Travelling Mailbox Short Term Review

[OnMyWay]

Offshoot from another discussion.  As mentioned, my mail was somewhat botched by a relative handling it, and the California mailing address was causing me issues with the crooks at California FTB.  So I finally signed up for Travelling Mailbox after reading opinions on various services, posted by other members.  I don't remember seeing any bad reviews of any services, so your choice will probably depend on your individual needs.  Among all the mail services, there are many different options for online services, scanning, addresses, etc.

Here is what I dislike and like about Travelling Mailbox.

Dislikes:

1.  The $15 plan has everything I need.  I don't get much mail.  However, the pricing is a bit misleading.  There are very few addresses included for that price, and none were good for me.  You have to add $5 to get a "premium" address, so my total is $20 a month..  That is a bit misleading.  I'm not sure what addresses are included in the $25 plan.

2.  This is the same for all mail services so not really a negative for TM, but once you are overseas, it might be difficult  / expensive to get the required USPS form notarized by a U.S.  notary.  It is far better to execute the form at a U.S. Post Office.  No notary required.  Sooner or later, I'm betting these competing services will offer online notary for their customers.

Likes:

1.  They seem to be very organized and efficient.  The software is easy to use and understand.  

Here is what the inbox looks like.  Each piece has an arrival date and a expiration date, and other info about the piece.  In this case, these have already been shredded and I just left the images there.   I can delete them anytime, or they go away 60 days (expiration date) after arrival.  I had all these opened and scanned last month, and downloaded the scans I wanted to save.

2.  In the red box I made above, it shows what you have left in your billing cycle.  I have not received any mail in July.  Hoping to receive some checks this next week so I can use some July scans before my reset.  When an envelope arrives, it is scanned in, and e-mail is sent to me, and the image is posted here.  That is part of the 40 envelopes I get per month.  If I want to see the contents, that is where my 35 pages scans is used.  If you go beyond 35, there is a per page extra cost.  If you need lots of scans, you could upgrade.

3.  Scan quality is very good.  Here is an example.  I'm hoping that I can use the images of checks for my Chase mobile banking app, to deposit them.

4.  I can't comment on the forwarding yet, as I have not used it.  Shipping a few envelopes on Fedex to the Philippines is around $20 and sending the same to a U.S. address on Fedex 2 day is $6.99.  Those are both good rates.  In either case, you can consolidate, so if I need to send my checks all together in a week or two, it will cost me $20.

 

[Jollygoodfellow]

This company has address in California and prices of $9.99 a month for 30 items so bit cheaper. 

https://ipostal1.com/virtual-mailing-address-plans-pricing.php

[intrepid]

32 minutes ago, Jollygoodfellow said:

This company has address in California and prices of $9.99 a month for 30 items so bit cheaper. 

https://ipostal1.com/virtual-mailing-address-plans-pricing.php

There are nine states without STATE income tax.  California is not one of them.  Everyone is subjected to federal tax but the second hit of a state tax when not living there just does not seem fair.  That's why most of us US citizens that want to maintain a US address try to enroll in one of the states without income tax.

Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming don't tax earned income at all. If you're retired, that also means no state income tax on your Social Security benefits, withdrawals from your IRA or 401(k) plan, and payouts from your pension.

https://www.kiplinger.com/slideshow/taxes/t054-s001-states-without-income-tax/index.html

 

 

Edited July 26, 2020 by intrepid

[OnMyWay]

1 hour ago, Jollygoodfellow said:

This company has address in California and prices of $9.99 a month for 30 items so bit cheaper. 

https://ipostal1.com/virtual-mailing-address-plans-pricing.php

That is a new one to me, but note that the price does not include scanning or shredding.  They charge $2.25 per item, up to 10 pages, for scanning.  When I was shopping, over the years, you will find the different companies have different pricing inclusions.

[OnMyWay]

48 minutes ago, intrepid said:

There are nine states without STATE income tax.  California is not one of them.

And California has the highest taxes by far!  13.3%!  What a disaster that state is now!

[Viking]

5 hours ago, OnMyWay said:

And California has the highest taxes by far!  13.3%!  What a disaster that state is now!

Hahahaha, high taxes? You would get an heartattack if you see the taxes we pay here in Sweden 

I didn´t use to complain much about it before, but the way it is now is just too much, considering that the benefits we get ar not what it used to be  

[OnMyWay]

6 minutes ago, Viking said:

Hahahaha, high taxes? You would get an heartattack if you see the taxes we pay here in Sweden 

I didn´t use to complain much about it before, but the way it is now is just too much, considering that the benefits we get ar not what it used to be  

Yes, taxes are very high in most of Europe but you would be surprised at what the total ends up being in the U.S.  Federal income tax, state income tax, sales tax, fuel tax, property tax, school taxes,..... it goes on and on!

[Viking]

6 minutes ago, OnMyWay said:

Yes, taxes are very high in most of Europe but you would be surprised at what the total ends up being in the U.S.  Federal income tax, state income tax, sales tax, fuel tax, property tax, school taxes,..... it goes on and on!

One way or another they always find a way to get to our hard earned money  

[Shady]

Does anyone here successfully use these services for credit card / bank mailing address?

[earthdome]

26 minutes ago, Shady said:

Does anyone here successfully use these services for credit card / bank mailing address?

Yes, make sure you ask for and get the type of address which is considered a street address so you keep financial institutions, government and delivery services happy. And yes, some of these services will accept delivery for you of items you order online and then for a fee pack them all up in a box and ship them to you.