Hold mail

[Spletbr]

Heading south next week for 6 to 7 weeks. USPS said they can hold our mail for 4 weeks. Anyone else encounter this and/or have suggestions?

[chunker]

Heading south next week for 6 to 7 weeks. USPS said they can hold our mail for 4 weeks. Anyone else encounter this and/or have suggestions?

I have friends that go by my house every 3 weeks ago and go by the PO to pick up my mail. The also check the mail if something looks like it needs attention like the IRS letter I got in 18 when I was on the other side of the country. You also can forward the mail for a much longer period of time, not sure how long, but some things won't be forwarded.

[sourdough]

Are you going to be doing this once or repeatedly? If once, I think I'd ask a friend to pick up my mail every week or 2 depending on how much mail you get.

If this is going to be a recurring scenario you might want to take your mail carrier (rural route?) and/or postmaster out to lunch, get to know them and ask if they might just hold your mail for the duration of the time you are gone in a box vs the 30 day "rule".

I've tried forwarding twice and it is a disaster - still haven't gotten some of the mail sent to me 3-4 years ago - but we leave for months instead of a few weeks.

Not a lot of help I know but short of getting some sort of mail forwarding service out of SD etc. about all I can think of. Good luck.

[Eastham]

I pay the post office $17.00 a week and they save all mail and on Wednesday they send everything in a priority mail package. I get it Friday or Saturday. Expensive Yes but I get everything bank statement credit cards somethings cant be forwarded but this way you will get everything even the junk mail.I have been doing it for several years never a problem. We also have informed delivery with the po.they send you a email every morning and a picture of what mail is going to be delivered that day.that is free from the post office.

[Customer1]

I forward our mail to a family member about five months a year. They open everything and snap/send a picture of anything that looks important.

[JRTJH]

Our post office is a "extremely small, one man operation" so this may not apply to a larger, more impersonal post office facility. Our postmaster holds our mail for us. DW fills out a "hold order card" which is good for 30 days and then fills out several additional "hold order cards" with dates beginning when the last one expires. The post master "updates the hold order" and puts all our mail in a big bin. When we return, we go to the post office, pick up the bin and resume delivery.

The post master also said that we could rent a post office box at that facility and have all our mail delivered to that PO box. There is a 6 month forwarding limit, but with a "forward order" from our street address to the PO box at the same facility, our mail would never leave that building until we pick it up. If the PO box gets full, they stack the mail in a bin at the facility.

Those are two "possibilities"... I'd recommend you talk to the local post master to see what he/she recommends for your situation.

[sourdough]

Our post office is a "extremely small, one man operation" so this may not apply to a larger, more impersonal post office facility. Our postmaster holds our mail for us. DW fills out a "hold order card" which is good for 30 days and then fills out several additional "hold order cards" with dates beginning when the last one expires. The post master "updates the hold order" and puts all our mail in a big bin. When we return, we go to the post office, pick up the bin and resume delivery.

The post master also said that we could rent a post office box at that facility and have all our mail delivered to that PO box. There is a 6 month forwarding limit, but with a "forward order" from our street address to the PO box at the same facility, our mail would never leave that building until we pick it up. If the PO box gets full, they stack the mail in a bin at the facility.

Those are two "possibilities"... I'd recommend you talk to the local post master to see what he/she recommends for your situation.


^^^^This is what we do but did not mention it because so many can't receive that kind of personal service; probably should have. After the failure of forwarding we came upon this solution and it is the best thing we've found.

We also use the USPS mail preview so I get an email every day of the incoming mail. It has actually saved my bacon multiple times due to unexpected mail arrivals and would recommend it to any one.

[notanlines]

Danny said “ I've tried forwarding twice and it is a disaster - still haven't gotten some of the mail sent to me 3-4 years ago - but we leave for months instead of a few weeks. ”
A truer statement has never been uttered!
Do NOT use the mail forwarding option, period!

[Pearlie]

Heading south next week for 6 to 7 weeks. USPS said they can hold our mail for 4 weeks. Anyone else encounter this and/or have suggestions?

You might try having them hold your mail and on the instructions have the post office not deliver to your mailbox at home. Here's a thought. I think one of the choices at the end of the hold mail period is to have you pick it up at the post office. Use that option, and then when your hold mail date is done, you can do another hold mail for the next amount of time. You can't have two hold orders at the same time. Of course, you should check in person at your post office to see if that would work. Good luck.

[Spletbr]

Went to the PO and they were super nice and helped us out

[JRTJH]

Went to the PO and they were super nice and helped us out

That's great. If you don't mind, what was the final solution? No doubt it'll help someone else who is/was in the same situation.

[Spletbr]

That's great. If you don't mind, what was the final solution? No doubt it'll help someone else who is/was in the same situation.
They indicated they would hold it the full time...they had to play hard to get because of the rules but I know they were totally cool with it.

[mtofell]

I'd bet the 30 day rule has to do with low-life types running off trying to hide from things... or something along those lines. Once you present yourself to the post office as a responsible human being (credit score above 600 type of person) I'm sure they'll help you out.

[larryflew]

We go from some time in November through March. Start by having a son pick it up but we eventually end up doing Jan, Feb March in same park so we do forwarding for those months and have never had a problem. Regular free forwarding does our cc and bank items also.

On the returning end we stop the forward and do a hold 2 weeks b4 we head back.

[RedBird]

When we set out to travel for a while and when we traveled into Mexico we used the below service. What was nice is that we had a stable address no matter where we were. Our credit looked like we were in one place. The BEST part was that they would sort our mail, toss the junk, scan the rest and email our mail to us. They are bonded and insured and licensed to work with the USPS mail legally.

Of course we paid as many bills online or put them on auto pay so most of the mail was junk.

When something came that we needed to actually receive (like a birthday card, or gift or renewal credit card) then the below service would send it priority mail to wherever in the world we were. We highly recommend a service like this. Of course, we highly recommend Texas Home Base's service since we had such good luck with them.

https://www.texashomebase.com/

[Teri]

I have mail sent to my home, and have signed up for informed delivery thru Post Office. Informed delivery is a Post Office service, where they take picture of envelope or outside of package and email it to you everyday mail is delivered. My neighbor picks up mail every so often and puts in a bag for me. Then if I see something that needs my attention I have neighbor mail that item or open it for me. I am away from home all winter and works good for me. Even though I could have mail forwarded thru a RVer mail service but this saves me over $120 a year and see what mail I am receiving daily rather than wait for forwarding Ms service. Note, it was a pain to setup at first thru PO but worth it.

[cliff]

We give our mailman two ten pound boxes of milk bones every year. He appreciates them. We talk to him and he will hold the mail for whatever time we are gone. We just came back from a six week trip and he brought us the mail when he saw our fiver n the yard.

[duh1]

They do for four then have a neighbor pick it up and do it for another four. A neighbor to check and pick up is important. When it works it works well. I would en outage you to mention it to your carrier in person as well

[notanlines]

Cliff, "We give our mailman two ten pound boxes of milk bones every year. He appreciates them."
Do you realize the comments you would receive if you were on a truck forum? Members here are very conservative.....I couldn't bring myself to spring forth with a little humor. There is a pharmacist in Kansas City who will probably take up the slack here. :eek::hide:
Sorry, Chip!

[ctbruce]

Milk bones are great. You dont even have to dunk them to enjoy them.

[J&JRock]

We went on a trip last year and had our mail held. If you know your carrier make sure they know and have someone drop by to make sure the subs kept delivering. Ended up great and they delivered it as requested at the end of the trip.

[gkainz]

You can initiate, manage, change or cancel a mail hold on usps.com.

[dadnjesse]

I don't know about where you live but in my town the USPS is the most incompetent mail carrier. I put a hold in person, filled out the form and went to Disney for 9 days, came home to mail pouring out my mail box. I get other peoples mail all the time. I have people I have never met come to my house and bring my mail that they get.

[trucker LOU]

Hey, sounds like you live in my neighborhood.----Lou----

[notanlines]

gkainz, in theory your statement is correct. In practice, nothing could be further from the truth. Read dadnjesse's comment. If you did your job with the same diligence and with the same results as the post office you would be fired immediately.
On edit: Let me clarify that my comment is mainly aimed towards the myth that one can perform those services on line. To all of you who are 'up close and personal' with your carriers, YMMV.

[gkainz]

gkainz, in theory your statement is correct. In practice, nothing could be further from the truth. Read dadnjesse's comment. If you did your job with the same diligence and with the same results as the post office you would be fired immediately.

I understand the responses and am sorry your experience is different than mine. I should have said "Personally, I've had good luck using the USPS mail hold feature on the website".

For me, almost a rural route but not quite, I'm friends with my mail carrier and we've always had a mail hold start and stop on time as scheduled.

[flybouy]

Our "normal" postman is fantastic. He's been on the route before we moved in 22 years ago. When he's out for vacation or whatever the replacement is good, took her a few years to get the quirks of the idiot developers that built this development. We live on "blank, blank Way" and down the hill behind us is a cul-de-sac with the same "blank, blank" only "Court". And yes, the idiots numbered the houses with the same numbers. The "blank" blank" is 13 letters and one space long, two spaces before you get to the Way or Court so some mail doesn't have enough space for the last word. So if the letter carrier doesn't know your name (and take the time to read it) it's a crap shoot.

[shermris]

The first time we were gone for an extended period of time and could not forward our mail we had our niece stay in our house while we were gone. Another time I got a post office box at the local Post Office, left the key with my son, and had him pick up my mail once a week. I know there is a limit to how long a post office will hold your mail; I don't know if there is a law that would prevent a designated person from picking up your mail, or it any such action would increase the time they would hold your mail.

[shermris]

I once had someone I never met deliver a FedEx package that fell out of the truck when the driver made a delivery at his home. When I have my mail held I go to the post office and fill out the hold mail card, then have someone check during the week to ensure nothing is being left in my box.

[chunker]

I once had someone I never met deliver a FedEx package that fell out of the truck when the driver made a delivery at his home. When I have my mail held I go to the post office and fill out the hold mail card, then have someone check during the week to ensure nothing is being left in my box.

The hold mail request can be done online. I live in a rural county in souther AL and the PO is in a small town. After the online request I also called and talked to the post master and gave the name of a friend who would be periodically picking up the mail. Sometimes small town is better especially in these days.