How do RVers get mail? That is one of the two questions we get as soon as we tell someone we travel full-time in an RV.
We live in a world where you can get everything in your inbox… Yet the people we meet who think our lifestyle is fantasy can’t fathom not having a physical place to get mail.
But where do you live?
The woman at the toll booth in New York was especially dumbfounded that we had our plate number on our ID…
Just because you travel full-time doesn’t mean getting your mail will be impossible. But in case you are wondering, here’s the down low on how you too can get you mail if you decide to travel.
Getting mail as an RVer usually means either asking a family member to collect it for you to paying a mail service to do the same thing. We changed out residency to Florida so it was important for us to have a mail service that would provide an address for us.
So let’s dive in shall we?
What is the best mail forwarding service for RVers?
There are more mail service options out there than I imagined when we were looking for a place to handle our mail.
I didn’t look around too much but instead went on a recommendation from a friend and it’s worked out nicely.
We chose St. Brendan’s Isle in part due to the fact that they outlined the exact process for us to switch our residency to Florida.
The steps to switching residency would have been a nightmare without their assistance in detailing the process in advance.
Not to mention their staff is really friendly and will actually pick up the phone to talk to you.
Other Mail Services for Travelers:
- America’s Mailbox
- Escapees
- Traveling Mailbox
- Good Sam Mail Service
- USA2Me
On average my shipping cost per month to send our mail to us is between $10-$12. All in all we pay around $20 per month for mail service between shipping and the service fees.
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What does a mail forwarding service do?
Depending on what you pay for a mail service will do a variety of things for you. First and foremost they will accept your mail and alert you when you have new items.
Beyond that they will scan the front of the envelope or box and upload it to your profile. This is an extra service I pay St. Brendan’s for so I don’t ask them to forward mail I don’t need.
They will shred any junk mail for you. No need to pay postage to have that shipped to for you to throw it away. They will also open any mail you ask them to open and scan it for you as well.
I don’t request my mail to be opened and scanned since I know what’s in it just by looking at the envelope scan and it costs extra. It’s probably cheaper for me to have my mail opened and scanned but I really just prefer to do that part myself.
Our mail service address also serves as our residency address and is good for anything legal, financial or medical. We get odd questions from time to time but most people don’t even notice.
How do you handle mail when traveling?
Our mail goes to Florida and they scan the front of the packages for us and upload it to our profile. Then once per month I get online and request they send our mail to wherever we are at.
Since they are approved USPS partners they ship by the postal service and you can choose from next day all the way to just basic priority. I find it easier to request mail once per month so I don’t have to coordinate delivery or stays around our reservations.
We travel freely without reservations so mail is always an afterthought but when we need to arrange delivery we just get online and tell them where we are and they ship it out the next day.
Can you get mail at an RV park?
Yes, in most places you can get mail at RV parks but I always ask first.
State and National Parks won’t allow delivery of mail so you will need to arrange for it to go somewhere else if you primarily stay in those places.
Post Offices will usually accept general delivery mail for 30 days if you ask them as well. We have only had 1 post office refuse delivery of our mail and that was in Key West. Since then I have always called in advance and asked.
In some cases, you will need to go into the Post Office and sign a form. And don’t even think about calling and asking if they’ve received your package because they won’t tell you. It’s frustrating at times but worth it.
St. Brendan’s Isle will ship my mail to post offices at a flat rate. You can even have it shipped to mailbox stores but they like to charge an extra fee to accept and hold your package.
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Does mail forwarding work for packages?
Yes, yes it does. That includes Amazon but honestly if you can help it don’t have packages sent to mail forward services if you can avoid it. Especially if you’re stateside. You may very well pay double shipping if you do this and no one wants to do that.
The only thing I will pay double shipping on is my monthly subscription order from Young Living. I pay the lowest shipping fee from them since I don’t need it right away.
When we order Amazon our packages always come through the post office so I just have them delivered to our RV park or local post office.
There are so many RV mail services for travelers out there that you just need to do your research and figure out which one fits your budget and needs.
If you need a Florida residency then St. Brendan’s Isle is a fabulous and affordable choice. They will also help you with the steps to set up your residency and show you where you need to register to vote.
Plus when you get out there and start to absorb the world around you then you will quickly realize that getting your mail is the least of your worries.
There has only been one instance where we ordered packages and they weren’t delivered on time and we downright forgot we ordered them.
