What about Snail Mail ? How do you deal with it when Cruising ?

[Alecadi]

Probably a question already asked several time although there is nothing to do with Rocna Anchors

When cruising for several month out of the USA, what do you do with your conventional mail, paper mail, snail mail?

I heard about a company in Florida dealing with that kind of problem but don't have a name or an address.

Anybody using any kind of service like that one?

[zeehag]

i use a chandlery in sd for mine--i receive it when someone brings it to me--otherwise, most of it i ignore. the only things i NEED are my uscg documents and certain other items--income notifications and such.-- i have a neighbor read em to me over skype.....

[Zydeco]

Originally Posted by Alecadi

Probably a question already asked several time although there is nothing to do with Rocna Anchors

When cruising for several month out of the USA, what do you do with your conventional mail, paper mail, snail mail?

I heard about a company in Florida dealing with that kind of problem but don't have a name or an address.

Anybody using any kind of service like that one?

You're probably thinking of St. Brendan's Isle.
Mail Forwarding Services at St Brendan's Isle

[Alecadi]

Originally Posted by Zydeco

You're probably thinking of St. Brendan's Isle.
Mail Forwarding Services at St Brendan's Isle

Probably
thanks for the link
Did you use it yourself?

[Zydeco]

Originally Posted by Alecadi

Probably
thanks for the link
Did you use it yourself?

No. When we went cruising we checked into mail forwarding and St. Brendan's Isle seemed to the "go to" service, but we ended up using the mother-in-law mail forwarding service. Worked OK for us, but my guess is that results vary wildly with this approach.

[Waterway Guide]

We used a service that scans each envelope and posts in your account accessible by the internet. You can choose to trash, recycle, shred, store or open each piece, and they can scan the contents and post in your account. You can assemble them and have just the ones you choose forwarded wherever you want. Caveat: The one we used (Earth Class Mail) did screw things up a few times. Hopefully they're better now, and I think a few of the other services do this too.

[ReMetau]

We have been using St. Brendan's for a few years now. The service is a little pricey is you use the scanning service, but they do a great job and we feel that is worth it. We got tired of mail forwarding and address change issues.

[wingNwing]

+1 for St Brendans. The scan option was fantastic when we were out of the US for extended periods. Another benefit was having them sign our USCG documentation as "agent" when it came up for renewal every year. And they're very knowledgeable about rules for shipping packages (boat parts? prescription meds?) overseas. Their error rate is very very low ... just another of those "you gets what you pays for" things IMHO.

[matauwhi]

G'day, mate. We are down to 3 pieces of snail mail. The annual USCG documentation the biannual EPIRB regristration, and replacement financial transaction cards fowarded on by family to our current location. Everything else is via the internet. Cheers.

[FSMike]

In addition to everything else, I believe St.Brendans Isle offers to file your documentation renewal for you automatically when the notice comes in the mail (as an available service). These folk have it together for the cruising sailor.
They are located in Green Cove Springs, Fl. Check out their web site.

[Hud3]

Another vote for SBI. We're still using them having sold the boat and moved ashore on Nevis, in the Caribbean. Great folks to deal with.

[speciald@ocens.]

The problem I have had with SBI is that it is very expensive to have the mail shipped to Sint Maarten. Forwarding packages like Internet purchases is very costly. We continue to use them as a mail drop but now have purchases sent to Miami and have them shipped here by Tropical Shipping. As an example, we had some Christmas presents to ship last month. Through SBI it would have cost over $700, through Tropical, it was $59.
There are also services on the island that send mail in bulk to the US twice a week (Mailbox in Simpson Bay). Mailing directly can take a long time. Using the service gets the mail to Miami where it is mailed to the recipient.

[Doodles]

Another vote +1 for St. Brendan's. We live aboard/cruise half the year in the US and live ashore the other half in Thailand, and have been using them for the past 3 years. Excellent service, no complaints.

[svpattyd]

We have our mail forwarded, either to a marina or to our daughters' home. The reason is we want to keep our Maryland residence status. Maryland has embraced the Affordable Care Act and I can get my health insurance at a very reasonable cost. When researching, found that UPS stores can do many things SBI offers. FWIW

[Doodles]

Originally Posted by svpattyd

We have our mail forwarded, either to a marina or to our daughters' home. The reason is we want to keep our Maryland residence status. Maryland has embraced the Affordable Care Act and I can get my health insurance at a very reasonable cost. When researching, found that UPS stores can do many things SBI offers. FWIW

Using SBI doesn't mean you need to change your residence. Remember its just a mailing forwarding service. My residence is still in Virginia.

The big advantage for us the the "mail scan" service they offer. On a daily basis I get an email with a scanned copy of the front of any piece of mail I've received that day, then I can chose to have it sent it me with the next shipment or shredded as trash. If it is something urgent that I really need to see they will open and scan the contents for me.