Stop your mail for cruise???

[bearswife]

Do you tell your post office to stop your mail or do you have someone get it everyday? Someone told me never stop your mail because you never know who will find out and rob your house. Just curious as to what everyone else does. Thanks

[Andee]

I don't like to inconvenience a friend or a neighbor, and I trust that PO employees won't rob my house. Who else would know if I had my mail stopped? We arrange for them to deliver it all the da ywe get home from vacation.

[wrp96]

I have my best friend or a family member check my mail. That way if there is any mail that is time sensitive, it can be taken care of immediately instead of waiting the week (or longer) until I get home. I also have somebody stay in my house while I'm gone.

[cruise_lover]

My mail comes to a P.O. box so they won't put a "hold" on it. But I have neighbors watch my house. They walking around it two or three times a day to make sure no one has tried to break in (missing screens, etc.). I am fortune enough to have wonderful neighbors.

[bubbles1209]

We always have the post office hold our mail until we get back, however, our local police department offers a free housewatch program for when you go out of town. We simply go to the police department, fill out a form on what dates we'll be gone, when we'll be back, what vehicle will be left at home, which lights will be left on, who if anyone, (for us it's the pet-sitter) will be coming or going, and they check on your house several times a day at no charge. They do a full check, walk around the outside of the house to check everything is ok, and that nothing has been tampered with. When we fill out the form we authorize them to arrest anyone that doesn't belong on the spot. I love this service, it makes us feel so much better about being gone.

[WinnieinWA]

We always have the post office hold our mail until we get back, however, our local police department offers a free housewatch program for when you go out of town. We simply go to the police department, fill out a form on what dates we'll be gone, when we'll be back, what vehicle will be left at home, which lights will be left on, who if anyone, (for us it's the pet-sitter) will be coming or going, and they check on your house several times a day at no charge. They do a full check, walk around the outside of the house to check everything is ok, and that nothing has been tampered with. When we fill out the form we authorize them to arrest anyone that doesn't belong on the spot. I love this service, it makes us feel so much better about being gone.

 

Thanks for that reminder. Our police dept. offers the same thing but I forgot about it till now. I'll take advantage on my next vacations.

 

My mailbox is in a community type with locks on each cubby and there is plenty of room in there for a weeks worth of mail so I don't do either but I'll never travel for more than 7 days out because of my cats. At present I usually only pick up my mail about once a week anyway.

[Spikesgirl]

We have a P.O. Box, but I still put a hold on our as I hate coming back to find the box crammed with mail and stuff smashed into a too-small space. I just indicate the day we are returning and it buncled up in a couple of piles when I call for it the next day. Since we cruise usually over 16 days and add a pre and post to it, we are often gone a month and there's no way our mail would fit. We also stop our street mail as well, but for some reason, that never seems to work and our pet sitter ends up clearly out the communual box once a week.

 

Charlie

[megr1125]

We always have the post office hold our mail until we get back, however, our local police department offers a free housewatch program for when you go out of town. We simply go to the police department, fill out a form on what dates we'll be gone, when we'll be back, what vehicle will be left at home, which lights will be left on, who if anyone, (for us it's the pet-sitter) will be coming or going, and they check on your house several times a day at no charge. They do a full check, walk around the outside of the house to check everything is ok, and that nothing has been tampered with. When we fill out the form we authorize them to arrest anyone that doesn't belong on the spot. I love this service, it makes us feel so much better about being gone.

 

Ditto us......allowing mail to accumlate in your mailbox is an open invitation for identity theft!

[Keith1010]

Depends on how long we will be away. If for a short cruise will ask the neighbor to take in the mail and if on a longer cruise will have the post office hold the mail. As usual, there is really no right or wrong answer to this one and either way would would work well.

 

Keith

[paul929207]

We have a mail box out on the street in front of the house. We always stop the mail if we are away for more than a niight or two.

[jcanino]

I have the post office hold my mail and have the two newspapers I receive suspend delivery and hold all my papers until I return.

[dforeigner]

I always stop mail delivery when going on vacation. If someone is staking out your house. They will know when someone is there or out for a few days.

[RoofingPrincess]

We live in an apartment-conversion condo. The mailbox isn't very big at all. I suppose I could get one of our neighbors to pick it up, but it's just as easy (if not more so) to get online and have the Post Office hold it, then bring it to us our first full day home.

As for break-ins, I know enough other people on my floor that I'm sure they'd notice if someone strange was trying to get in my door.

[bonniemari]

I also stop my paper. If we are only going to be gone for 3-4 days I get my neighbors to get them-I do the same for them when they go out of town.

 

I have a pretty good burglar/fire alarm so I am not to worried about anyone breaking in. My BIL came out to do the annual termite thing and I forgot and set the alarm. He went out a door off the garage that goes out to the pool/patio area and set the alarm off. The police were here in 2 1/2 minutes.

[LHP]

We have the Post Office hold it and the paper stopped. If we are going to be gone longer than 5 days, we have the Volunteer Senior Police do a daily walk around the house (this is a service our town offers). They have contact numbers etc if needed.

 

Besides, anything of value is locked inside a 1,500 pound gun safe that no one is going to "tote off"...without A LOT of trouble and effort!!! :)

[Skywench]

I also stop the mail and the paper.

[dforeigner]

Also do not forget to notify your credit card companies that you will be using your cards in foreign countries. This way their fraud department does not disable the cards as a precaution because they are unable to contact you to confirm the transaction.

[love2vacation]

Last cruise we where gone 10 days. We had them hold the mail at the post office and you can wither pick it up when you get back (we did this) or you can request to have it all delivered to your house on a specific date. We also stopped our newspaper.

 

My parents are getting old and they didn't have to stop every day to pick up these things. They did stop every couple days to check on things.

 

Next cruise we are getting a dog sitter to stay at our house and she (our daughter) will watch our dog and then take in mail, water plants, etc.

[Lionesss]

Being old fashioned we still have someone stop over daily to check out the house, pick up the paper and the mail.

I am always nervous that a pipe will break and flood the house. It is nice knowing someone is there to find any problems before we get home.

[Sundagger]

I always have a petsitter come over a couple of times a day - she takes in the mail and newspaper in addition to taking care of my cat, etc.

 

The one time I was "between pets", I had the post office stop my mail. Well ... they kept delivering it for several days after I told them to stop, then didn't re-start delivery until several days after I told them to.

[Kathie44]

We used to have our neighbor take in the mail, but now that we are going on longer cruises, I have it held at the PO and delivered the day we come home or the day after if we are arriving really late.

The PO will stop the mail if a week's worth builds up in your box. A former neighbor got the dates mixed up a couple of years ago and didn't bring it in on time.

Since she moved away, other neighbors have volunteered to bring in the mail when we are away on weekends. We are gone to our lake house most weekends from April to Nov. and some during the winter. I use the PO hold when cruising to give our friends a break, even though they are willing to it.

We always stop the newspaper, take a credit for the missed days and our son saves his papers for us.

We used to like the mail brought in and one of our kids stop by to check for bills due while we were gone. I would leave a check, if necessary. But now 99% of our bills are paid automatically and it's not a problem.

[suzysunshine]

I always go online to have my mail held, and I have it delivered the day we come back so that we can look at it right away. Never had a problem.

 

Now, my next-door neighbor is a different story. We get his mail for him when he's away because he feels the same way about not wanting anyone to know he is away - and he is a cop!!

[bonniemari]

I always go online to have my mail held, and I have it delivered the day we come back so that we can look at it right away. Never had a problem.

 

Now, my next-door neighbor is a different story. We get his mail for him when he's away because he feels the same way about not wanting anyone to know he is away - and he is a cop!!

 

My neighbor is the same way-he doesn't like strangers (Postman/paperboy) to know they are away. Since we are all empty nesters and travel a lot we watch out for each other. On longers trips I always have mine stopped but on the shorter ones they do the job.

 

We always bring a little something back for them. Maybe JBM coffee or rum from Jamaica or macadamia nuts from Hawaii. Just a little something to day thanks.

 

My housekeeper takes my fur babies home with her while we travel. She is their second mom. Besides paying her for taking care of them I also bring her a little something back from our travels.

[logbook]

We have wonderful neighbors who get our mail and keep an eye on our house. We did "stop" the mail once, and something got messed up, and they delivered it. It was jammed in the box, and the mailman went to a neighbor to see what was going on.... I was so mad!! We never did that again. In fact, we tell our mailman just to leave out mail with the neighbor for the week.

[flamomo]

I have the Post Office hold my mail when I will be away for whatever reason.

I do have them start to mail hold the day before I leave, so I will know that they have acted on my request.

I'm lucky in that I live in a retirement community where there is always at least one of my immediate neighbors around, and they "watch my house", just as I do for them when they are away. We also have a volunteer security patrol within the community, staffed by residents, and they check on my house if I request it.