mail forwarding/bill paying

[Lynx]

I use Voyage Mail Forwarding Service in the Fl Keys. He has been good and promp and has a bill paying service. He can be reached at http://www.vmfs.com/

[stykman]

thanks all. that was exactly what i was looking for. to answer some of the questions:
we are currently living aboard in kodiak, alaska, building up the kitty and working on the boat. our plan is to head out may of 2007 for points south (read warm). understand the residency point (good one). most, if not all our bills can be handled electronically or through our bank. some involvement surely will be involved.
i will check out the services you mentioned, thanks a heap for the info!!

scott
s/v celestial sea
kodiak, ak

[otgadventures]

Originally Posted by Euro Cruiser

Stykman:

As Eric implies, you might want to think about residency & tax issues when selecting your mail forwarder; there may be reasons you want one located in a specific state or province.

That aside, we listened to a poll being taken one storm season down in Trinidad on the VHF Net; one cruiser was unhappy and wanted to change his mail forwarder so he collected data off the VHF net over some weeks. The hands-down winner (in percentage represented from this mostly North American group and with the highest rating) was St. Brendan's Isle in Florida - www.boatmail.net We later met Doug & Linda, mid-life career changers who have now owned that company for almost a decade and switched over in 2002. Doug had a corporate career in logistics, they've subsequently moved into larger facilities (they must own a substantial share of this market, for both sailors and RV'ers), and we've found their service to be excellent.

We too use Skype when possible, both to contact them and also to resolve other issues when they surface. We've shedded almost all paper and all regular payments are not electronic & automatic...but we've found there's always going to an occasional task which requires personal intervention and some amount of paper, which is why Skype and a good mail forwarder remain important for the long-distance cruiser.

Andy, I know of no one currently doing the kind of scanning you ask about. I wonder if it would be feasible financially. We've throttled back all the junk mail, magazines, etc. and yet there is still mostly unproductive mail that arrives in our pouch. The thought of all that being scanned - or decisions made about whether it should be scanned - seems impractical to me, both in terms of accepted liability by the forwarder and volume. Perhaps your life is simplier than ours... <g>

Jack

Greetings to this thread,

What are the issues regarding WHERE the mail is sent? Is this only if someone has no other physical USA address? Last time I cruised, my sister received our mail, sorted the flotsam from the jetsam, and forwarded a pouch to us in the Bahamas every few weeks.

Thanks

Bob

[schoonerdog]

this is a mail scanning service which does precisely what some were looking for. Be curious if people thought it would be better than St Brendans boatmail service. http://www.earthclassmail.com/personal-use

[GordMay]

St. Brendan's Isle (mail services & more)
411 Walnut Street, Green Cove Springs, FL 32043-3443
Email: sbi@sbimailservice.com
Tel: (904) 284-1200
Fax: (904) 284-4472
Toll Free: 800-544-2132
Web: Mail Forwarding Services at St Brendan's Isle
And: Postal Remailing Services at St. Brendan's Isle

[Harriet]

Maybe I'm just paranoid, but I don't want anyone opening my mail excet me (or my spouse). While the idea that the envelopes are scanned first is appealing, I would be afraid to tell a company to toss or open mail based on the envelope. In other words, I'll stay with St. Brendan's.

[scgilligan]

I think I'd rather have all of my mail forwarded straight to a shredder..any bills that need to be paid can be automated..Very few need to be received and paid via snail mail..the rest- catalogs, junk, credit card solicitations, etc. can go away..
I wonder if there is a service that automatically stamps "return to sender" on everything and drops it in the USPS.?
Maybe I'll start that service.. :-)

[Therapy]

Brendan's sounds good.

They say they send an account summary monthly.

I assume that if one is cruising from one place to another then they could pile up like the rest of the mail.

If one is in/on some small out-of-the-way place and give them a call/email (even possible??) then how long before the USPS gets it to you?

I guess I should have been a lawyer because I know the answers to my questions.

A = It varies.

But still the best I take it?

[coot]

Originally Posted by Harriet

Jon D brings up a good point. Wherever your address is for mail purposes will be assumed by that state as your legal address (for tax purposes).

It could not possibly be that simple...

Each state has different laws about what constitutes legal residence. Even worse, they have different definitions, depending what you are talking about. For example, whether you owe tax as a resident may be different from whether you qualify for in-state tuition as a resident.

It is worth investigating the rules for any state you might want for your state of residence and any state that might try to claim you against your will.

[hellosailor]

Coot-
In fact it is not that simple, you are right. Some states draw a line between 'residence' and 'domicile' as well. Each can count days differently. And some of them are expressly familiar with St. Brendan's (and one might assume other services) and they know it is a service address, not a residence, even though it might appear to be a residential address. As opposed to mail services from commercial "box" addresses.

This stuff absolutely MUST be verfied and confirming in writing with specific state authorities beforehand, or else litigated after the fact. Much cheaper to do it beforehand.<G>

[Harriet]

Good luck getting anything in writing from state authorities.

[Harriet]

Good luck getting anything in writing from a state authority.

[Weyalan]

Family canmake great mail forwarders provided you have a good relationship with them!

[miss-m]

Im just going to jump on the back of this thread and twist it around a little.

I have my mail forwarding service all set up- they're happy to keep the mail and forward it to us when we require.

My question is this... How do you find an address to receive your mail in each port? Im UK based at the moment, but will be moving further afield. I've heard some people use Amex offices, but we dont have an Amex card.

What does everyone else use?

[Hud3]

Miss-M,

You need to get creative, and it will depend to some extent on where you'll be cruising. Here in the eastern Caribbean, for example, some of the chandleries and the marina/boatyards will accept packages and mail for cruisers. It helps if you're planning to use their services. And you need to plan ahead as to where you will be and when, and us an overnight service, like FedEx. Regular mail can be very iffy.

You can find out which places will do this by talking with other cruisers, or some of the popular cruising guides will have the information. Going the other way, many cruisers will ask fellow cruisers who are returning "home" (wherever that may be) to carry mail for them. I've done that myself for friends.