A Guide For When Your Address Is On Wheels
When you’re living the road life dream, getting your mail while on the road can be a hugely stressful experience. Especially if you’re frequently moving from place to place, mail collection can seem practically impossible. Vanlife and mail can just seem difficult. Can’t the IRS just email your W-9? I mean honestly, it’s 2022.
Fortunately, getting your mail doesn’t have to drive you crazy. Here are Sekr’s best tips for getting mail on the road.
General Delivery at the Post Office
Most USPS branches will accept general delivery mail, which is held at the facility for up to 30 days. You’ll have the sender address the mail to your name, general delivery, then the city and zip of the post office you want to hold your mail. You can pick up your mail during that time by presenting a valid ID.
Pro tip: plan pickups for where you’ll be in at least two weeks.
Mail Forwarding Services
The USPS can forward your mail from a prior address to another one, including a post office, for up to 1 year. Each time you change the address you’d like your mail forwarded to, you’ll pay a small identity verification fee.
There are also private services, like Traveling Mailbox, Anytime Mailbox, and Escapees that will not only forward physical mail for pickup but also scan and email important documents to you! These services range from $5-$30 a month and will typically offer you a physical address.
Ask Your Host
If you’re camping on private property or somewhere else with a host, they may let you receive mail and small packages there. There may be a fee associated, so just talk to your host about their mail procedures. Even if you leave before the mail arrives, at least someone has eyes on it!
Pro tip: most camp and park hosts are happy to receive letters, documents, and small packages, but asking them to receive large or valuable items is generally viewed as “not cool”.
In Store Pickup
For packages and online orders, you can almost always ask to have something sent to a particular store. For mail carriers like UPS and FedEx, you can find a location convenient to you and have a parcel delivered there. The same is true for Amazon with their lockers, pickups, and multiple partner locations.
Pro tip: Combine our first and last strategies for this sweet mail hack! If you get something shipped via Amazon, you can have it sent to general delivery if you add a blank PO box to the address. This would look like
Your Name
General Delivery
PO Box
City, State, Zip-9999
Getting your mail on the road can be a breeze if you find the strategy that works best for you. Everyone’s needs will be a little different, but there are plenty of options out there to make sure that you can get your mail when you need it.
Ask a Friend or Family Member
The simplest way to get your mail while on the road is to coordinate with someone you trust and have mail sent to them for safekeeping. They can use one of the other methods above to make sure the mail gets to you, or you can have them scan and email important items. Make sure you get them something nice from the road.
Getting your mail on the road can be a breeze if you find the strategy that works best for you. Everyone’s needs will be a little different, but there are plenty of options out there to make sure that you can get your mail when you need it.
