Mail Forwarding services

[flyfishing48]

We are about to go full time, at least for awhile. Like maybe a year.
We are currently Michigan Residents. We want to keep a Michigan address for the next year. I have found 2 services that offer a Michigan address.
1postal1, which seems to have a choice of several Michigan cities and Anytime Mailbox.

Is anyone using either of theses services?

Escapees and Good Sam seem to be a no brainer, but they don’t have a Michigan address option that I can find.

Thanks in advance for any help.

[flyfishing48]

wannavolunteerFT wrote:
My traveling Mailbox is less than $200 for a year, I have only had mail sent to me three times since May.. Each time I had them send me things that had accumulated (that I wanted) plus what I was waiting specifically for. They scan what you request be scanned, and forward what you want at the speed/cost you choose. I have chosen 2nd day FEDEX for an envelope full at $8.99 each time. I love being able to manage it all on line... (UPS mailboxes didn't seem to give me that option)

Sounds great, but they don’t offer a Michigan address.

[wannavolunteerF]

My traveling Mailbox is less than $200 for a year, I have only had mail sent to me three times since May.. Each time I had them send me things that had accumulated (that I wanted) plus what I was waiting specifically for. They scan what you request be scanned, and forward what you want at the speed/cost you choose. I have chosen 2nd day FEDEX for an envelope full at $8.99 each time. I love being able to manage it all on line... (UPS mailboxes didn't seem to give me that option)

[flyfishing48]

doxiemom11 wrote:
We pay $12 per month ( 1 mo free when you pay for a year) and the actual postage for the mail package they send out when we request our mail. We don't get much paper mail anymore, so we order only once per month unless we are expecting something important.

Is that with UPS ?

[doxiemom11]

We pay $12 per month ( 1 mo free when you pay for a year) and the actual postage for the mail package they send out when we request our mail. We don't get much paper mail anymore, so we order only once per month unless we are expecting something important.

[ljr]

flyfishing48 wrote:
lJR, what kind of $ are they charging? It looks like I can’t see any kind of cost without actually filling out the forms.
Do they offer recycling/shredding of unwanted mail?

I don’t remember the published rate, probably because I don’t think I ever paid it. There was always some kind of incentive for renewing. My last bill was $300 for 13 months.

Of course you pay the usual packing and shipping when they forward. I had them discard junk mail but I never asked about shredding. They do offer that as a service in their store so I suppose they’d do it if you asked.

They were always very accommodating about watching for something I was in a hurry to get.

[flyfishing48]

lJR, what kind of $ are they charging? It looks like I can’t see any kind of cost without actually filling out the forms.
Do they offer recycling/shredding of unwanted mail?

[ljr]

I was nearly full time for several years, rarely staying in one place for more than a couple months, often for a couple weeks. I used a box at my hometown UPS Store as my home address.

They will accept anything from any carrier and forward anywhere by any carrier. Whenever I stopped somewhere for awhile I called or emailed and they forwarded whatever they had. Sometimes I used the campground address. Sometimes USPS General Delivery. Sometimes a UPS Customer Center or UPS Store.

All in all it worked out pretty well.

[DouglasC]

doxiemom11 wrote:
In your case, since you are looking at this as a temporary 1 year thing, you can contract for mail service from any of the companies in any state and remain a resident of MI. What you need is a Michigan address you can use during that year such as a friends or relatives. Your mailing address would be at whatever service you choose and you will change your mailing address only to that new address. When asked for a residence /resident address, you will list the address of your friend/relative.

Resident/Residence - MI Address
Mailing Address - Address assigned by whatever mail service you hire.

Excellent advice. If you have a relative or good friend who will let you use their address as a "residential address" in Michigan, what you use for a mailing address can be anywhere. When we 1st started full timing years ago we used our daughter's address in Grand Rapids for our residential address (on our driver's licenses and vehicle registrations) while using the Escapees mail forwarding service in Livingston, TX for our mailing address. All our mail went to Livingston except for license renewals.

[flyfishing48]

doxiemom11 wrote:
In your case, since you are looking at this as a temporary 1 year thing, you can contract for mail service from any of the companies in any state and remain a resident of MI. What you need is a Michigan address you can use during that year such as a friends or relatives. Your mailing address would be at whatever service you choose and you will change your mailing address only to that new address. When asked for a residence /resident address, you will list the address of your friend/relative.

Resident/Residence - MI Address
Mailing Address - Address assigned by whatever mail service you hire.

Interesting. We will need to look into this.
Thanks so much.

[doxiemom11]

In your case, since you are looking at this as a temporary 1 year thing, you can contract for mail service from any of the companies in any state and remain a resident of MI. What you need is a Michigan address you can use during that year such as a friends or relatives. Your mailing address would be at whatever service you choose and you will change your mailing address only to that new address. When asked for a residence /resident address, you will list the address of your friend/relative.

Resident/Residence - MI Address
Mailing Address - Address assigned by whatever mail service you hire.

[wannavolunteerF]

I use My Traveling Mailbox for a very similar reason. I wanted to keep my GA residency (and I have a physical address I can use, property that is currently my mom's that I will inherit one day) but wanted a mail service with a GA address because it was too much to explain to different states to people that I was changing my mail. So far I have had great service from them, but I did work to eliminate as much mail as possible.

[flyfishing48]

I realize that the other states have no state income tax, but that could be a short time gain for us if we land back in MI in a year. We are grandfathered in to a lower state income tax on retirement income right now. If we leave and come back we loose the benefit.

[wanderingaimles]

Escapees and the other services tend to operate in states that have no income tax. In Texas, Florida, and SD for example, you would save 4.25 % of your income versus paying Michigan for services you are not receiving.
Other cost, health insurance, vehicle plates and inspections, vehicle insurance etc could be higher, but it's likely they will not be.