New South Dakota resident

[Almost There]

Most post offices will hold general delivery mail for 30 days.

It's preferable to choose a smallish town post office for service since it will only have one post office in town. The larger towns with multiple post offices - well, it's inevitable that your mail will go to the 'other' post office.

Always check with the post office first to make sure that they will receive general delivery mail. Some postmasters are friendlier than others. Also check to see if they have specific hours for picking up general delivery mail or whether any time they're open is okay.

I also used to have my  mail sent to some state parks if I was staying there. Again, always check to see if it's okay. Some state parks mail didn't actually come to the park but to admin offices off-site which wouldn't do any good.

And of course, if you're staying in a private park, they may also be able to accept mail for you.

 

[WriterMs]

Thanks for the reply WriterMs.   I do know they need compensated to register the vehicles, they list a fee for that.  I was not looking for volunteers  But i was wondering if you had to also sign up for their mailing services, which have other fees and deposits.  One service didnt seem to draw a line between the two, another seem to suggest a clear delineation between the two services but i'm not positive.  I will contact them directly to find out.  

I might be able to handle a written test, id have to study up on the handbook first though.

VanLifeCrisis, you may already have learned this, but the point of my earlier reply was to say you MUST be a SD "resident" to register your vehicles in the state if I read their rules properly. So, unless you have relatives who live within SD and you can use their address, you must use one of the mailing services to get a SD address.

The big difference in SD is that they allow a private mail box to be your "residence" because it IS a SD address. Most states require a real street address in order for you to register a vehicle and they will not accept a private mailbox address. But even for SD, you do have to have a SD address of some kind.

 

[akrvbob]

You ALWAYS have to have a physical address for nearly everything. Most of us get it through our mail forwarder, which is one reason SD is so popular they have many excellent mail forwarders.

My mail forwarder is based out of her home so her home address is my home address. I am a resident of Pahrump, NV in Nye county.
Bob

 

[Almost There]

And I had mine out of a mail forwarder/address company out of Green Cove Springs FL.

They originally set up business in response to the need from full time boaters who needed a land address for the same reasons we need one.

 

[highdesertranger]

so bob you have your address in Pahrump NV. but your van and trailer are registered in Arizona right? how does that work? you don't need an Arizona address? where do you have your DL? AZ or NV? curious minds want to know. highdesertranger

 

[akrvbob]

HDR, I am a NV resident and have a NV drivers license but I register my van in AZ. NV insists a 1 ton van be registered as commercial and AZ doesn't so my insurance dropped nearly $200 a year.

My girlfriend is an AZ resident and has an address with a mail forwarder. I use her mailing address.

I keep my NV residence because they don't have income taxes and AZ does.
Bob

 

[grampywanderer]

Bob, are you willing to share what mail service you use?

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

This might be answered but how do you guys get stuff like amazon packages when on the road? I know you can send them to your mail forwarder, but how do they get them to you? I'd imagine general delivery would be iffy on a package, right?


I can't give up amazon lol One of the best things about my job (that im leaving tomorrow mornin!) is that i can always get packages there from any carrier.

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

This might be answered but how do you guys get stuff like amazon packages when on the road?  I know you can send them to your mail forwarder, but how do they get them to you?   I'd imagine general delivery would be iffy on a package, right?  


I can't give up amazon lol  One of the best things about my job (that im leaving tomorrow mornin!) is that i can always get packages there from any carrier.

I've been doing some research on this myself.  I came across the following info on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/custo...orum=Fx2NFGOONPZEXIP&cdThread=Tx20WNXL305POYP

Regards
John

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

yeah, that person assumes standard amazon delivery goes post, but it is a mix of all three carriers, so no guarantee there :/ in fact ive gotten much faster delivery with standard then they estimate on big items because they have to use fedex to ship em. but i guess it doesnt matter as the mail box service will be sending post to post office(at my expense). i was just worried general delivery doesnt do packages.

 

[akrvbob]

I use http://jbmailroom.com/ in Pahrump NV. It's owned by a nice, older, retired lady who runs the business out of her home. He home address is my home address so no need for a suite # or anything like that. She does an outstanding job!! She does everything you would expect plus she will deposit a check for me to Either Bank of America or Wells Fargo because both have a branch in town. Pahrump is in Nye county so it has no emissions test or vehicle inspections.

Highly recommended!!!

Most mid to large towns will have a UPS store, they will accept UPS or FedEx for you. Up till now it has always been $5 a package fee, but the last two places I called were both $10. Both were in ritzy Colorado towns so hopefully it's not widespread (Steamboat Springs and Vail, CO)

On a very regular basis I can find a mom-n-pop mailbox store just like the UPS Store but they usually charge $1 or $2 per package.
Bob

 

[WheelEstate USA]

Martin...General Delivery does accept packages sent using USPS and within their guidelines.
Margie just got a b-day box from her sis. We use GD for our mail service to forward to wherever we are when I call.

I just ordered a roof ladder rack from Amazon. I had to borrow a friend's address since it will ship FedX.

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

I just ordered a roof ladder rack from Amazon. I had to borrow a friend's address since it will ship FedX.

Both Fed-Ex and UPS have numerous locations where their packages can be held for pickup.

Fed-Ex: http://www.fedex.com/us/services/hold_at_location_overview.html

UPS: http://www.ups.com/content/us/en/shipping/time/service/value_added/hold_pickup.html

Both of these sites allow you to search for the nearest location where your shipment will be held for you.

Of course, you DO have to know which service Amazon is going to use . . .

Regards
John

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

I use http://jbmailroom.com/ in Pahrump NV. It's owned by a nice, older, retired lady who runs the business out of her home.

Maybe it's just me being paranoid again, but in a set-up like that, I would worry about what would happen if the lady goes into the hospital or dies or something.  Unless you know that some relative works for her and would keep it going, or at least arrange an orderly shut down, I would be concerned about losing important mail and packages if that happened.  Not to mention the sudden scramble you'd have to go through to get a new address and change everything - DL, Credit Cards, etc. - over to it.

The big organizations like Escapees and St. Brendan's Isle and Your Best Address strike me as being much less likely to be an eventual problem.

Regards
John

 

[cyndi]

Please be aware that not all post offices offer  the general delivery service, anymore. Some you have to register to use the service and some will only allow you to use the service for a limited amount of time (2 weeks, 30 days, etc.)

 

[akrvbob]

Maybe it's just me being paranoid again, but in a set-up like that, I would worry about what would happen if the lady goes into the hospital or dies or something.  

That used to bother me as well, but her business grew so big and she was getting older, so she hired a woman to work with her. The young lady she hired is a younger woman (40s) and worked for the Post Office for a long time so she knows all this stuff in and out. I deal with her fairly often and she is great!

I'm sure the plan is that the young lady will buy the business at some point or if a medical problem makes Marianne give it up she will take over. Who knows, she may be a partner now?

Bottom line it's a non-issue and I get extremely good, personalized service. 

Very highly recommended! 
Bob

 

[akrvbob]

You can't generalize about General Delivery, every town is different. I think it all boils down to the local postmaster. Does he/she just want to follow all the rules to the letter and do the minimum or does he/she want to serve the people who come in the door as well as possible?

The only way to know is to walk in and ask.
Bob

 

[akrvbob]

I'm in Leadville, CO right now (population about 3000) so I wandered around town and lo and behold there is a mom n pop pack and ship in town and they will receive any package from UPS FedEx or even USPS and it costs $3.50 a package.

Look around, you'll be surprised how often they are there. A very good idea is a do a google search and call them and when you get to the town your package will already be there. I've done that numerous times. We are going to be here for a week or so, so we will just wait for it to get here.
Bob

 

[mockturtle]

Cyndi is right that some post offices don't do General Delivery . I found one small post office in the SE where the clerks had never even heard of the service. I had a package mailed there and, fortunately, they recognized my name and retrieved it from the outgoing mail. So now I phone ahead just to make sure before I have mail sent that way.

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

The US Post Office has a toll free number to assist with this kind of thing.  Call them, tell them where you are and that you need to have a package shipped to General Delivery, and they will tell you where the nearest Post Office is that can help you.


800-ASK-USPS (800-275-8777)


Regards
John