For many, traveling full-time in a RV or camper van is not only a dream but a way of living. But while it’s an exciting and adventurous lifestyle, it can also be difficult when it comes to receiving your mail and packages. Nomads simply don’t have a permanent mailing address because of our lifestyle.
There are many important reasons to get mail while on the road. Sending mail to mom’s house, or a family member’s address is definitely not a long term solution.
Many full time travelers are business owners working remotely, therefore it is extremely important to have a reliable mailing address for their business.
The good news is that there are a few reliable options to receive mail & packages on the road without any permanent residential address. Read on to learn about 5 different ways we process our mail so that we don’t miss anything important while exploring the world.
1. Mail Forwarding Services
The most reliable way to keep up with your mail while traveling is to arrange for mail forwarding services.
With today’s technology and internet access, private mail forwarding services have no doubt change the way we receive mail. They are able to provide a real physical address for your mail delivery, forward important mails and packages to anywhere you are in the world, and view all your mails virtually through a secure online portal.
Anytime Mailbox is a top leading mail forwarding services provider in the country.
Real street address for your mail delivery
Forwarding services such as Anytime Mailbox allows you to have a real “digital” street address in a list of addresses you can select from across the U.S. and internationally.
Checking Your Mail Online
You can stop sending your mails to your parents’ house, or your friend or family member house. Neither you need to to wait weeks or months before you can check on your important mail. By using Anytime Mailbox, you can check the digital version of your mail on their secured cloud platform 24/7 anytime you like on your personal digital device such as a phone or computer.
Forget the junk mail, Forward Mail You Need to Anywhere in the World
Once your new mail has arrived at the forward service provider, you will be notified by digital notifications on the Anytime Mailbox platform. Then, you will be able to view the outside of your mail (essentially the scanned version of the envelope).
From there, you can decide to instruct the mail handler to destroy, or open and scan the content of that particular mail item. If it turns out to be a mail item you need physically, simply instruct the mail forwarder to send the mail to the address you are currently.
Sign Up for a Plan Starting at only $9.99
The cost of Anytime Mailbox mail forwarding services varies on the location where you would like to have your mail sent, and many other factors such as how many pieces of mail you would like to process, and how long you would like to have your physical mail stored.
Head over to their website with this LINK to check out the best plan that fits your need.
2.USPS General Delivery
USPS general delivery is another reliable way of getting your mail delivered to you when you are on the go.
As defined by postal service, general delivery is a “ mail service for those without a permanent address, often used as a temporary mailing address.”
How this works is first you need to determine if the USPS post office in your current area provide general delivery services. Not all post offices provide general delivery service.
It is best to use the USPS website to check if the post office nearest to you accept general delivery.
General delivery mail are sent to the post offices. The mail is stored at the post office until the you come to pick them up.
In order for a sender to mail general delivery, all they need is your name, General delivery, city, state, and zip of the post office.
There are some downside to general delivery. First being the post office is not your residential address, you will not be able to use that for your business related mail if you are a business owner. Banks will not mail sensitive materials to general delivery either.
Also, depending on the mail volume of the post office, it is likely for your mail to be misplaced or even lost. It is highly recommended to have your sender use USPS priority mail for general delivery because of its tracking feature and included insurance.
3. Fedex Stores/UPS stores
Fedex store and UPS store is another great option for full time rver, and nomads to receive mail on the road. We like to use them mostly for package delivery. This is where we get our contact lenses sent to for pickup.
Their locations are over the country in most major cities, and small towns, what sets them apart from post offices is the multiple tiers of delivery service you can choose for more important mails/packages, and accurate up-to-the-minute tracking of your mail.
Mail, and packages sent to Fedex store, or UPS store does not have extra fees for pickup besides the cost of the shipping label.
4.RV PARKS
Most RV parks will accept mail on your behalf while staying on the property.
If you know you will be spending a prolonged period of time in a RV park , then redirecting all your mail/package to the resort is a great choice.
We had all of our Amazon packages sent to the east glacier Kamp of America (KOA) when we spent two months at Glacier National Park last summer.
Final Thoughts
Staying connected with friends and family while traveling full-time doesn’t have to be difficult thanks to modern technology and services like forwarding mail services, checking emails online, and virtual office spaces that make it easy for travelers to access their mail no matter where they are in the world. Whether you need a reliable way of managing bills or want a professional address for your business needs, there are plenty of options available so that staying connected doesn’t have to take away from the joys of travel!
