Meds.Mail.Etc.on long cruises

[Chickadee910]

Okay what do you do about mail and medication etc. on these long cruises. I just can’t wrap my head around how it’s handled. Thank you.

[kazu]

10 minutes ago, Chickadee910 said:

Okay what do you do about mail and medication etc. on these long cruises. I just can’t wrap my head around how it’s handled. Thank you.

 

I put my mail on hold and get it when I get home.  when I did need meds, I was able to get a longer prescription - no problem.

 

I pay my bills on line and have access to them on line so that are paid during our travels.  No more prepaying bills. 😉 

 

Use on line banking to keep track of your banks accounts and credit cards to make sure nothing untoward is going on.  You can pretty much message them all on line. 😉 

 

It’s not that hard really.  Get in practice now with some of the things and it will be a piece of cake on the cruise.  The only thing that is a PITA is coming home and the mountain of junk mail LOL.

[rkacruiser]

3 minutes ago, kazu said:

The only thing that is a PITA is coming home and the mountain of junk mail LOL.

 

🤣    When I returned in late April from my world cruise, I had 4 USPS large containers full of mail.  I sorted through all of them for First Class Mail ASAP--which took several days--but, the rest of the stuff.....it was Fall before I returned all of those containers to the Post Office. 

 

20 minutes ago, Chickadee910 said:

Okay what do you do about mail and medication etc. on these long cruises. I just can’t wrap my head around how it’s handled. Thank you.

 

I was able to put a "hold on my mail" for the initial period of time and was allowed to have a pre-prepared and signed forms for a friend to request an additional "hold mail" time period.  That was when the local Postmaster was cooperative for such.  When I have needed to do so since, the local Postmistress has been MOST uncooperative.  Thus, I have had to use the USPS Premium Mail Forwarding Service and have the mail sent to a friend's home. 

 

My PBM has been cooperative (as has my doctors in writing the prescriptions for longer than 90 days) in providing sufficient medicines for me.  But, one needs to start this process well before the time one leaves for a long cruise.  

[iancal]

We moved as much as possible to the web when we retired.  Our neighbour empties our box of junk mail one every 7-10 days.

 

DW gets three months worth of prescription meds prior to leaving home..or whatever amount is required.

 

On line banking from time to time to monitor accounts.  We also have alarms on some accounts.

 

Never had problem…not even when we were away for seven months.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 13, 2021 by iancal

[Seasick Sailor]

We have auto pay on all utilities and meds. The rest can wait til we get home. (Have been gone longest 11 weeks, so world cruiser's will for sure weigh in!) Post office will hold mail for 90 days, so if you're gone longer, perhaps neighbor will collect your mail. 

[Chickadee910]

Thank you all. 

[syesmar]

@Chickadee910 One thing I’ve found helpful all the time, even when not traveling, is USPS Informed Delivery. I get an e-mail each morning with a scanned photo of my mail (except for junk mail). 

When I go on vacation, I put my mail On Hold. Informed Delivery e-mails are still sent during this time. When I get home, I can compare what I received versus the Informed Delivery e-mails to double check that nothing is missing.

 

Info on Informed Delivery: https://faq.usps.com/s/article/Informed-Delivery-The-Basics

Info on Mail Hold: https://www.usps.com/manage/hold-mail.htm

 

Most insurers have a “Vacation Override” upon request to get prescriptions early if traveling. 

 

All the Best!

Edited October 14, 2021 by syesmar

[rkacruiser]

7 minutes ago, syesmar said:

One thing I’ve found helpful all the time, even when not traveling, is USPS Informed Delivery. I get an e-mail each morning with a scanned photo of my mail (

 

I have learned about this; it's a recent innovation, I think.  And, I think it would be helpful for those who are sailing on long cruises.

 

As for monthly bills, auto debit from one's checking account is really helpful whether one is away from home or not!  Combine that with auto deposit of income--what is there that one cannot like?  

[oakridger]

My post office in California will only hold for one month. After that or instead of hold I must have mail forwarded to either a PO Box or friend’s address. I also now have Informed Delivery. It’s useful to know when getting important mail!  

[Gretchendz]

For a really long trip there are virtual mail services like Postscanmail.  They scan the envelope, you tell them to toss it or save it or open it. They will open it and scan the contents for you so you can review.  They will also forward it somewhere if you want. All for a price of course!

Edited October 14, 2021 by Gretchendz

[57redbird]

For the USPS -- can you submit 2 (or however many) "Hold Mail' cards with subsequent dates so they will continue to hold your mail?

[StLouisCruisers]

59 minutes ago, 57redbird said:

For the USPS -- can you submit 2 (or however many) "Hold Mail' cards with subsequent dates so they will continue to hold your mail?

 

I doubt that.  What I would do when we were away 2 months was to stop the mail for 30 days, then have it delivered to the front porch.  My great next door neighbors would know which day that was and take the container of mail to their house.  They would also take a yellow hold card I had filled out for the next 30 days and put it in my mailbox for the carrier to pick up.  There was only one (or it could be a couple of days) that the mail would be put in the mailbox, then the second mail hold began.  We would come home and get all the mail from the neighbor as well as the second drop off sitting on our porch which we timed with our return home.  

 

I did that several times for cruises, then tried approaching the post office and asking if we could have it held longer than 30 days.  Sometimes they say okay.  They worry about mail taking up too much space at their post office building.  If they say no that time, we revert to the two hold periods outlined above.  

[rkacruiser]

3 hours ago, 57redbird said:

For the USPS -- can you submit 2 (or however many) "Hold Mail' cards with subsequent dates so they will continue to hold your mail?

 

Once upon a time with different Postmaster Generals and with different local Post Masters, quite possible for such to be successfully done.  Not now.  They want you to buy Premium Forwarding Service.  Not inexpensive, but, it does work well.  

[The-Inside-Cabin]

On 10/13/2021 at 5:59 PM, Chickadee910 said:

Okay what do you do about mail and medication etc. on these long cruises. I just can’t wrap my head around how it’s handled. Thank you.

Here is some information about how to handle a variety of issues associated with long cruises.

[JeffElizabeth]

Has anyone tried having medications shipped to the ship? With mail we just use my nephew as a house sitter. 

[oakridger]

6 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

 

Once upon a time with different Postmaster Generals and with different local Post Masters, quite possible for such to be successfully done.  Not now.  They want you to buy Premium Forwarding Service.  Not inexpensive, but, it does work well.  

My experience was the post office would not do more than one 30 day hold per year. I tried two 30 day requests and was turned down. 

[SargassoPirate]

5 hours ago, oakridger said:

My experience was the post office would not do more than one 30 day hold per year. I tried two 30 day requests and was turned down. 

 

She Who Must Be Obeyed and I live in a small town with a rural mailbox.  We've had the same carrier for years.  He gets a tip every Christmas and a zip lock bag of brownies every so often.  I submit a hold request and he ignores the limit and continues to hold the mail until we get back.

 

We used Catalog Choice to eliminate unwanted catalogs.  We went with paperless billing years ago,  We do all of our banking online.  Some days we don't get any mail at all.  So holding our mail is easy beezy for the carrier.

 

Neither of us take any prescription medications and it's no trouble loading up on enough supplements for an extended trip.

 

We count ourselves among the fortunate.

 

 

 

 

[Turtles06]

Unfortunately, the USPS rule is only a 30-day temporary hold.  It's great that some folks have been able to work out longer holds with their carriers or local Post Office, but no one can count on that.

 

From the USPS:  "USPS Hold Mail® service can hold your mail safely at your local Post Office™ facility until you return, for up to 30 days. To hold your mail longer or to reroute your mail, please sign up for a forwarding service." 

 

https://www.usps.com/manage/hold-mail.htm

[RGEDad]

On 10/13/2021 at 7:25 PM, rkacruiser said:

As for monthly bills, auto debit from one's checking account is really helpful whether one is away from home or not!

I let very, very few companies access to "Auto Debit" direct from my bank account (Far too easy for them to take what they want). All my utilities, and most companies can get set-up for auto pay from a Credit Card - Much more safer. I can pay bills with checks from my bank account (even paper checks if need be). But yes, we always cruise with email /web access from our computer. 

As for Drugs, We used to take 5 days extra - Now we take at least 2 weeks extra (enough for 2 week Quarantine). And we always take our OTC drugs for every ailment/condition known to man, and all of our instruments/meters stuff. Add now - Abbott BINAX kit to the COVID Stuff at the very first sign of - well anything.

I have had issues with the USPS Mail Hold (not being Held) - but after talking to two mail carriers, they explained the process from our electronic application - to the actual hold process (very convoluted - multiple hands) - he said go through that on-line hold process and then - - Give a copy to your mail carrier - that will work much more better...

[Turtles06]

3 minutes ago, RGEDad said:

I have had issues with the USPS Mail Hold (not being Held) - but after talking to two mail carriers, they explained the process from our electronic application - to the actual hold process (very convoluted - multiple hands) - he said go through that on-line hold process and then - - Give a copy to your mail carrier - that will work much more better...

Similar problem here. We submitted the on line Hold Mail application, but nothing was held. Fortunately, we used a start date that was a couple of days before we left, and so we saw that the Hold wasn’t happening. We went to our local Post Office, where we were told that the supervisor has to process the on line applications, and “sometimes” they are ignored!  Great.  They said the safest thing to do is submit the application in person at your Post Office. Ridiculous that this should be necessary. (We used to have a great mail carrier, but he left and was succeeded by a series of temps, which just made things worse.)

[secfan1]

For Rx, I was unable to get more than 90 days thru the medicare supplement program. However, I have found that using goodrx web site, I can get my Rx cheaper than by using the medicare insurance. And, I can get a refill anytime my Dr will write the scrip. So, I can load up whatever amount is needed for a cruise longer than 90 days.

For mail, I set up a large PO Box and had mail forwarded to that.

[KirkNC]

We rent the largest PO Box available and forward our mail to it.  Since junk mail does not forward, it’s never been all that full even after four month world cruises.  Virtually all our bills are on auto pay, most against our credit cards and we get 90 day prescriptions (we get an over ride for cruises longer then 90 days).  One thing to remember is your car battery, we have a garage and hook up a trickle charger.  We shut off the water, hot water heater and can control our thermostat remotely but usually we set it to hold the house at 50 degrees.  I also put a couple caps full of bleach in the toilet bowl so it won’t grow anything disgusting.

[rkacruiser]

10 hours ago, RGEDad said:

I let very, very few companies access to "Auto Debit" direct from my bank account (Far too easy for them to take what they want). All my utilities, and most companies can get set-up for auto pay from a Credit Card - Much more safer.

 

I use both methods depending upon the bills that I need to have paid on a monthly basis.  Some are paid by auto debit; some are paid by credit card which is then paid by auto debit.  My property taxes are paid by auto debit.  

 

I have had no issues and certainly don't expect to do so.  

[iancal]

5 hours ago, KirkNC said:

We rent the largest PO Box available and forward our mail to it.  Since junk mail does not forward, it’s never been all that full even after four month world cruises.  Virtually all our bills are on auto pay, most against our credit cards and we get 90 day prescriptions (we get an over ride for cruises longer then 90 days).  One thing to remember is your car battery, we have a garage and hook up a trickle charger.  We shut off the water, hot water heater and can control our thermostat remotely but usually we set it to hold the house at 50 degrees.  I also put a couple caps full of bleach in the toilet bowl so it won’t grow anything disgusting.

I pull the batteries.    Pull the ragtop battery when I take it off the road each fall.

 

I  pull the battery from the daily driver, switch the insurance to fire/theft the day we leave for several months.  Both are in our unheated garage.  Never an issue.

[drowelf]

On 10/15/2021 at 8:50 AM, RGEDad said:

I let very, very few companies access to "Auto Debit" direct from my bank account (Far too easy for them to take what they want).

Very true, I've read too many horror stories of people getting burned by their utility company because the had 'auto debit' for them. Instead of utility company taking the normal couple of hundred $$ for say the electric bill, an oops by their system results in several thousand $$$ being taken. Takes many months or years to get it all straighten out and you are out your cash during this time. With todays ability to pay bills online, its easy to schedule our utilities to be paid by us either via CC or Bank Account. The big difference is that we initiate and determine the amount to be paid, we do not let the utilities just reach into our accounts and take what they believe they are owed.