Travelling mailbox

[breeze]

Since Bob's book, there's a new multi-state listing forwarding service. I was not personally thrilled with the previous location options, which will probably always be here; so it's nice to find a more diverse choice of addresses to select from.

** The cool thing now is an option to show your mail online so you don't have actually have the mail: just a Brother Laser printer (for example) and verizon internet (for example,) and probably up to a dollar a page ??.

http://www.doityourselfrv.com/rv-mail-forwarding-options/

In the table at the bottom of the page, the title of this thread is the service that seemed new to me, Travelling Mailbox   (Home!)

Of course all the previous research is all fine and dandy, except we all need to keep up with changes to our new ROBOCOP society rules: they should all kind of start conforming now to a successful new industry of mail forwarding/scanning. It really is the healthiest and most holistic way to live!
Peace.

 

[SoulRaven]

In some states, a mail forwarding address may not be used for a physical address, that is where the snag is, and thus the reason that FL, SD and TX are generally the ones that people use as that state allows it. Getting a mail forwarding service is possible everywhere as far as I know, I can have one here in KS, but must have a physical address. We had to provide a physical address just to get a PO Box with USPS. We have eliminated as much "paper" mail as possible, a continuing battle.

 

[breeze]

In some states, a mail forwarding address may not be used for a physical address, that is where the snag is, and thus the reason that FL, SD and TX are generally the ones that people use as that state allows it.  Getting a mail forwarding service is possible everywhere as far as I know, I can have one here in KS, but must have a physical address.  We had to provide a physical address just to get a PO Box with USPS.  We have eliminated as much "paper" mail as possible, a continuing battle.

That's all true: those are 2 separate entities that the company cannot mention. But a mailing service was not available to as many places as this before. This book chapter upgrade alone would be worth a New Bob Wells book copy! (hint, hint, ...)   And I was afraid of getting lizard skin from the other address forwarding locations (Just kidding!!) The article clearly states the main purpose:

"At some point most RV’ers have aspirations of taking their RV on the road for a prolonged period time. Full-timing, part-timing, snow-birding, or whatever other variation of RV travel you enjoy means that you wont be at a permanent location to accept your mail."

 

[MrNoodly]

But a mailing service was not available to as many places as this before.

I don't understand. The idea of mail forwarders is that they forward your mail to wherever you want. My forwarder in South Dakota has sent my stuff all over the country -- usually via General Delivery to the post office handiest to me, sometimes to friends I'm visiting. I could have it sent to another part of the world if I wanted.

 

[John61CT]

Mail forwarding, letterbox, mail drops

have been all over the place certainly for many decades, I've used them since the sixties.

The best ones suitable for criminal activities were run out of people's homes and tiny hole in the wall offices, I don't think there was any regulation until the 90's, I think around when UPS bought the MBE chain.

But they are nothing new, even the scan-to-email service type was commercially available well before 1992 when I started using one.

 

[Technomad]

That article didn’t mention Earth Class Mail, which is really great. They have addresses all over the country, are fairly automated and have lots of features.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Annie W]

Sure.
If, IF, if ... you can afford $50 to $180 for no less an "online" mail-service.

isn't this nomadic life supposed to, also, be for people needing to drop OUT of "traditional" society ?

How does that $300/month-budget person get their mail ? - or don't they get any ?

 

[RVTravel]

Have you seen Bob's video on mail forwarding? Here is the link.
I would love to see a list of mail forwarders and the cost of each. The video explains the cost is 50-200 bucks per year, like you mention. If you live in one spot and will go back, you could have USPS hold your mail for up to a month at a time for free. Family and friends might do it for less or free.

It would be nice if USPS would get into mail forwarding for cheap. Hold your mail for one month and then ship it to another local USPS where you could pick it up. That may already exist. I have not looked.

 

[wmyers4u]

Can the USPS change of address service be utilized in any capacity? Or is that what is being referred to as forwarding

 

[highdesertranger]

forwarding = when you have a private mail service, you call/email them and they will forward your mail anywhere you tell them. highdesertranger

 

[Weight]

What ever service you chose, carefully read their legal agreement before you sign-up. On most of these services, the small print and exceptions will surprise you.

 

[rm.w/aview]

What ever service you chose, carefully read their legal agreement before you sign-up. On most of these services, the small print and exceptions will surprise you.

Care to elaborate?

 

[Swan]

I been using american home base for more then 10 years now and never had a problem . I was given a physical address and a po box address. physical addy for anything that needs a true address like drivers licences. I think when i join it was $40.00 (mail deposit and admin fees) and then $10.00 a month plus the cost of my mail. I have thinned it out so much that its only roughly $1.50 a month. they offer once a week to once every 6 months, I get mine once a month.

 

[NickTheoBennett]

I have used travelling mailbox mailbox for around 2 years now. I pay $19.95 per month and they just email me when I get a new piece of mail, at which point I usually have them scan it. I've only had to forward a few items in the entire time I've been using it (cards, ballot, that sort of thing). Shipping costs for the forwarding are pretty reasonable.

Another user mentioned downsides. I have been quite satisfied overall but there are definitely potential problems for people. Here are a couple:

1. There is roughly a 1 week delay in getting your mail unless you choose to have your physical address in their home state (Virginia, I think? The one in the base package @$15). This is because they only sort and scan mail in one spot. In my case they have to forward it from Oregon to Virginia and then scan it for me.

2. If/when you decide to use another address you will not be able to utilize USPS forwarding again. You can't forward from a Travelling Mailbox address (or any other mail forwarder, as far as I know. I believe this is a USPS reg). What this means practically is that you would have to notify everyone manually of an address change.

 

[John61CT]

I append a unique code to the virtual box number when giving out the address so I can track who's selling it to spammers.

Also gives me a list to use deciding who to notify a future COA

 

[lenny flank]

I was given a physical address 

Hopefully more mail forwarders will do this as well. It's a way to meet the Real ID requirements for those who can't use a friend or relative's address.

Hopefully the federales won't mind this loophole and don't shut it down.

 

[John61CT]

It's not just government databases, if the commercial services add that "shared service" address to the blacklist, financial and insurance etc providers will refuse to accept it as your residence.

Much better to use a friend/family member's home for that purpose if possible, since ideally it's the same across all your network fingerprint.

 

[lenny flank]

Yep, I ran into that insurance problem with one of the maildrops in FL, and ended up using my sister's addy in PA.

 

[rm.w/aview]

What ever service you chose, carefully read their legal agreement before you sign-up. On most of these services, the small print and exceptions will surprise you.

Care to elaborate?

 

[Lyra]

I have used Traveling Mailbox for a couple years now.  I love the scanning service and rarely have to forward paper mail to myself.  They have a check deposit service for $2.  I have received checks, had them scan it, and made the deposit into my bank directly from the scan through my banking phone app.  N0 $2 fee doing it that way.  It is tricky anymore using a mail service for a street address as these businesses are flagged by banks, gov., ins.... as not a street address.  So whatever because almost all those accounts have a mailing address and a residential address they can use.  Having a NC address with them ($15 mailbox) has not been a problem when all the way on the west coast.  They will forward anything I want to any number of address but again, it is rare to need the actual mail.