What do you use for address when you can't use P.O. Box

[Streamerdogs]

We've recently started to live in our Airstream full time. AS we made the transition the one head ache we keep running into is when we put in our traveling mailbox address a lot of companies/banks say no. Currently just using my parents address for things like DL/Vehicle registration. But is there another service anyone uses
TIA
~manny

[RivetED]

Try Escapees, Livingston, Texas. A LOT of RVers 'live' there!

[n2916s]

St Brendan’s Isle for Florida. They allow us to turn the forwarding service on and off as necessary and you can chose what mail they forward. They can help with D/L and domicile as well.

[JonDNC]

Originally Posted by n2916s

St Brendan’s Isle for Florida. They allow us to turn the forwarding service on and off as necessary and you can chose what mail they forward. They can help with D/L and domicile as well.

They are great. Been using them for years.

[Powayegg]

Originally Posted by RivetED

Try Escapees, Livingston, Texas. A LOT of RVers 'live' there!

Have used Escapees for 13 years full time and very happy with their service

[SilverPal2]

has anyone tried Americas Mailbox ?

[uncle_bob]

Hi

The gotcha with all these setups is that they work right up to the point they don't. The fine print somewhere on page 7,934 of your "contract" with the bank says "no forwarding services". Eventually things get onto the magic list they use to work out what is a forwarding service.

Yes, that's a bit nuts. The world has in no way caught up to the idea of nomads. I guess it's just not an idea that's been around for long .... hmmm.... 200,000 years you say? ... hmmm

I used to have a credit card that didn't like my "mobile" address. I no longer have that card. Yes, that may not work in all cases. It worked fine for me. There are credit card companies that will happily deliver a new card to you pool side at the hotel .... I have data on that ....

Bob

[BigSxyWhtGuy]

We find “living with parents” acceptable. They just pile our mail in a box and we pick it up once a year. All of our mail is done electronically and only occasionally do we get something that needs to be opened immediately. We are just lucky I suppose to be able to do most everything online.

When we order Amazon or anything we need in the road, it’s either sent to an RV park, a family/friend’s house down the road, or picked up at an Amazon locker location.

[MaineStreamer]

How do these artificial addresses affect your voting status?

[sparkymark]

I use my P.O. Box, however, I use the physical address for the post office and box number as a suite number…so far so good. Try it with a piece of personal mail, see if it works for you.

[zapper]

I've used for years a Private Mail Box (PMB) at the UPS store. It's not free. But if you are traveling they hold your mail and packages almost forever. Banks, not an issue. Some of our bank accounts have our residence address, some have our PMB address on the checks. You just have to make sure that the banks know to send your statements to your "mailing address". Same with DMV my new drivers license w/ my PMB address on the license was sent to our PMB address. No issues. I even received my new US passport this way. IRS the same.
Originally I made the change because the USPS delivery simply couldn't put our mail in our residence mail box. No amount of complaining made a difference. So.... we made the change. Never looked back.

[GetawA-S]

Originally Posted by MaineStreamer

How do these artificial addresses affect your voting status?

The Clay County government got sticky with the St. Brendan’s Isle customers registering as Green Cove Springs residents until the firm worked out a deal with a local marina to provide several physical campsites shared by “all” mail customers.
I’m not sure why you’d want to vote in the Florida races if you are living everywhere else, but the arrangement also allows voting in the national elections. Hmmm...

What is the thinking behind your question?

[MaineStreamer]

My reason for asking concerns establishing residency. Voting is one implication. Residency for estate planning & settlement and for state income tax purposes is another reason.

[GetawA-S]

Originally Posted by MaineStreamer

My reason for asking concerns establishing residency. Voting is one implication. Residency for estate planning & settlement and for state income tax purposes is another reason.

Ahhh... Good questions.
Florida has some “different” inheritance rules. The executor must be a state resident or close relative, for example. Different states treat commonly held property differently. If you plan to be a FL resident, you’ll want to consult a FL lawyer and prepare a FL will.
I think most states now collect sales tax from the major online retailers automatically, FL included. Taxes on cars, etc, are submitted directly by the dealer, of course. FL doesn’t collect state income tax, so they don’t have a mechanism to collect incidental purchases around the country, not that they would be able to handle the complexity anyway. The sales tax rate here is around 7% plus local, but if you’re living the simple lifestyle all around the country, you won’t care.
For property tax, the homestead exemption is supposedly limited to people who are at the property six months or more. I doubt you’d get in trouble unless you claim it in more than one location.
Happy travels!

[JonDNC]

There really are two questions. One is a mailing address and mail forwarding. The other is residency.

We are full time for now but still own a home in NC. We decided to keep out NC residency which means voting, registrations and taxes but have all our mail handled by St. Brendan’s Isle. That means they receive all our mail and can scan, forward, or destroy as requested by me.

For us that kept thing’s simpler cause at some point we won’t be traveling full time and I can just reopen the house. Note: this also makes things easier with the banks as there are Patriot Act requirements for a physical address I’m sure a phone call would clarify how that’s handled.

If I didn’t own the house we’d probably go back to FL residency as there are some tax benefits.

[twbucksr]

We sold our house and most of the belongings 4 years ago and set up our son in an apartment while he was still in college and started living in our 27 FBQ FC.

Before we ventured out, we converted our bank to a online bank without brick and mortar locations. We set up monthly payments for storage, insurance, etc. via credit card where possible and have our online bank pay the ones who won’t accept credit cards.

We lived in an RV park for the first year or so. The bonus for that move is it has a commercial address. The postal service does not forward junk mail from a commercial address (at least in Texas).

When we hit the road, we changed our address to our sons apartment (which we still help pay for) and proceeded to do everything online including vehicle taxes and registration.

No mail forwarding service necessary.

[BigTexRex]

Just join Escapees and, through them, get a recognized street address, mail forwarding service and establish your state of residency in Florida, Texas, or South Dakota, and all issues will be solved.

[Ray Eklund]

Two Options:

- Let your neighbor read all of your mail, scan and email them to you. Your neighbors will also know what you are up to, as well.

- Let your neighbor mail to you your delivered mail in a package to a Post Office or the RV Park where you may be for a time. If you move every couple days... get overnight mail.

The majority of our mail is advertising and sales brochures. The 'real important, time sensitive stuff' is all available digital while we travel. Our neighbor takes our mail, puts it into a carton until we return. If we do not return... it does not matter as we do not get much. We advise to toss the weekly grocery special.

I have probably $6,000 in MINT postage stamps from 1935 to 1989 in sheets, or so. We use a lot of low denomination stamps on envelopes to friends as a novelty. I picked this stuff up over years at a percentage of face value.

Should you do the same? Only if you like to lick stamps and have nothing better to do with your money. Like buy something for your wife for her birthday... maybe an Airstream and you can help use it.

[oldenavy]

Originally Posted by SilverPal2

has anyone tried Americas Mailbox ?

Yes, we've used them for about 6 years. Have been mostly happy with them. One nice feature is that they scan the outside of everything we receive so we can decide if it is important enough to forward or just have it shredded.

A couple of years ago another SD forwarding service went out of business suddenly and Americas Mailbox picked up many of the customers. They became overloaded and were taking up to 3 weeks to post items to your inbox. That resolved itself fairly quickly and have had no issues since.

SD is a nice residency choice for full timers as there is no income tax (like TX & FL), but there's also no vehicle inspection requirement and it is super easy to establish residency: A receipt for one night in a hotel or campground is all that is needed.

[uncle_bob]

Originally Posted by oldenavy

......

SD is a nice residency choice for full timers as there is no income tax (like TX & FL), but there's also no vehicle inspection requirement .....

Hi

Taxes are a *very* complicated subject. Talk to a pro before you simply *assume* anything about what this or that sort of a "mailbox change" will do for your specific tax situation ..... This also applies to people with big boats. They seem to get chased down more often than the RV crowd. That could change very quickly.

Bob