What mail is worth forwarding?

[Nomad Hiker]

I read things under mail forwarding, but didn't find anything related to this. I know I don't want junk mail forwarded, but is it worth it to get a couple of magazines forwarded or is it best to just cancel the subscription and buy them? I figure it will take about $1.75 at the least to forward a magazine(less than the cost), but there might also be a charge for oversize items. I was looking at the mail service plans A, B, & C. Plan B seems the most beneficial. Yes/No? Advice please & thanks!

[mptjelgin]

The SKP mail service can stuff a heck of a lot of mail (including magazines) into an envelope or a small box.

 

Depending on how often you call for your mail, having a magazine or two forwarded probably won't cost you anything extra, as the "basic" mailing envelope will hold plenty of mail plus a couple of mags. We use the "A" plan, but get relatively little junk mail so don't feel like we're paying extra to forward it.

[Nomad Hiker]

The SKP mail service can stuff a heck of a lot of mail (including magazines) into an envelope or a small box.

 

Depending on how often you call for your mail, having a magazine or two forwarded probably won't cost you anything extra, as the "basic" mailing envelope will hold plenty of mail plus a couple of mags. We use the "A" plan, but get relatively little junk mail so don't feel like we're paying extra to forward it.

Do you know if we can change mail service plans mid-stream if we are getting too much junk mail? We get a bunch now and are afraid it will follow us!

[Newt]

Do you know if we can change mail service plans mid-stream if we are getting too much junk mail? We get a bunch now and are afraid it will follow us!

 

 

If it has a return envelope, stuff the other stuff in and send it back. It's amazing how this will reduce junk mail.

 

Newt

[mptjelgin]

Do you know if we can change mail service plans mid-stream if we are getting too much junk mail? We get a bunch now and are afraid it will follow us!

I don't know, but I know that the SKP mail folks would be happy to answer your question. 888-757-2582.

 

One nice thing about changing your address is that much of the junk mail will not follow you to the new one. You'll start with a "clean slate" and get far less junk mail to begin with. We haven't seen a build up over the seven years we've been on the road, but we don't really do much business with catalog-type companies.

[rockintom]

We've used the B plan for 12.5 years and it works for us. I do have a couple of magazines (throne reading), but not that much. The rest are on line. Every once in while you miss a piece of mail that was sent third class, but that's rare today. We do everything on line as it pertains to bills, etc. We have our things so weaned down, that we only request our mail every 3 weeks. If they have stuff come in that is a package, auto registration, or appears important they will notify you by email and let you make the call of what to do with it. Just the other day we were notified that a package was sent by 2 day UPS. We had them open it and it as a blank coffee mug from our bank. We donated it to the SKP mail service for doing such a good job!!!!

[Nomad Hiker]

We've used the B plan for 12.5 years and it works for us. I do have a couple of magazines (throne reading), but not that much. The rest are on line. Every once in while you miss a piece of mail that was sent third class, but that's rare today. We do everything on line as it pertains to bills, etc. We have our things so weaned down, that we only request our mail every 3 weeks. If they have stuff come in that is a package, auto registration, or appears important they will notify you by email and let you make the call of what to do with it. Just the other day we were notified that a package was sent by 2 day UPS. We had them open it and it as a blank coffee mug from our bank. We donated it to the SKP mail service for doing such a good job!!!!

Yes, I do everything I can paperless and on-line. Agree with the "throne" material. My husband has Motor Trend and I have Backpacker. While I read Kindle for books, I just like my magazines for a day sitting outside with a glass of wine!

[2gypsies]

We used the cheapest 'A' service for 16 years. When we began full-timing there was no such thing as doing a lot of correspondence/financial things online. We didn't have a cell phone or internet when we began. Now you would get very little mail. We did look forward to Christmas cards.

 

Right now, delete as much junk mail as you can by calling the 800# on catalogs, etc. and tell them to take you name off their mailing list and do not sell your name to others. It usually takes 2-3 months to end it all. That works wonders.

 

Then there's a 'Mail Preference' site where you can add your name/address to remove you name from stuff.

 

Finally, especially if you get credit card offers or other things, just cross your name off with 'moved' and send it back to them.

 

It's amazing how much you can eliminate.

 

From now on, whenever you order something online or even subscribe to a magazine be sure to alert them not to add your name to any mailing list. That's the key point that you have to keep doing.

 

We enjoyed our magazines and you'd be surprised at how little they cost to forward to you. Escapees fits a lot into a small package. Buying them at the checkout is a lot more expensive.

[Nomad Hiker]

We did look forward to Christmas cards.

 

Right now, delete as much junk mail as you can by calling the 800# on catalogs, etc. and tell them to take you name off their mailing list and do not sell your name to others. It usually takes 2-3 months to end it all. That works wonders.

 

Then there's a 'Mail Preference' site where you can add your name/address to remove you name from stuff.

 

Finally, especially if you get credit card offers or other things, just cross your name off with 'moved' and send it back to them.

 

From now on, whenever you order something online or even subscribe to a magazine be sure to alert them not to add your name to any mailing list. That's the key point that you have to keep doing.

 

We enjoyed our magazines and you'd be surprised at how little they cost to forward to you. Escapees fits a lot into a small package. Buying them at the checkout is a lot more expensive.

All good info thanks! Will start tomorrow! One question...what are Christmas Cards??? Just kidding! I use to do them, but haven't in a long time. I might do an E-card, but usually not even that! Everyone I would send them to is on FB, so that is where I post my wishes. Just a little fun tip. I use to re-purpose my cards by cutting out the design on the front and using it the next year as my gift tags. I didn't feel they were just wasted this way. Now, I just send gift cards and money if we aren't with the kids.

[rockintom]

Nomad Hikers, on 27 Nov 2016 - 8:25 PM, said:

Yes, I do everything I can paperless and on-line. Agree with the "throne" material. My husband has Motor Trend and I have Backpacker. While I read Kindle for books, I just like my magazines for a day sitting outside with a glass of wine!

 

Same here......except we may be talking a box of wine!!!! Life is so stressful, ya know. Ha.

[Barbaraok]

Over 10 years, have had Plan B all that time, works well for us. Especially like getting notice when Rx arrives, packages (very few usually from a relative), or registration tags, etc. We get mail about every 3 weeks unless we are expecting something special - like Starbucks card (rewards on a couple of our credit cards).

[bigjim]

I have no doubt you can move up when you want to but check with the office to verify that. I have been able to get by on plan A since I started in the spring of 1997. I have been able to weedle my excess down. One thing is never sign up for contests and give aways at places like the fair. Or anyplace that may sell your information to other sales venues. Everyone is different so you will just have to try it to see.

[Kirk W]

I was looking at the mail service plans A, B, & C. Plan B seems the most beneficial. Yes/No? Advice please & thanks!

We found plan B to be best and most cost effective. We did forward a few magazines but very selectively and canceled all but one or two. Many of them are now available in electronic version, which is good. I never had to pay any kind of premium for forwarding of any package, but we also had most packages shipped directly to us while sitting in one spot for several weeks.

 

Do you know if we can change mail service plans mid-stream if we are getting too much junk mail? We get a bunch now and are afraid it will follow us!

Yes you can. We did so the year that we tried plan A and then figured out that B was best.

 

We typically have had mail forwarded based more on travel schedules than on the calendar. As we spent a lot of time as RV volunteers at wildlife refuges & national parks and often sat still for one to three months and would have any packages expected shipped directly to us at those times. While sitting we typically scheduled mail to be sent out twice a month at first but as the volume of paper mail has fallen off we cut back to once each month. You can always call the mail room to check if something important has come in and they will tell you what is there, then schedule a one time extra mailing to get that item if needed. We found the people in the mail room to be helpful to the extreme and happy to do so. In 12 years on the road, only once did we have any delivery problems and that time it turned out that the person who sent an email to the mail-room crew made a typo in the zip code.(must have been the computer!)

 

We are now back to part-time RV life but we keep our Escapee address and when we travel we just put in a temporary mail forwarding order from our address to the Escapee address. We have had our mail service with Escapees now since Jan. 2000 and we continue to keep the service because it serves us so very well and at a very reasonable cost.

[Nomad Hiker]

Thanks all! I am going to be contacting an attorney today to get a few other questions answered on other things this get this set up! Again, I appreciate all the effort to respond! Kinda like having a bunch of RV sisters and brothers! .

[LFDR3116]

We order our mail only when we want it which is usually once per month unless we are traveling - then every 6 wks or so. We just received ours after 6 wks and we had 5 pieces of mail. 1 rebate, 3 insurance documents, 1 monthly pension statement. Once in awhile we will get something from our credit card companies that they are required to mail, but I can't even remember when we last received any junk mail. We have let all of our subscriptions expire and buy whatever magazine we may want, or view them electronically.

[SWharton]

We have found that the only real mail we receive are doctor bills. For whatever reason all our doctors still believe in paper bills, though we can pay them electronically. I keep asking to get electronic bills from them but no success.

 

The scheduling from Escapees is very flexible. When on the road we have them hold mail until it is convenient for us to receive some. We email the mail service and the mail comes 3-5 days later. Takes a little organizing to figure out where we will be in 3-5 days but easily doable. When in winter camp we have our mail come every 2-3 weeks automatically.

 

The mail service sends you an email whenever a packet of mail is sent.

[rockintom]

We've found just the opposite. Few of our Drs. today use snail mail anymore. We do use Drs. in the metro areas. rockin'

[SWharton]

Maybe it is a state issue with the doctor's. Most of them don't understand why paper bills aren't optional either.