Long Cruises and Home Mail

[Thrak]

How do folks handle their mail delivery when taking a long cruise? Do you have it forwarded to a PO box and have someone pick it up periodically? Do you have a neighbor pick it up?

 

The Post Office says they will only hold my mail for 30 days and we have a home mailbox that is out at the street. Some "less than fine" folks have moved onto our nice little street and suddenly mail isn't safe. There have been instances of "missing mail".

 

I realize this isn't exactly a "cruise specific" question but, as we are booked for a 49 day cruise I'm wondering how folks handle this sort of thing.

[neverbeenhere]

I have a po box, one cruise friend has a private mail box, but I would suggest that you have a trusted neighbor pick up your mail. Unless you have enough time to change addresses to a secure box. --- The postal service isn't always that great at forwarding mail.

[GeeDunk]

How do folks handle their mail delivery when taking a long cruise? Do you have it forwarded to a PO box and have someone pick it up periodically? Do you have a neighbor pick it up?

 

The Post Office says they will only hold my mail for 30 days and we have a home mailbox that is out at the street. Some "less than fine" folks have moved onto our nice little street and suddenly mail isn't safe. There have been instances of "missing mail".

 

I realize this isn't exactly a "cruise specific" question but, as we are booked for a 49 day cruise I'm wondering how folks handle this sort of thing.

 

What I have done several times:

 

Give the Postal Carrier two yellow cards.

 

 

One Card for three weeks.

 

The other card with the "B" option

(I will pick up my mail)

 

I then, put my return date on the second card.

 

My "Plan B" is to have my neighbor check my mail box, on occasion.

Just in case.

[easyboy]

We have a neighbor friend with whom we take care of each other's mail while one is on vacation. We just provide a box where mails are placed.

 

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[partybarbie]

Our longest cruise was 32 days. We had the house-sitter pick the mail up. I would recommend a trusted neighbor. I usually follow up the request with a nice bottle of wine. ;) For my non-drinking neighbor, I got her a gift card at Macy's.

[WatchHill]

We have not had any success with the local PO holding our mail when away from home for less than 30 days. We have rural box delivery in our town, and even on a good day, the mail lands up in someone else's box. Yes, mail has gone missing over the years, too. When I went to the PO to pick up the held mail, they couldn't find it!

 

My next door neighbor picks up our mail and leaves it on our kitchen table. I do they same for them when they are on vacation. If something looks urgent, they have my permission to open it and contact me if it requires immediate attention.

All of our utility, department store, credit cards and services are set up for automatic payment, so I don't have to worry about late fees or missing a payment.

 

We are leaving for England tomorrow. So today, I stopped next door and and gave our neighbor my usual list: empty dehumidifier, lights are on photosensitive timers, central A/C is set to a higher temp, lawn irrigation is off but will need to be turned on in a few days [we both have the same system], trash goes out on Tuesday, maybe water the house plants that are in the conservatory a few times. Oh, very important - water to the HWH will be shut off. Another neighbor didn't do this last weekend and is now dealing with very costly damage to their home.

 

Darcy

[Sea and Me]

We are fortunate to have a mail slot in our garage door:) Our son lives close so he checks on the house and puts all the mail on our kitchen bar. Oh when we come home we go through the pile (such fun). My DH has automatic bill pay on our bills so we do not worry about past due accounts.

 

Getting back to your question if it were me I would put a hold on it both for the 30 days and have a trusted friend or neighbor pick that 30 days of mail up. The remainder days I would put another hold and when you return you can pick it up. Good luck!!

[pris993]

Dealing with the post office is challenging... for years no problem, for travel less than 30 days... A few years ago, totally changed. We live in an apartment, very small box... came back to mail not held over 1/2 the time. We went to main post office complained, talked to our mail man... befriended our mailman... take a personal note to the main office before leave, stuff our very small box so no mail can be left with a note mail on hold... and give our mail a personal note with a gift before and after our trip... this has helped. Beyond 30 years, I would rent a box at the main post office. I donot trust the mail generally... pay all my bills that I can over the phone by credit card now days. Sad post office use to be very good. Now a lot of part time employees not the same.

[cr8tiv1]

I have a POBox (for 40 years now) and only junk mail gets delivered to the "house". Everything is done electronically now. I have a fabulous friend who picks my mail at my POBox and home once a week. The POBox has my signature on file for most deliveries. I also left a "permission slip" with my friend to deal with issues at the POBox (box too big, etc). The house mailbox is one of those cluster ones. It has been "broken into" three times in the past few years. So glad I have a POBox.

 

Good luck. Missing mail is not fun to deal with.

[JF - retired RRT]

We've done 2 cruises that were more than 30 days.

If you take the yellow card in with your dates and ask for an approval from the local Post Master, all will be good. Unless you have a mean Post Master.

[nukesubsailor]

How do folks handle their mail delivery when taking a long cruise? Do you have it forwarded to a PO box and have someone pick it up periodically? Do you have a neighbor pick it up?

 

The Post Office says they will only hold my mail for 30 days and we have a home mailbox that is out at the street. Some "less than fine" folks have moved onto our nice little street and suddenly mail isn't safe. There have been instances of "missing mail".

 

I realize this isn't exactly a "cruise specific" question but, as we are booked for a 49 day cruise I'm wondering how folks handle this sort of thing.

 

I have yet to be gone over 30 days so I leave the vacation hold card with the post office. Since they can be counted on to still deliver some mail to my home, our daughter-in-law checks our home mail box. I was thinking if I was to be gone over 30 days, I would have daughter-in-law pick up all the mail at the post office near the end of the 30 days and then submit another card to cover the rest of the time I expect to be gone.

[USN59-79]

Get to know your mailman (or lady). He is the one who handles your mail and it is just as easy for him to drop it into a hold box for 70 days as it is for 30 days. We often cruise for 60 or so days (last was 56) and just let him know and fill out the yellow card. I always bring him back a souvenir from our trip when we return. This has worked for us for the last few years.

[paul929207]

We have a neighbor across the street who collects our mail every day or two and puts it on our counter. We leave a yellow postal card with her. I sign it and fill in everything except the dates in case they go out of town.

[cruzinfamilyof4]

If you don't "need" to have any of your mail, what if you looked into something like this? https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0006ZJPJ6/ref=asc_df_B0006ZJPJ65023053/?tag=hyprod-20&creative=394997&creativeASIN=B0006ZJPJ6&linkCode=df0&hvadid=167141158985&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=1148054725140950173&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9030350&hvtargid=pla-275432997537

[Plant]

It took a while, but I finally learned to fill in the 30 day hold online, then call our local PO and ask for the extra hold. So far, so good... .

[Shmoo here]

How do folks handle their mail delivery when taking a long cruise? Do you have it forwarded to a PO box and have someone pick it up periodically? Do you have a neighbor pick it up?

 

The Post Office says they will only hold my mail for 30 days and we have a home mailbox that is out at the street. Some "less than fine" folks have moved onto our nice little street and suddenly mail isn't safe. There have been instances of "missing mail".

 

I realize this isn't exactly a "cruise specific" question but, as we are booked for a 49 day cruise I'm wondering how folks handle this sort of thing.

Happily, we still have two (adult) children living in our home. So there's never no one home to get the mail.

 

However, when the kids were younger, and we took long trips as a family, we paid a neighbor kid to pick up the newspaper every morning, and the mail every afternoon. There were about 4 of them in our neighborhood who went to school with my kids, so we had plenty of availability.

[Cyber Kat]

Haven't been lucky enough to take a really long cruise, but we have a mail slot in our front door. Works out well. I'm sad though because our mail carrier who we have had for over 20 years got his route changed. He was wonderful!

 

We also have a cat sitter and leaving the cat for that long would be more traumatic than dealing with the Mail. [emoji80]

 

 

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[paul929207]

The other concern may be bills that would like to be paid. We have everything possible setup on autopay. The only exception is our credit cards. I like to verify the amount before it is paid

[firegal2539]

I have the PO hold my mail by using the yellow card. I bring it to the PO and ask them to hold it the extra time. They have done it twice for me.

 

My postman tells me that on his day off or if he is on vacation the substitute will deliver the mail, they don't look at all the holds. I have a friend pick up what gets delivered. The PO isn't reliable.

 

 

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[Hflors]

Where we use to live going on a long cruise was a real problem. In those days Social Security cks use to be mailed. Every couple of months we would get a ck for the man on the next road over. Many times I would get home ck the mail box and there would be his ck. I would run it around to his house so he got the ck on time. One time when we were only gone for 1 wk it sat in our "hold" for the whole week and the Post office delivered it to us and we delivered it to our neighbor. (I guess when he didn't get it he figured I would find it and bring it over which I did when I got home) The one long trip we did I went up to the Post office in our town and spoke to the post master myself about my neighbor's Social Security Check. He was not happy that this had been going on for several years. I told him I wasn't complaining it was just with us gone so long I was afraid our poor neighbor would think his ck had been stolen or something. Anyway after that trip we never again got our neighbor's Ck in our box. Since we moved I have no problem. I fill out a "hold" online and print out a copy. The day we leave I put it in our box with the flag up and come back to delivered mail. If we are gone for long stretches my brother comes over once a week, picks up the mail, mows the grass and checks the pool. I am so lucky to have him close by.

[caribill]

The other concern may be bills that would like to be paid. We have everything possible setup on autopay. The only exception is our credit cards. I like to verify the amount before it is paid

 

a) Before a trip I pay credit cards current balance even if a statement has not yet been sent.

 

b) On a cruise, just like at home, I pay credit cards using the Internet on board.

[Iamcruzin]

I have gone paperless. Everything is paid online. The only mail I get is junk mail from cruise lines, department stores and weekly supermarket circulars. It all gets pitched in the garbage without even being looked at because they send the same things via email. How do I get someone to steal my mail year round?

[SteelMagnolia9]

I haven't been on an extended cruise - but would suggest you engage a professional Home Watch service to pick up your mail. No chance of a neighbor having an emergency, "forgetting" or other issue.

[gwsster]

We use the neighbors who are very trustworthy to feed the dogs and get the mail.

 

I had to look to see if you lived in CA....Yep! Moms mail stolen right from her front porch, we had it moved to her house as she couldn't get to the cluster box any more...she is 91 and has fallen X 3 at the mailbox. The first day with the mailbox at the door, mail and packages stolen. She called the Police and wanted her mail to go back to the cluster box, the Police told her that her cluster box has been broken into many times, she wouldn't have known it as the Post Office fixes it right away. Nothing is safe. Thankfully she does everything electronically and the items the thief stole were Bible books!

 

 

I have a POBox (for 40 years now) and only junk mail gets delivered to the "house". Everything is done electronically now. I have a fabulous friend who picks my mail at my POBox and home once a week. The POBox has my signature on file for most deliveries. I also left a "permission slip" with my friend to deal with issues at the POBox (box too big, etc). The house mailbox is one of those cluster ones. It has been "broken into" three times in the past few years. So glad I have a POBox.

 

Good luck. Missing mail is not fun to deal with.

[CA-Cruzers]

We've been active with our neighborhood association - about 2,500 houses - and after a couple of home burglaries we invited the city police and county sheriff's departments to come out and offer advice. They both said NOT to have your mail or newspapers stopped. Why? Too often workers themselves (at one level or another) shared or sold that information off to burglars. They suggested a slot through the door for mail, where it could gather unseen, and someone coming to get your paper or put the gathered mail into a spot where (again) it could sit unseen from someone who might be looking in through windows. The world's so different to my childhood suburb days when you didn't have to regularly make sure the doors were locked.

 

We're on what the post office says is a "training route", so we have different delivery people every couple of weeks. We regularly get neighbor's mail, and vice versa. For about 8 years we had the same carrier, and we knew her well enough for Christmas, birthday and baby shower gifts. We still miss her.