mail delivery when cruising for 4-5 months?

[PeterPan48]

We are preparing for a WC. USPS only holds mail for 30 days at a time.  How do you experienced travelers handle delivery for a 4-5 month cruise?

[CDR2001]

I’ve not done a long cruise, but we’ve had mail forwarded to our local daughter’s home when gone for over 30 days. She takes care of any bills that aren’t paid digitally by us. 

[chengkp75]

Get a mailbox at Mailboxes, Etc or UPS store, and have the USPS forward all mail to that box. USPS mail forwarding is 12 months, standard, with up to another 18 months optional.

[JM0115]

Forward to a family member or neighbor.

[SantaFe1]

And be sure you have USPS’s service Informed Delivery so you can see what has actually arrived for you.  There is very little except junk these days, but sometimes there is something you need to know about and have opened by your family member.   

[Breckski]

2 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

Get a mailbox at Mailboxes, Etc or UPS store, and have the USPS forward all mail to that box. USPS mail forwarding is 12 months, standard, with up to another 18 months optional.

 

Be careful with the UPS store or similar.  I know many of those will start charging pretty high fees if they hold your mail for longer than x number of days.  The fees are higher for packages vs envelopes.

[TayanaLorna]

We had a friend pick up our mail at PO.  Most of it was junk.  All our bills were paid on line.  Bank statements could wait.  But now even those are on line.  PO needed a letter from us stating who was getting the mail and the time period.  Found that forwarding to someone worked but it took some time to kick in.  Mail was inevitably still sitting at PO.

[CDNPolar]

Personally, we have gone electronic with everything and the only physical mail of importance is the arrival of a new credit card or something like that.

 

I would fill out a mail forward request and have it all go to a family member if I thought that there would be something of value.

[SantaFe1]

6 minutes ago, CDNPolar said:

Personally, we have gone electronic with everything and the only physical mail of importance is the arrival of a new credit card or something like that.

Yes, we also had everything electronic before our WC.  But you never know what will arrive.  I got a jury summons.  Since I knew about it, I was able to deal with it while abroad.  

[CDNPolar]

30 minutes ago, SantaFe1 said:

Yes, we also had everything electronic before our WC.  But you never know what will arrive.  I got a jury summons.  Since I knew about it, I was able to deal with it while abroad.  

 

Yes, the jury summons would be an issue, and I have to consider that because I got deferred on my last summons and expect to be recalled anytime now!  Did not think of that.

[SantaFe1]

4 minutes ago, CDNPolar said:

 

Yes, the jury summons would be an issue, and I have to consider that because I got deferred on my last summons and expect to be recalled anytime now!  Did not think of that.

Well it never occurred to me either.  I also got a letter from my doctor saying she was re-locating.  And lots and lots of Viking catalogues!

[CDNPolar]

11 minutes ago, SantaFe1 said:

Well it never occurred to me either.  I also got a letter from my doctor saying she was re-locating.  And lots and lots of Viking catalogues!

 

Food for thought.

[PeterPan48]

Thank you all for such good suggestions. We, too, have gone almost completely on line to pay bills. However, there are always some rogue pieces of mail that sneak through. And of course it will be TAX season!  Informed delivery will be a great help.

[Sunflower & The Scientist]

19 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

 

Yes, the jury summons would be an issue, and I have to consider that because I got deferred on my last summons and expect to be recalled anytime now!  Did not think of that.

Jury summons is our worst cruise nightmare. In our state you only get one time to defer, and there is no age limit....we'll be 105 years old and still getting called. They can call us to appear up to 3 times a year. We're just waiting for it to mess with one of our cruises. 

[OneSixtyToOne]

40 minutes ago, Sunflower & The Scientist said:

Jury summons is our worst cruise nightmare. In our state you only get one time to defer, and there is no age limit....we'll be 105 years old and still getting called. They can call us to appear up to 3 times a year. We're just waiting for it to mess with one of our cruises. 

3 times a year? Wow! In CA it’s every year unless you are selected for a jury and then it’s 3 years. It’s also a one day appearance and if not selected, you are good for another year. Pre-paid vacations are a valid excuse to defer.

 

Edited September 6, 2023 by OneSixtyToOne