Is there an intentional time-delay delivery service?
July 24, 2012 8:59 AM   Subscribe

Is there a package service which will hold onto my packages and deliver them on certain dates into the future? I guess what I'm wondering is, say you're dying, but you want to be able to send care packages to your kid on special days over the next couple of years (or longer) - is there a company that will do this?

This is a semi-hypothetical question. I'm not dying. I'm just curious. It's from a conversation I had the other night with a friend. Is there an intentional time-delay delivery service?
posted by Sully to Shopping (3 answers total) 6 users marked this as a favorite
 
I'm not familiar with any actual delivery service, but sometimes the company will continue on a contract so long as it keeps pulling money from an account per a contract?

I'm guessing that is what happened in the case of a coworker. Her husband passed on but she still received flowers on her birthday. I'm guessing he must of had a long standing contract with them or something? She's retired.. no idea if she still receives the flowers.
posted by xicana63 at 9:23 AM on July 24, 2012


This is something that you could task the executor of your estate with. I've heard of things like this happening; normally not over the course of years, but at least sending out letters / packages / notes.

Part of estate planning should be determining who your executor will be, and working with them in advance so they know what will be expected of them and making sure they're willing to perform it. If you talk to someone (e.g. a lawyer) to do other aspects of estate planning, it's a valid question to ask.

I've heard stories, from people who have worked at banks, of safe deposit boxes that are paid in advance for long periods and are owned by trusts, set up so that the contents of the box will convey to someone on a particular date in the future. (E.g. a child when they reach maturity.) That might be expensive and was more common when stocks and bonds were held via bearer certificates, but could be a way of doing a general "time capsule" for anything, if you were really motivated and could bear the expense.
posted by Kadin2048 at 9:31 AM on July 24, 2012


Yeah, this is something that would be set up with the executor of the estate. Any number of different ways of going about it.
posted by valkyryn at 9:35 AM on July 24, 2012


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