What did you do about mail when you moved overseas from the USA?
October 1, 2021 5:55 AM Subscribe
I'm looking for recommendations / advice regarding how to handle physical mail when leaving the USA.
My spouse and I are planning an overseas move. Right now, the options we are considering for physical mail are:
- PO Box
- Expat mail service of some kind, like a virtual mailbox?
- Asking a friend / family member to let us put down their address for mail forwarding
- PO Box seems like it wouldn't be that helpful as we'd not be around to check it, but at least mail would have a home somewhere?
- The mail service option seems the most attractive right now, but I've never used one before. Would appreciate information on others' experience with them as well.
My spouse and I are planning an overseas move. Right now, the options we are considering for physical mail are:
- PO Box
- Expat mail service of some kind, like a virtual mailbox?
- Asking a friend / family member to let us put down their address for mail forwarding
- PO Box seems like it wouldn't be that helpful as we'd not be around to check it, but at least mail would have a home somewhere?
- The mail service option seems the most attractive right now, but I've never used one before. Would appreciate information on others' experience with them as well.
You can also sign up for USPS's free Informed Delivery Service, in which they send you digital images of the outside of letters (and inform you about incoming packages) so that you can send someone to your box to retrieve anything important.
posted by carmicha at 8:21 AM on October 1, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by carmicha at 8:21 AM on October 1, 2021 [3 favorites]
I'm guessing options have changed somehwat, but what I did about 15 years ago for what turned out to be a two-year overseas move was a combination of an mail service and using another address as permanent. So our mail mostly went, somehow, to a service that would send us photos of the outsides, and then we could ask them to open and scan specific pieces of mail. I think we used this place as our forwarding address. This was helpful for a few really important things, like bills.
I also started using my mom's address as our permanent address or for things where I wanted a step above what the service would provide, because I could ask my mom to deal with them right away.
You will continue to vote with your last physical address in the US (as I understand it), so using another address while you're overseas won't change where you vote, if that's a concern. Which is to say, I continued to vote as if I lived at my old address (this is how it's supposed to go, I think), and I didn't change my voter registration til I moved back to the US to a new address.
I'd also encourage you to try to get off mailing lists and such before you go, so you'll have less to sort through.
It also matters where you'll be overseas. Will you be someplace with reliable mail service, even if it's slow? In that case, especially if you don't get much mail and you're mostly off mail lists, you could forward your mail to a friend's house and leave them with several large, postage-paid padded envelopes and ask them to send things along every month or so. That's more work for them, and it might mean you miss things that are timely.
posted by bluedaisy at 10:32 AM on October 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
I also started using my mom's address as our permanent address or for things where I wanted a step above what the service would provide, because I could ask my mom to deal with them right away.
You will continue to vote with your last physical address in the US (as I understand it), so using another address while you're overseas won't change where you vote, if that's a concern. Which is to say, I continued to vote as if I lived at my old address (this is how it's supposed to go, I think), and I didn't change my voter registration til I moved back to the US to a new address.
I'd also encourage you to try to get off mailing lists and such before you go, so you'll have less to sort through.
It also matters where you'll be overseas. Will you be someplace with reliable mail service, even if it's slow? In that case, especially if you don't get much mail and you're mostly off mail lists, you could forward your mail to a friend's house and leave them with several large, postage-paid padded envelopes and ask them to send things along every month or so. That's more work for them, and it might mean you miss things that are timely.
posted by bluedaisy at 10:32 AM on October 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
Oh, and the mail service we used was totally fine. I don't think we had any problems with them, and it all worked out as we expected.
posted by bluedaisy at 10:32 AM on October 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by bluedaisy at 10:32 AM on October 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
I've used St. Brendan's Isle (SBI) virtual mailbox for 10.5 years. I've recommended them to other expats for 3 reasons: 1) They've been in business since 1988, 2) I've never had a problem with them, and 3) Their security is excellent
There are 2 potential downsides to SBI. If you forward physical mail to an international address by something other than an express service, e.g. FedEx, it can take 3 days from when the mail is picked up at their office until it reaches Miami airport.
The other downside concerns shipments of more than one boxed item. Some virtual mailbox services will consolidate the boxes by taking the contents of the smaller boxes and putting them into either your biggest box, or one of their big boxes, so as to make a shipment of a single box. SBI will put your smaller boxes into your largest box, if they fit, but that's the limit of their consolidation.
posted by Homer42 at 10:36 AM on October 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
There are 2 potential downsides to SBI. If you forward physical mail to an international address by something other than an express service, e.g. FedEx, it can take 3 days from when the mail is picked up at their office until it reaches Miami airport.
The other downside concerns shipments of more than one boxed item. Some virtual mailbox services will consolidate the boxes by taking the contents of the smaller boxes and putting them into either your biggest box, or one of their big boxes, so as to make a shipment of a single box. SBI will put your smaller boxes into your largest box, if they fit, but that's the limit of their consolidation.
posted by Homer42 at 10:36 AM on October 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
Best answer: I moved from US to Canada this year. My family all live in a super high tax state and I did not want to establish my US residency there, so I paid for forwarding service from TravelingMailbox.com in the state where I used to live. (I do own property in that state but other people live in it so I don't send any mail there.)
It is an expense but I am happy with it so far and it has saved me some hassle with things like a tax refund check and a replacement debit card for a US account. They are able scan envelopes, contents of envelopes, and forward things if you need the original. There is also a package forwarding service they have through another address in NC but I've never used it so I can't speak to that.
posted by zdravo at 1:07 PM on October 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
It is an expense but I am happy with it so far and it has saved me some hassle with things like a tax refund check and a replacement debit card for a US account. They are able scan envelopes, contents of envelopes, and forward things if you need the original. There is also a package forwarding service they have through another address in NC but I've never used it so I can't speak to that.
posted by zdravo at 1:07 PM on October 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
I use Virtual Post Mail and am very happy with it. It is not unusual for US mail coming to my country to take two months for delivery, so I have everything go there instead. In fact I may have fibbed a bit and told a few companies that it is my home address.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 1:53 PM on October 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 1:53 PM on October 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
Best answer: I used Traveling Mailbox, which is I guess a virtual mailbox, but the physical mail goes somewhere (they have locations throughout the US), so you can get an address in the same region you nominally live in). They scan the unopened mail so you can see what it is, and have them open mail, forward it, save it, scan and shred, all sorts of options. I have been satisfied, although I never received any mail I had to deal with in any meaningful way (I had my tax docs sent to a reletive's house and car registrations stuff sent to another friend's house).
I think they'll even deposit checks you receive for you, if I am remembering correctly.
Knowing there was someone I could actually talk to about my mail and its handling gave me peace of mind, compared to just having it go somewhere and be stuffed in a box. Every time I had a question they replied promptly and were very friendly and helpful.
I set up USPS Informed Delivery for the place my tax docs were going to, so I could see the envelopes and have my relative open them and send me scans if I needed them, but I think Traveling Mailbox would have done that just as well. I think I had some idea that the IRS stuff would be better being sent to an actual address, but I'm not sure, it was a long time ago.
The virtual mailbox is good because it doesn't burden people with dealing with your mail, except for people whose job it is to deal with your mail. My gut feeling is that friends and relatives will intend to do well, but it will be an inconvenience for them and they won't be as attentive as people whose professional reputation depends on it.
I was mostly out of the US for over 3 years, fwiw.
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 5:37 PM on October 2, 2021 [2 favorites]
I think they'll even deposit checks you receive for you, if I am remembering correctly.
Knowing there was someone I could actually talk to about my mail and its handling gave me peace of mind, compared to just having it go somewhere and be stuffed in a box. Every time I had a question they replied promptly and were very friendly and helpful.
I set up USPS Informed Delivery for the place my tax docs were going to, so I could see the envelopes and have my relative open them and send me scans if I needed them, but I think Traveling Mailbox would have done that just as well. I think I had some idea that the IRS stuff would be better being sent to an actual address, but I'm not sure, it was a long time ago.
The virtual mailbox is good because it doesn't burden people with dealing with your mail, except for people whose job it is to deal with your mail. My gut feeling is that friends and relatives will intend to do well, but it will be an inconvenience for them and they won't be as attentive as people whose professional reputation depends on it.
I was mostly out of the US for over 3 years, fwiw.
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 5:37 PM on October 2, 2021 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: Followup - thank you all for your time and thoughtful recommendations. We have ended up going with TravelingMailbox.com. Haven't started using the service yet as we just signed up today, so no way to review it yet, but the process has been easy and smooth so far. Thanks again.
posted by lazaruslong at 12:10 PM on November 5, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by lazaruslong at 12:10 PM on November 5, 2021 [1 favorite]
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The most important thing to do is months prior to leaving, which is to significantly reduce your mail intake. Contact ALL subscriptions, catalogs, junk mailers, etc, and get off of their lists. With many of them, it will take several notifications to stop sending their junk mail but it works.
And secondly, but probably should've been the firstly, make sure you convert ALL of your accounts to digital mail. Banks, loans, insurance, whatever, just make sure they are sending ALL mail digitally and not via snail-mail.
When I check my mail, it is 98% junk, with an occasional insurance card for my motorcycle, or a newly issued bank/credit card.
And it might be a good idea to leave one of the PO box keys with a friend/family member in case there is something that is needed right away, or you can't return soon enough.
posted by wile e at 6:29 AM on October 1, 2021 [2 favorites]