Monday, October 20, 2014

What About Mail?




      When you travel for a length of time you have to figure out what to do about your mail. There are a couple different options that I have found:
  1.  Have mail held at the post office
  2. Have someone you trust pick up your email
  3.  Subscribe to a mail service
    
 Post Office Hold
      If you are going to be gone for more than 3 days and less than 30, you can contact the post office to hold your mail.  This allows you to leave without having people know that you aren't home by the fact that your mailbox looks like a pop fresh biscuit tube.  

USPS Hold Mail Service


 Trusted Person
      If you have a trusted friend of family member that can take care of your mail it is a good option. You can either use that person as your address or you can pick up a PO Box.   A PO Box is obviously not free but depending on where you live you can spend less than $100 a year.  If you’re trusted one will allow you can just use their address as your address. This is cheaper as you most people that care enough to allow you to do this will not charge you and instead will settle for a souvenir. This option is good for those trips over 30 days and if you don't plan on getting much mail that you need to act on when you are gone.

Mail Service
If you are going to be gone for over 30 days and don't have a trusted person, or don't want do inconvenient anyone, a mail service is an option.  This is probably your most expensive option but there are some good options for the long term traveler.  Some will forward your mail based on where you are going to be at a specific time.  Other services will have scan your mail and give you the option to have it sent to you or just shredded. The scanning services give you an option of not falling behind on mail and bills while you are gone.  Here are some options with a disclaimer that I have never used any of them but Earth Class Mail has been recommended on more than one occasion

Earth Class Mail
Traveling Mailbox
Virtual Post Mail


Are there any that options that you prefer to use more than others or an option that I missed?

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