mail while you are gone...

[Megapixel]

assuming i don't plan on forwarding my address / mail to a relative and i'm moving out of a rental upon trail departure, what are my options? I'm thinking a post office box. If this is the route to take, does anyone here have experience with PO boxes?

1. How often would someone need to actually check it?
2. Could i get a PO box in any state (like one other than where i live where a friend might be able to collect the mail easier)?

Can you have the Post Office just hold your mail for a specified amount of time, or if a post office box starts to overfill???

thanks in advance.

[Appalachian Tater]

USPS will only hold your mail for up to thirty days. My experience has been that they are pretty good about that.

You can get a PO box wherever they are available, check prices and availability and apply online then mail in your application:

http://www.usps.com/receive/businesssolutions/poboxesonline.htm

You might try UPS Store/Mail Boxes Etc., they will do whatever you want as long as you pay them for it.

If you are going to get a friend to check it for you why not just change your address to their address? It is very easy to change your address, you just fill out a post card. (Move the entire household with your last name in case you are getting mail under variations of your name--initials, etc. You'll understand this when you see the form.) That would be the easiest for them as well as the cheapest for you. They can just dump your mail in a box until you get back.

If you have a USPS PO box and don't check it very often and it routinely fills up they will tell you you need to check it more often or rent a bigger box.

The first thing to consider is the amount of mail you are getting. You can cancel magazine subscriptions, ask to stop receiving catalogs and junk mail, and put all your bills on auto-pay or at least go paperless with them. That will make your life easier regardless of what you decide to do even if you don't thru-hike.

[Trillium]

I just checked w/ the PO as well about how long a PO will hold/leave mail in a PO box and was told that after 30 days, they send it back.

[Sierra Echo]

assuming i don't plan on forwarding my address / mail to a relative and i'm moving out of a rental upon trail departure, what are my options? I'm thinking a post office box. If this is the route to take, does anyone here have experience with PO boxes?

1. How often would someone need to actually check it?
2. Could i get a PO box in any state (like one other than where i live where a friend might be able to collect the mail easier)?

Can you have the Post Office just hold your mail for a specified amount of time, or if a post office box starts to overfill???

thanks in advance.

Ok here is what happens. When a PO Box, just like any standard mailbox fills up, the mail is removed and a note is left. The note will tell you that your mail will be held for 10 days. Once that 10 days is up the mail will be returned to the sender and a "moved left no address" card will be filled out. Any future mail that you recieve will be returned to the send as "undeliverable as addressed."
With a hold of address card. It gives you the option to hold the mail up to thirty days. If you check the option of picking up the mail upon your return, the mail will be held up to 10 days past the 30th day. If your mail hasn't been picked up by then it will more then likely be returned to the senders. However, if you call your local postmaster and ask nicely, they will sometimes hold it longer. But too much longer they will tell you to go ahead and have your mail forwarded. If you chose to have your mail forwarded, they will only forward first and second class mail (periodicals).
I don't know what kind of mail you get, so beyond that I can't help.
But that is about it in a nutshell.

[obscura]

There are mail forwarding services that you can subscribe to that will receive your mail, scan it in online for viewing and then let you choose whether to have it forwarded to you or destroyed.

http://www.earthclassmail.com/ Earth Class Mail is an example, but there are quite a few competing services. Just google "mail forwarding service" They typically cater to full time RV'ers, but I don't see why it wouldn't work for hiking.

[dcmidnight]

Check around your neighborhood/area to see if there's anyone you might be able to hire to take in your mail once a week. In my area I found it in the strangest of places - a dogwalking service. They are already in the area and for a few bucks a day they will take in the mail once a week and leave it in a box. Seemed, to me, to be cheaper to go this route vs having to change my address and then rent a PO Box on top of that.

IMO changing your address is a huge PITA.

[BSF-Hiker]

assuming i don't plan on forwarding my address / mail to a relative and i'm moving out of a rental upon trail departure, what are my options?

Since you are vacating your current residence, you need to file a change of address to somewhere or a PO Box. Otherwise, all your mail will be returned to the sender after 10 days from when your carrier notices you have moved, or when someone else moves into the rental unit.

You can rent a PO Box for up to a year in advance. Your mail and/or overflow mail will be held there till you return or the rent runs out. If the rental period expires, 10 days later your mail will be returned as "box closed, no order".

I would also advise the postmaster there about your hiking plans and that the mail won't be picked for several months. You can also leave a key with someone if you wanted it checked periodically.

Most all of the "junk" mail is not forwardable anyway, but you'll probably get the weekly sale papers. Again, advise the postmaster of your plans and they probably won't put them in your PO Box,especially if it's a smaller office.

BSF-Hiker/Postmaster