Change of address caveat to mail forwarders?

[user 423]

I was just online at the USPS website to do a COA to an Arizona mail service. Before I submitted my info I saw this notice:

You are changing your address from a residential address to a business address. Our address database has recognized your new address as a business or organization (e.g., corporations,etc), and we will forward your mail as requested.

Please note that the USPS policy does not allow individual or family movers to forward mail from a business/organization address.

This means if you change your address again in the future, the business/organization will be responsible for forwarding your mail.

This seems to mean that if I ever want to go back to sticks & bricks, I will always have to keep paying for this mail forwarding service.

Any input appreciated.

 

[bullfrog]

Escapees mail service I believe is listed as a private address, so you might take a look at them.

 

[maki2]

Sometimes you need to think about the inconvenience and extra cost your life style is causing to a business and be willing make and pay for the extra cost involved.

 

[MrNoodly]

I changed mail forwarders last year. The one I was quitting sent me a bunch of info about closing the account. Their license/permit/whatever to be a legal mail forwarder requires them to abide by certain USPS regulations, including how to handle the closing of accounts and changes of address. It was not a big deal, everything went smoothly. But besides what they did, I directly notified Social Security, my bank, insurance company, and my cell carrier of my new address.

 

[Tony's Dream]

This is my stock and trade! I am the postmaster at a small post office. The law states that you can not forward your mail from a business because some of the mail may actually be business mail for the company and they don't want their business mail forwarded. The idea is that the business is responsible for determining what is actually business mail for their company and what is personal. If they decide it's personal, they must manually endorse the mail piece with your new address. Most businesses will not do that for very long, unless you were part of the senior work structure. At some point they will just refuse it and return it to sender.

What you need to find out is what is the policy on forwarding your mail when you leave this mail service company. If they will forward it for you, they may charge you a fee. So check with them.

 

[wayne49]

Good that you found about this ahead of time.

 

[user 423]

Escapees mail service I believe is listed as a private address, so you might take a look at them.

Found out that Escapees mail service is for S.Dakota or Texas only.

 

[B and C]

If you don't want to change your domicile, the mail forwarder will be responsible for forwarding your mail when you do a change of address again, not the post office. This is what they are in business for. IIRC, the post office only forwards for something like 6 mos. to give you time to notify everyone of your new address..

If you ever decide to change mail forwarders, you will need to keep the current one to forward to your new one until all your incoming correspondence has the new address for you.

 

[nature lover]

Thank You Tony's dream for clarifying that rule. I ran into this when I moved out of my year long stay in a nursing facility. I thought it was a pain in the butt - but as you said the bushiness still receives their own mail so USPS does not forward it. But when someone else moves into my home after I move the address will be theirs so it is the name that triggers the forward not the address - seems like that could apply to business addresses also. But I have learned "never question a government agency".

 

[maki2]

Unfortunately sometimes the postal worker gets it wrong and forwards not only your mail to a new address but also the mail of the new tenant. Other times they don't get it right and miss forwarding a piece of mail. This is why it is critical to change your address with all the companies and government agencies as well as giving the new address to all your friends and family.

Besides that the USPS only does mail forwarding for a short time period of 6 months at which time you can extend it for another 6 months.

A company that moved out of this building last year has had several packages that were left outside of the door. No new tenants have moved into the space because of mold issues in that space. The packages sat outside in the rain for months. I tried to contact the company but was unable to do so. The labels on the package were destroyed by the weather. I opened them and it was birthday gifts of a jacket and socks for one of the people who had worked there, gift cards addressed to Grandpa John.

So be the party responsible for doing your change of address because your mail or packages from USPS and other delivery services might not ever get to you if you don't. I get mail here from companies that left 10 years ago. I get mail for people who are deceased who used to have this address. I get lots of mail for other companies in the building because the mail carrier puts it in the wrong box. It is bad enough to get junk mail addressed to me, I hate getting mail addressed to someone who was too lazy to change their address and their forwarding stopped way long ago.

 

[Tony's Dream]

Nature lover...…."so it is the name that triggers the forward not the address - seems like that could apply to business addresses also. But I have learned "never question a government agency".

That is not exactly correct. With a residential address (non-business) it keys off the address (911 address). You can forward 10-20 different names out of a residential address. We see this all the time. John Smith and Mary Jones live together and they move.....they both can submit change of address under the own names. The reverse applies to a business address, it looks for the business name. In reality, you can actually forward several business names from the same address too.

If an address has a high turn around of people, it is very difficult for the carrier to keep track of who lives where. We can only keep change of address information on file for 18 months. When the forward expires (18 months from your move date) the files are purged. So if someone moved out of your house 24 months ago, a new carrier would not know they moved......so you get the wrong mail. Sorry.