Scanned mail while traveling

October 24, 2008 6:58 PM

Is there a service to which I can have my mail sent to, and then either forwarded to us overseas, or, scanned and emailed to us.

We are going overseas from Canada to Central Asia for 3 years. In order to maintain our address as what is called "Permanent Residence" we aren't changing our address to the overseas address.

We heard about some services to which we can have our mail sent to, they scan it and then email it to us. We are looking for such a service because the people who are at our permanent address aren't able to reliably and consistently send it overseas to us.

Does anyone know what service can do this in either Canada or the US?

posted by steppe to travel & transportation (11 answers total)

Mailboxes Etc./UPS does this. My husband used them when sailing and recommends their services.
posted by Brittanie at 7:08 PM on October 24, 2008

http://www.earthclassmail.com/ provides what you are looking for.
posted by jgee at 7:15 PM on October 24, 2008

Oops! earthclassmail.com
posted by jgee at 7:17 PM on October 24, 2008

Mailboxes Etc./UPS does this. My husband used them when sailing and recommends their services.

I used them for this a couple of years ago. Not scanning, just once-a-month forwarding. It was cheap and totally reliable, no problems at all. They charged my credit card each month for the box rental and the cost of sending a large envelope of my mail, and all I had to do was phone or email to change where they were sending the mail. It really couldn't have been easier or more straightforward.

A bonus is that the address did not have "post office box" in it (just something like "123 Main St #456"), so it was easy to use that address as my "residence" for things (like insurance) that want you to have a local, physical address.
posted by Forktine at 7:36 PM on October 24, 2008

Mail Link Plus. I've been a customer for years. They will both scan and forward mail, and are fairly reasonable.

They'll also open packages and make "new" items "used" if you ask them to. This has (positive, for you) implications for customs if they are then sending the items overseas.
posted by toxic at 7:52 PM on October 24, 2008

Fun fact: The show "Start-Up Junkies" is about the people who started EarthClass Mail.
posted by phunniemee at 8:20 PM on October 24, 2008

Similar story for us.
I live in Australia, and have my Canadian mail forwarded by CAnada Post. It is simple and guessing less than $100 per year (can't remember cause it was inconsequential) . Takes an extra 6 or 7 days, and they send all the magazines etc.
posted by dripped at 8:42 PM on October 24, 2008

My apologies, I somehow missed the scanned mail aspect of the question. Still, MBE/UPS might be worth a look.
posted by Brittanie at 8:42 PM on October 24, 2008

Just a link followup -

https://ssl.postescanada-canadapost.ca/smartmoves/default-e.aspx
posted by dripped at 8:49 PM on October 24, 2008

most postal places will do this
posted by docmccoy at 12:18 AM on October 25, 2008

Yup, call around to local places that provide mailbox services. Make sure they provide something other than a PO box number (they virtually all do).

Scanning can be troublesome because sometimes you just need the originals. (And I'm not sure I trust them to not do something unpleasant with my mail.)

I'm on prety good terms with my local mailbox guy so he's even nice enough to filter out my junk mail before he forwards me the good stuff when I'm abroad. He'll shoot me an email before the monthly shipment to make sure he has my current address (since I use this when traveling abroad) and will send something ahead of the monthly schedule if I tell him to look for something specific.
posted by Ookseer at 3:46 AM on October 25, 2008