Getting Mail On The Road Isn’t As Hard As You Think
Are you ready to hit the road full-time in your RV? But you’re not sure how you can still get mail when your home has wheels? If this is you, read on because we’ve got the answers you need. It’s probably no surprise that you won’t be able to use your RV as a residential address even when it’s your permanent residence. However, full-time RVers are resourceful in solving practical issues imposed by not living in a single, permanent place. Full-time RVers have found ways to get mail wherever they are. In this article, we’ll look at several solutions to getting your mail wherever your journey takes you.
Reduce The Amount Of Mail You Get
The first thing most full-time RVers do is try to reduce the amount of snail mail they get. Nowadays, it’s pretty easy because you can do almost anything online. For instance, you can pay nearly all bills online. Banks, government agencies, and credit companies will provide email statements if you sign up for them. Many consider subscriptions to print catalogs and magazines outdated. Online money transfers and direct deposits have made almost all checks obsolete.
If you want to reduce the amount of snail mail you receive, it’s also a good idea to contact companies that send you junk mail and politely request that they stop sending it.
Getting A Permanent Mailing Address
Use a Friend’s (or Relative’s) Address
You can often have a friend or relative forward your mail to a post office near your current location. Though using a friend’s address is the cheapest option for getting your mail, it’s best suited to those full-time RVers with a small amount of mail. It’s possible to have your first-class mail forwarded from another address for free. If you want your mail forwarded free, it needs to be forwarded to you piece-by-piece. Your friend or relative can cross out the incorrect address and rewrite (or re-label) the new address without affixing new postage. Then get it back into the postal system. The low cost is the advantage of having a friend or relative forward your mail.
It’s also possible for your friend to save the mail and post it in a single package. Packages of mail then get sent to your current location on a schedule. But this option isn’t free because each package of letters needs to be weighed and postage affixed.
Downsides to Having a Friend or Relative Forward Your Mail to You
Using a friend’s address can be affordable, but it has a few disadvantages.
- It can get arduous for friends or relatives to do over a long period.
- Important mail can accidentally get mislaid, lost, or just forgotten.
- When mail is sent one piece at a time, it can still be on its way when you move. As a result, you may miss the delivery.
- If your friend or relative goes on a trip of their own, you’ll need to come up with another solution to get your mail.
- Privacy concerns: Do you want friends/parents/children to see what bills you pay or what subscriptions you have?
Use a Professional Mail Forwarding Service
Several companies help full-time RVers get their mail. These companies require an annual or monthly subscription which can cost up to about $250 per year. Each mail forwarding company has its own list of services it provides to full-timers who want their mail forwarded. Below you’ll find the three most popular mail forwarding services for full-time RVers.
The 3 Popular Mail Forwarding Services
Escapees
Escapees RV Club has been around since 1978. The club offers mail forwarding services to members in different packages that range in price from $95 to $135 per year, depending on the services you require. Each subscription includes a unique mailing address in your choice of Florida, South Dakota, or Texas. In addition, the Escapees mail forwarding service allows you to view mail online for an additional $10/month and you’ll need to pay a $50 deposit for postage fees. To find out more about Escapees RV Club mail forwarding click here.
America’s Mailbox
America’s Mailbox is offered by the Family Motor Coach Association. But you don’t need to own a motor coach (or RV) to use its mail forwarding services. America’s Mailbox offers a unique mailing address in South Dakota. Various annual subscription services are available, ranging between about $150 and $230. America’s Mailbox also offers a quarterly plan for those who only need mail forwarding for a shorter period. You can schedule your mail to get out daily, weekly, monthly, or annually. Mail is shipped wherever you want by your choice of delivery services, including USPS, FedEx, and UPS. To find out more about America’s Mailbox, click here.
Anytime Mailbox
Anytime Mailbox offers 1681 international addresses worldwide, including in every state in the USA and 4 provinces in Canada. Prices range from $100 to $300 per year, depending on the address and the services you want. You can get mail delivered by your choice of USPS, UPS, FedEx, or DHL. Services included, open and scan, check deposit, forwarding, recycling, shredding, and local pickup. To find out more about Anytime Mailbox’s mail forwarding services, click here
Where to Forward Your Mail When Travelling
If you want your mail, you’ll need an address to forward it to. Here are some possible forwarding address options that full-time RVers use to get mail:
A USPS Post Office Via General Delivery
General delivery is available from USPS for those who travel or don’t have a permanent address. However, not all post offices offer general delivery services, so always call the post office and ask them. To receive mail through general delivery, you should write the address as follows:
NAME
GENERAL DELIVERY
CITY STATE ZIP
A Post Office Box
If you stay at a location for a few months or more, you may wish to set up a post office box at the local post office.
An RV Park or Campground
Some campgrounds or resorts have mail sorting services. You can use your campground as a forwarding address if this is the case.
How To Get Parcel Deliveries
Companies usually ship parcel deliveries by USPS, UPS, FedEx, or DHL. If you can’t have them delivered directly to your campground, they can usually be picked up from designated pick-up locations.
Amazon Deliveries
If you order from Amazon.com, and you are close to a populated area, you may be able to get your parcel shipped to an Amazon Locker or counter for pickup. Simply select Amazon Locker or Counter as your delivery address when you check out. If you selected a locker, you’ll receive a code that will allow you to access your locker. If you select “Counter” you’ll be able to pick up your parcel from a counter at locations like convenience stores or pharmacies.
UPS Customer Care Center
Parcels can be sent to a specific UPS customer care center to be picked up. To get a parcel held for you to pick up at a UPS customer care center, the address should have your name followed by the words “HOLD FOR PICKUP” on the address. Click here for more details.
Conclusion
Now you know how full-time RVers get mail. With professional services, the internet, and many ways to get mail forwarded to just about anywhere, getting mail on the road is pretty easy.
As you can imagine, it can take a little pre-planning to time packages and receive forwarded mail on the road. Using a great RV trip planner is important. RV LIFE Trip Wizard is an excellent tool for trip planning that allows you to set a start date, lock in certain dates on your route, estimate trip cost, and more. Plus, you can get a daily trip itinerary sent directly to your email so you always know exactly where you are going and when. Learn more!
Great read! I haved used PostScan Mail for about 4 years and love it. It’s my physical address and my mailing adddress when the PMB number is added. I have just about eliminated traditional mail but still have scanned copies of important mail that I never physically received.
Thanks
General delivery with the Post Office is only a 30 day service. So if you plan to be there longer you can rent a PO Box.
The USPS also offers premium mail forwarding. This is where a customer, residential or PO Box, have their mail forwarded once a week from the post office. There is a fee.
USPS offers a scanning service for free on all letters, no catalog or ads, and sends them to your email.
Great article but I didn’t see even a reference to the info full timers would need regarding establishing a domicile. Maybe too much info for one article?
Many USPS PO’s require you to go in and show proof of ID BEFORE they will accept anything in your name. Yes it could just be sent back.
We have used Escapees in Livingston Texas to forward our mail for a year now. It is very easy, reasonably priced and arrives within a few days depending on how you have it sent.
One problem I ran into my truck was broken into and insurance co. Told me it was illegal by Texas law to pay my clam because I lived in R. V. And I didn’t have a permission address.
I have been using Americas Mailbox for a year, and am happy with their service. We have the add on service for getting the contents scanned. When mail comes. I can see the envelope front scanned on a secure portal. I can decide to get the contents scanned for $2.50 for up to 10 pages, or just ship the physical mail pile to the campground I will be at. They also shred or discard. My interactions are all online (scan or ship or shred requests)
I use Escapees. Happy with the service. Just know that when you use them, contact the magazines you’ve been getting (AARP, Motorhome, Consumer Reports, etc.) and make sure the MAILBOX NUMBER is also on the address or the magazines will get thrown out and not forwarded to you. I was able to contact these agencies and get back issues.
We’ve used Americas Mailbox for years while we travel full time. No problems at all until we opened an account at a new bank (Wells Fargo). Things were going well and we got back on the road. Then — the Federal government inspected our paperwork and notified us through Americas Mailbox that they were closing our accounts because we had not supplied an adequate RESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. Our hands were tied. We only had options that were untruthful (using a child’s residential address as our own)! This was completely unexpected and very inconvenient as we were on the road again. BEWARE OF PMB addresses.
I have used a UPS STORE MAILBOX for
my mailing address for the last several years. It doesn’t raise the same red flags to creditors and others as a P.O. Box. Then every so many weeks I will call the UPS Store and have them forward the box contents (as a package) to the address that I give them,. Shipped via the service that can get the package to me in the needed time frame.
Since I get back to the area where I have the UPS Store box, I use a local campground as my permanent address. At least that way I have an address for voters registration.