[Aruca]

When I go back up North to Jersey for the summer months I’m thinking about Forwarding My Mail...are there any problems with doing this ? Will I lose mail? How long is the delayed delivery? Thanks for any advice!

[Clarinet]

Just go to the USPS website and follow the prompts. At the end the site will automatically put forward a number of ads and you can choose to ignore them if you wish. We normally notify USPS early with a date of our last mail to be placed in our mailbox here and have never lost mail or had more than the normal delay in 20 years.

[thelegges]

Until this month I would have said No Worries forwarding mail is not a big deal. January 1 we forwarded mail for a month from TV to MI. We don’t get bills but wanted to see how long forwarded mail takes. We have forwarded mail from here since 2010. This year is very different

Twice a week we also mailed an envelope to our home address. The forwarded mail from TV didn’t show up until 5 weeks later. 13 pieces of mail from lawn guy, pest companies, and for some reason crematoriums. Nine pieces of mail never showed, as of March 20. We have someone that lives at our north home, that takes pictures of daily mail.

Now for the twice a week envelope’s each didn’t start showing up for until 31 days later. Six are still missing. These envelopes were stamped and mailed at the local post office.

My advice for my experience would be to go paperless for every mail you can. You can always stop when you return. Then hope what mail you forwarded isn’t important or you can wait for over 5 weeks to show up

[Papa_lecki]

I did premium mail forwarded to here this year. I have received 3 notifications that a package is coming, but nothing came yet. I couldn’t call anyone at the post office - I’ve been direct messaging USPS help via twitter. No mail yet.

I would pay someone down here to gather and forward your mail.

[vintageogauge]

Originally Posted by Papa_lecki

I did premium mail forwarded to here this year. I have received 3 notifications that a package is coming, but nothing came yet. I couldn’t call anyone at the post office - I’ve been direct messaging USPS help via twitter. No mail yet.

I would pay someone down here to gather and forward your mail.

That is the best way to do it, find a neighbor or friend willing to send you a USPS Priority box once a week with tracking and either pay them or return the favor when you come back.

[dewilson58]

Originally Posted by Aruca

When I go back up North to Jersey for the summer months I’m thinking about Forwarding My Mail...are there any problems with doing this ? Will I lose mail? How long is the delayed delivery? Thanks for any advice!

Used the USPS forwarding services A LOT over the last 10 years. Sometimes for months, sometimes for weeks. Never had an issue. It slows mail by 3-4 days. No biggie.

[njbchbum]

I process mail forwarding request with USPS online when we leave the Villages for the Summer and have never had any issue. When we come down from NJ I go online and complete the Premium Forwarding Service request and only rarely is there a glitch - tracking is on point - the NJ substitute carrier is sometimes not! But out home watch person just puts the incorrectly delivered mail there in a priority envelope and sends it on down. And I call the P.O. rep at our local NJ P.O. to let her know when/if the substitute carrier messed up.

[bobdeb]

We do that each summer. We have mail from here forwarded to a somewhat remote US location.

There is certainly some delay involved so be prepared to pay bills promptly.

Also, some items like credit cards don't seem to get forwarded. There may be other exceptions. Strange.

[Pairadocs]

Have found it take a very long time, is very unreliable, and, in a couple of instances involving IRS and a family birth announcement, it caused a real nightmare. Don't know of a good alternative without really putting out others by asking to gather and send mail that is still delivered despite your directive. Bottom line, don't count on things going well...but, it could be fine, some do receive their mail and on time, our very poor experiences could be rare ?

[thelegges]

Originally Posted by dewilson58

Used the USPS forwarding services A LOT over the last 10 years. Sometimes for months, sometimes for weeks. Never had an issue. It slows mail by 3-4 days. No biggie.

We were the same forwarding since 2010, but 2021 is very different. March 4, sent a Post Office priority mail envelope from the Wildwood Post Office to ST Paul, with our oldest mail, instead of him forwarding mail this year.

Tracking has it sitting at each postal stop for days. It was never in a city that had severe weather.
As of yesterday it was in Chicago, at this rate I could have driven to St Paul faster

[Cobullymom]

Any other place, I’d have no hesitation....but here in the Villages, it’s not reliable AT ALL...last year through no fault of ours having mail forwarded became a 6 week nightmare where it continually circulated between the two addresses, packages, first class mail that was correctly addressed to the forwarded address. It took 3 trips to the lady lake from the Fenney area to the main post office, emails to the supervisor and then the post master to get any of our mail...it was a huge headache and no one seemed to care up there.

[Laurel Maryland]

I paid the USPS for Premium Mail Forwarding from my home in MD to my home in TV. It was a waste. Never received my mail. Service from USPS was so bad that I requested, and received, a full refund.

The one thing you can do that is free and that I found useful was to sign up for “Informed Delivery Service” from the USPS. Go to the USPS website or google Informed Delivery from the US Post Office. With Informed Delivery Service, the post office will send you an email every day containing a photograph of the mail pieces that are coming your way. If you do not receive something that is shown in your Informed Delivery email, you can initiate tracking on-line.

[BillY41]

We do the mail forwarding back to NJ on the USPS site. The regular delivery person no problems. Mail gets messed up when there is a relief delivery person. USPS also has a card type 'forward' mail request too.

[Bewalcla]

I’ve been doing it for years. Only first class is sent, it’s batched and arrives every few days. Losing Mail is always a risk, but if you don’t get it, you’ll never know..

[SIRE1]

This is the reply I gave to a similar question to mail forwarding. We are snowbirds, in The Villages for 5 months and in Michigan 7 months but the same things apply whether it if for 3 months or 5 months. Based on our experience, I have some recommendations for mail forwarding.

First, set up either email delivery of many of your bills (e.g. credit cards, cable, utilities) or set up Electronic Fund Transfer to automatically pay for them without relying on the mail. The forwarding process is sometimes very slow and bills may not arrive before the due date.

Second, use the US Post Office web site to enter your forwarding request. Using the web site cost $1 but at least you know it was entered and the dates and forwarding address are correct. We used to send in the post card, which is free, but had some bad experiences when the info was entered into their computer incorrectly. By using the web site at least you will know what is entered into the post office computer system. It always amazes me that it cost me money for saving the post office from doing something they have to pay someone else to do, but that is the process.

Third, set your start and stop dates with enough lead time for mail that will be in the pipeline. We usually set the START forwarding date about 5 days before we leave. That way, any mail that has already been processed will arrive before we leave. And STOP forwarding about 10 days before you plan to leave. That way any mail that has already been processed and directed to the new address will arrive before you leave. It really does take around 10 days or more for forwarded mail to arrive vs. the 2-3 days for mail sent directly to the new address.

Fourth, for mail that you expect to receive on a regular basis (e.g. credit cards, cable TV, utilities, bank statements) , use their company web site and change your address on their Profile page. That way, this mail will be sent directly to your new address and avoid the long forwarding lead time delay. Then, before you return, use the company web site and change your address back. And remember, even though you submit a forwarding request to the post office, in addition to the junk mail that won't be forwarded, they also do NOT forward certain financial related mail. For instance, some of the income tax statements are not forwarded (learned this the hard way when we first became snow birds). So these must either have the address changed on the company's web site or you have to print on your computer. Also, new and reissued credit cards are not forwarded, even though they are mailed in a regular looking envelope. So if you are expecting tax statements, newly issued credit cards, or even new books of checks, you must use the web site to change your mailing address.

Also, be aware that the post office will only forward magazines for a month or 2 (can't remember what it is but it is not long). So if you are going to be gone longer than that, make sure you go to the company web site and change your address on their Profile page or contact them by phone. That way, this mail will be sent directly to your new address. Then, before you return, use the company web site or phone again and change your address back.

Finally, Remember, if you change your address on a credit card web site, the new zip code is your address. We have a credit card that always requires me to enter my zip code at the pump when I get gas, and I have to remember which zip code to use.

Hope this gives you some advice.