A question of mail

[vonprum]

I usually hang out in the motorhome forum. My wife and I are full timers in a 345 moho but will soon hit the road and become full-timers on the move. As we prepare, it occurs to us that receiving our mail regularly will be a challenge, and this forum seems to be the best for exploring this this issue. We could keep our old address and have mail forwarded somehow, but am wondering how others out there have dealt with receiving mail in a timely fashion.

[Air Apparent]

Vonprun:

Most fulltimers use a mail forwarding service. I see you are from Texas. The escapees organization (Escapees RV Club – the club for all RVers) located in Livingston Texas has one of the best mail forwarding services in the country. FMCA also has a service (I believe out of Florida) and there is Alternative Resources in South Dakaota. Usually the mail service selected is in the same state as that chosen for domicile.

Links to mail forwarding services:

Escapees http://www.escapees.com/mailforwardingservice.asp

FMCA http://www.fmca.com/join-family-moto...g-service.html

Alternative Resources http://www.alternativeresources.net/
http://www.alternativeresources.net/...mail_email.htm

[Jammer]

I believe the Escapees offer, among other services addressing the unique needs of fulltimers, a mail forwarding service. There are also various private services that are similar, with some of them offering a scan-and-email service that eliminates much of the need for physical delivery.

[moosetags]

We are not full timers, but spend as much as ten weeks out in the Airstream. Wanting to travel extensively, we have arranged to receive all of our bills on-line. We also do all of our banking on-line. The rest of the mail we just don't worry about.

When we return from a long excursion, there is always a big pile of mail. We have found that it is mostly throw away. We no longer open any mail that is not first class.

Brian

[Travel Bird]

When I spent over 6 months a year in the Med while crewing on a private yacht, all the crew had a PO Box at a facility that would forward our mail to us. Our address was an actual street address so it didn't look like a PO Box since many companies won't mail to PO Boxes. It was a great service and none of the 16 crew ever had an issue.

[DreamStreamr]

Vonprum,

Debbie and I are in our fifth year full-timing and have used Escapees Mail Service for the past four years with terrific results. Solid and responsive service, several different subscription levels to suit your anticipated needs, and competitive pricing make this a great choice for any RVer.

We variously ask for our mail at one, two, or three week intervals depending upon our travel timing. We forward our mail to a post office (General Delivery still thrives at most US Post Offices) or a campground where we're headed (after asking the cmpgrd for permission). Escapees has met every request with a smile and great service.

We maintain a permanent residency independent of our mailing address without difficulty. We are (and have been for over 50 years) North Carolina residents. Our mail forwarding address is in Livingston TX, a place we have not yet visited. Mail forwarding is not related to where you have established your residency. Our mail forwarding address is simply our mailing address -- it does not affect our IRS or health insurance or auto insurance or state taxes address in any way.

Some of our friends envy our "junk-free" mail. Most (all?) mail forwarding services will cull the non-first class mail for you and toss it. Be careful, we didn't realize some of our favorite magazines were sent book rate and initially were tossed. Once we advised Escapees we wanted these designated magazines, we've received them faithfully every month.

Any questions, feel free to check our full-timing web site and you are welcome to email us directly from there if we can help.