still ticked at us for not playing by the rules and staying in the system.

 

[ArtW]

or since thy're 'acquaintances' instead of close friends, they're afraid that, if you crash on your nomadic lifestyle, you'll use the fact that you're legally a resident of that address, to show up on their doorstep, bags in hand, saying 'Hi, we're moving in now'
I dunno about Illinois, but in my state that would be a real possibility, and they'd have to go through formal eviction proceedings if they didn't want you as 'roomies'

 

[Queen]

Heard back from the state, guess you just have to move around outside their rules if you want to be nomadic.  Jerks.

Unfortunately, there are no options.  You must have a permanent Illinois address to obtain a driver’s license.

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

Here in NY, I can give them both my physical residence address, and a separate mailing address, and they will send all correspondence to the mailing address.  Nothing like that in Il?  If there were, I would just give them your current residence as my physical and get a mailbox with a mil forwarding service and have them send all your mail there.

 

[Queen]

Here in NY, I can give them both my physical residence address, and a separate mailing address, and they will send all correspondence to the mailing address.  Nothing like that in Il?  If there were, I would just give them your current residence as my physical and get a mailbox with a mil forwarding service and have them send all your mail there.

IL was one of the last to adopt Real ID and like everything else the state does, it goes far overboard.  A friend of mine had used a mail forwarding service for ten years because she's a professor who travels all the time, state said address on DL/vehicle registration much match mortgage/lease/utility bills, so she had to change her license to match it when she renewed.  She wanted to use her office and they said no to that as well.

We'll just not bother changing anything when we go, just to a change of address with the post office and send our mail to the UPS forwarding service.

 

[closeanuf]

In Texas the state wants to know "where you lay your head" (physical address) , but you can have a seperate mailing address.  I have a physical address on my drivers license but the state sends official business to my UPS type mailbox.  I get questioned at the polls when voting but I just tell them what's going on.  There are towns in Texas where there is no home mail delivery and you have to get it at the post office.  I would think Illinois had that situation too.

 

[Queen]

IL does have that situation, but they look it up in their database and will accept a PO Box for mailing to those locations as long as you can provide all the proof of the physical address too, mortgage/lease/insurance docs...

 

[DuneElliot]

As a Wyoming resident I will be going through a similar thing in September but I am not sure that I have to re-provide the info when I renew my license that I did the immediate time after the Real ID laws went into effect.

Buying a firearm here requires a physical address and I was able to use my Brand Card (brand inspection from the state) with a UPS box on it as a "physical address"...I just didn't tell them it was only a mailing address. I didn't have anything that had my real physical address on me at the time. If the address was accepted for buying a firearm I can't imagine it wouldn't be accepted by the state; we only need to have two proofs of residency. I also have friends here who I can probably "borrow" an address from too, at least for licensing.

This year my license is due while I am still living in a S&B house on physical property so I am free and clear for another four years, after that I will have to figure something out. I refuse to give up my Wyoming residency since I love this state so much. I'm hoping I can go the UPS route since I will need to have a mailing box anyway.

 

[Queen]

It seems like if you have family or friends who will let you use their address, and be willing to provide a lease or something, it's much easier.

It all feels very big-brotherish to me and I really don't like it. Hell, my passport, the best ID on the planet, doesn't have my address on it, wish they'd just required those and skipped this real ID nonsense.

 

[SolarSoda]

I am truly sorry to hear you have to go through all this nonsense. I agree, it sounds very Big Brotherish to me too. In fact, it sounds downright illegal, like unconstitutional. I'd be curious to know if someone is right now preparing a class action lawsuit against the state of IL for that reason. I'm no lawyer but it doesn't seem right that any state - or city, or even the federal government - should be able to exert that much control over where your physical person can go based on an address. I never thought I'd say this but, I'm actually kind of glad I live in Florida after hearing all that!!! : / 

The problem I'm running into is getting the people I do business with to accept our UPS Store address as an "acceptable" address! There has been more than one instance where I go to change the address online and I keep getting error messages, saying something to the effect of "please use a physical address". And I keep seeing UPS touting "a real physical address" in all their advertising, lol. Ugh, why, what am I doing wrong.

 

[Queen]

Seems almost like a coordinated effort to keep us all in a sticks and bricks, buying and working, and buying some more.

 

[jimindenver]

Queen

I am doing the UPS thing in Colorado but I haven't put it to the test yet. We use to have boarding houses there and rooms for rent cheap. Considering what it is costing me for storage and the P.O. box a month, it might have been cheaper.

 

[Queen]

Queen

I am doing the UPS thing in Colorado but I haven't put it to the test yet. We use to have boarding houses there and rooms for rent cheap. Considering what it is costing me for storage and the P.O. box a month, it might have been cheaper.

We used to have those here, that would be my first best choice, but now it's around $425 a month for the cheapest efficiency in town.  We've been thing, like you regarding storage, we could just pick one of the smaller farm towns nearby and see about renting a tiny place there, and just store everything that way.  Problem solved.

 

[closeanuf]

I've been using a UPS type mailbox for about 14 years.  I have a:  street address
                                                                                                      Ste ###  PMB###
                                                                                                      City, state,zip

 when I run into a website that doesn't like that format I will put:     street address #(ste number only) #(box number only) on the address line.   I guess it seems more like an apartment type address.  I don't live in a apartment but I they have to get around the building number and unit number somehow.

This has worked for me just thought I'd throw it out there.