USPS Change of Address

[LindaB]

I just retired from the PO.  The $1.05 charge is to verify your identity and address for online changes.  Your name and address on the card has to match either the old or the new address.  The computer matching is VERY literal.  No fuzzy logic.

If you go in person, there is no charge, and they take your signature as verification without any question.  It doesn't matter where you submit the form.  They all are mailed to the central forwarding system to be input into the computer data bank.

[bigjim]

Good explanation LindaB

[fpmtngal]

9 hours ago, LindaB said:

I just retired from the PO.  The $1.05 charge is to verify your identity and address for online changes.  Your name and address on the card has to match either the old or the new address.  The computer matching is VERY literal.  No fuzzy logic.

If you go in person, there is no charge, and they take your signature as verification without any question.  It doesn't matter where you submit the form.  They all are mailed to the central forwarding system to be input into the computer data bank.

Thanks for the information, I learned something here.  I couldn’t figure out where the $1.05 charge came into it, whether it was something new.  I changed my address a year ago but did it in person.  Now I know.  Thanks!

[hemsteadc]

10 hours ago, LindaH said:

The "bad" address was only in regard to trying to use a credit card to pay the USPS fee for filing a change of address online. 

The post office cares what address is on your credit card?

[Will B.]

@Bobalou  You could be right, but it seems .... unlikely that it's a USPS problem.  I say this simply because, as a fairly new Escapee's member, we are always having to enter our address.  Sometimes I type "Rainbow Drive" and a lot of the time, the systems I'm entering will say "USPS recommends this revision" (or some similar text) to shorten "Drive" to just "Dr".

I think it's possible that USPS has us labeled as "PMB's" (postal mail boxes) and that's where some systems (like certain banks, it was CapitalOne for me) says "Yeah, you don't live there, no bueno". 

It's unfortunate, since it's kind of a slight against the fulltime RV'er that the banks would choose to force us to have a physical address.  Meh.  Banks!

[Kirk W]

2 hours ago, Will B. said:

It's unfortunate, since it's kind of a slight against the fulltime RV'er that the banks would choose to force us to have a physical address. 

Banks are required to have either a physical address for each customer, or an alternate address by which you can be located. Not all bankers or other financial workers understand the alternate address allowance in the law, but it is there. 

[Barbaraok]

3 hours ago, Will B. said:

@Bobalou  You could be right, but it seems .... unlikely that it's a USPS problem.  I say this simply because, as a fairly new Escapee's member, we are always having to enter our address.  Sometimes I type "Rainbow Drive" and a lot of the time, the systems I'm entering will say "USPS recommends this revision" (or some similar text) to shorten "Drive" to just "Dr".

I think it's possible that USPS has us labeled as "PMB's" (postal mail boxes) and that's where some systems (like certain banks, it was CapitalOne for me) says "Yeah, you don't live there, no bueno". 

It's unfortunate, since it's kind of a slight against the fulltime RV'er that the banks would choose to force us to have a physical address.  Meh.  Banks!

We've run into a problem where a credit card won't be accepted on line because when I put the address in I used Dr (UPSP preferred address) instead of Dr.,   which is what I put in when I set up the accounts 20+ years ago!   And I have to go into the account info for each account and correct the address, as well as correct it on our computers when they auto-fill the address.   Actually it was the auto-fill that really tripped us up.