It would seem to make a big difference which postal branch you happen to be using. Our local office is very user friendly but they sometimes have had problems in getting the Dallas sorting center that all of their mail passes through to forward some things as directed. On two different occasions we have had medications that were forwarded to Escapee mail service get hung up with the sorting center claiming "no such address" while moving other mail right on through to our Escapee address as directed. Even the employee in our Lindale branch can't figure out why they seem to pick one and not forward it.

Anything important I will not send by USPS First Class as the so called 10 business days has turned out to be 12 business days for 1100 miles and 17 business days for 400 miles. I use routinely use USPS Priority Mail.

And then there is the absentee Ballot issue from Livingston Zip 77351 to 77399 of still not received after 30 days or is the P.O. to blame???.

Clay

Someone asked if we eventually got our mail. We don't know for sure if we got it all. I was working at a fundraiser for Rotary two weeks after getting home and my banker knew I was going to be there and brought with him my 1099s, which had been returned to them. My employer called to let me know that he had gotten my W-2 back. A couple of medical bills we found out about when they sent "Second Notices". We have no family in town to pick up our mail so I will probably ask a neighbor to pick it up each day and then every couple of days call us and discuss what has arrived over the phone. We can then decide on what needs to be forwarded. I hate to have to ask him to do that but I don't see a trustworthy alternative. We are not gone long enough or often enough to use a mail service.

There has to some reasonable explanation of why this mail was not forwarded. If there was no endorsement on the mail that would prevent it from being forwarded, how would the postal service's computers know to return it to the sender?

I have no explanation, nor did my postmaster. I showed him the envelopes and there was nothing on them about not forwarding.

We have had many problems with forwarded mail. Most times we get it but every year there are things we dont get. Sometimes it is returned to the sender. We have learned when we forward mail to put a note across the front of the mailbox, otherwise we will find it full of old mail. When we spoke to the Post Office they just shrugged their shoulders. One time about a month after we returned our mail suddenly stopped. At the Post Office we found the carrier who told us we never turned in a stop. The counter person interrupted and yes they did. The answer to that was "oh". We still forward our mail but we try to change all of the important stuff to online.

Edited November 17, 2016 by Randy retired

Beware the difference between "forwarding" mail and a "temporary change of address" at the post office website.

Forwarding did not work well on our first year of snowbirding.

I switched to temporary-change-of-address for the last few years without problems.

That said, the PO will forward ONE issue of a magazine subscription - but only one.

I don't know what happens to subsequent issues.

So, it's best to file a change of address with the magazine if you want to continue getting it.

I have to make notes in my calendar as to what I've done, the proper contacts and when to make changes. That includes mail-hold, change-of-address, start and end dates, magazine contacts, etc. etc.

The one thing I do like, though it costs $1, is the ability to put the forward in online. I then get emails back confirming everything and I think I even get an email near the end of the forward saying it will be stopping. So much easier than going the the PO and getting a form etc. I also usually do my forward 1-2 weeks before we are leaving to make sure everything is working as anticipated.

Edited November 17, 2016 by SWharton

We had the same problem when trying to forward our mail, only the junk gets forwarded, any credit card renewals, financials, and other important stuff labeled do not forward or address correction required will not be forwarded.

Since we live in a rural area and don't have anyone to pick it up my solution was to install the largest lockable mailbox I could find and let them dump it all in there. Since we are usually gone only two or three months this works for us, I have all the important stuff electronic and if something did happen to come that needed our attention, well, too bad, we'll deal with it when we get back.

  On 11/17/2016 at 9:53 PM, Rich&Sylvia said:

Beware the difference between "forwarding" mail and a "temporary change of address" at the post office website.

Forwarding did not work well on our first year of snowbirding.

I switched to temporary-change-of-address for the last few years without problems.

 

That said, the PO will forward ONE issue of a magazine subscription - but only one.

I don't know what happens to subsequent issues.

So, it's best to file a change of address with the magazine if you want to continue getting it.

 

I have to make notes in my calendar as to what I've done, the proper contacts and when to make changes. That includes mail-hold, change-of-address, start and end dates, magazine contacts, etc. etc.

 

 

I just went to the USPS.com website and I am not seeing a difference in the "forwarding mail" and the "change of address" sections at USPS. They both take me to same "Change of Address" page.