Travelling Mailbox Short Term Review

[Tommy T.]

I am very pleased with the services and costs of my mail handler in Seattle. Washington is a no income tax state.

Anyone interested, just PM me and I will give you details.

[Huggybearman]

Does anyone know of a similar service that operates in the UK, especially one that can forward bank/credit cards?

[OnMyWay]

13 hours ago, Huggybearman said:

Does anyone know of a similar service that operates in the UK, especially one that can forward bank/credit cards?

I googled and found this:

https://www.reviano.com/blog/mail-forwarding-services-uk.html

Towards the bottom, some of them look very similar to the U.S. services.

[intrepid]

On 7/27/2020 at 5:43 AM, Shady said:

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

Yes I have. 3 bank accounts, 3 credit cards and two atm cards and a Partridge in a Pear Tree.  Well not that last one.  Have not had an issue for the past five years.

[Shady]

4 hours ago, intrepid said:

Yes I have. 3 bank accounts, 3 credit cards and two atm cards and a Partridge in a Pear Tree.  Well not that last one.  Have not had an issue for the past five years.

Nice, which company?

[Jollygoodfellow]

On 7/27/2020 at 8:01 AM, Tommy T. said:

I am very pleased with the services and costs of my mail handler in Seattle. Washington is a no income tax state.

Anyone interested, just PM me and I will give you details.

Is it a secret? You can share the info on the forum. 

[Tommy T.]

7 hours ago, Jollygoodfellow said:

Is it a secret? You can share the info on the forum. 

Ah.... okay. It is Dockside Solutions in Seattle. I think I pay $260 for a year. But that does not include actual physical mail forwarding, just scanning, opening (if requested) and mail holding.

[OnMyWay]

I'm trying another service offered by Travelling Mailbox.

If you upload something you need mailed by U.S.P.S., they will print it and post it.  This actually works for domestic or International addresses.  So if you wanted to use U.S.P.S. as a cheaper and more reliable option to get a post letter to Europe, for example, you could use this.

They charge the U.S.P.S. postage charge + $2.00 service charge + $1.00 per page.

I have something to send to the IRS in Texas.  It is 7 pages which I consolidated into one PDF and uploaded it to them.  The maximum size is 12 mb and mine was 10+ after I compressed it.  Then I added the address to my address book and sent it.

It would be a fairly fat envelope if folded so they probably put it in a large full page size envelope.  The cost for regular first class was $10.00, so I guess the regular first class rate is $1.00 + $2 + $7.  However, with regular first class there is no tracking.  I chose Priority, which has tracking, and the cost was $16.35, so I guess that would be $7.35 postage + $2 + $7.

After only about an hour, they sent me an e-mail saying that it has been sent, and they had the tracking number on the website.  That is slightly misleading as all they did was create a label for it using the USPS online system.  When I tracked it, USPS said "Label Created, not yet in system
A status update is not yet available on your Priority Mail® package. It will be available when the shipper provides an update or the package is delivered to USPS. Check back soon."  It will probably be tendered to the U.S.P.S. on Monday.

Of course, I could ask a friend or relative to do all this for me and save $9, but my experiences with that are not so great.  In this case, I have accountability right from the get-go, and don't need to worry about a friend / relative getting it done, taking it to the post office, etc.

I will let you know how it goes.  This might be a good alternative when you need something safely and professionally handled and posted at U.S.P.S.  For example, Social Security proof of life form 7162.  The other mail services probably offer similar services.

[OnMyWay]

On 8/9/2020 at 8:56 PM, OnMyWay said:

I'm trying another service offered by Travelling Mailbox.

If you upload something you need mailed by U.S.P.S., they will print it and post it.  This actually works for domestic or International addresses.  So if you wanted to use U.S.P.S. as a cheaper and more reliable option to get a post letter to Europe, for example, you could use this.

They charge the U.S.P.S. postage charge + $2.00 service charge + $1.00 per page.

I have something to send to the IRS in Texas.  It is 7 pages which I consolidated into one PDF and uploaded it to them.  The maximum size is 12 mb and mine was 10+ after I compressed it.  Then I added the address to my address book and sent it.

It would be a fairly fat envelope if folded so they probably put it in a large full page size envelope.  The cost for regular first class was $10.00, so I guess the regular first class rate is $1.00 + $2 + $7.  However, with regular first class there is no tracking.  I chose Priority, which has tracking, and the cost was $16.35, so I guess that would be $7.35 postage + $2 + $7.

After only about an hour, they sent me an e-mail saying that it has been sent, and they had the tracking number on the website.  That is slightly misleading as all they did was create a label for it using the USPS online system.  When I tracked it, USPS said "Label Created, not yet in system
A status update is not yet available on your Priority Mail® package. It will be available when the shipper provides an update or the package is delivered to USPS. Check back soon."  It will probably be tendered to the U.S.P.S. on Monday.

Of course, I could ask a friend or relative to do all this for me and save $9, but my experiences with that are not so great.  In this case, I have accountability right from the get-go, and don't need to worry about a friend / relative getting it done, taking it to the post office, etc.

I will let you know how it goes.  This might be a good alternative when you need something safely and professionally handled and posted at U.S.P.S.  For example, Social Security proof of life form 7162.  The other mail services probably offer similar services.

Follow up.  All went well.  Tendered to USPS on Monday the 10th in North Carolina.  That is where the main Travelling Mailbox facility is.  Arrived Austin, TX on the 12th and delivered to the IRS on the 13th.  I'm impressed with the USPS tracking.  It has improved a lot from when I retired from the industry in 2012.

Tracking History

August 13, 2020, 5:09 pm
Delivered, Front Desk/Reception/Mail Room
AUSTIN, TX 73301 
Your item was delivered to the front desk, reception area, or mail room at 5:09 pm on August 13, 2020 in AUSTIN, TX 73301.
August 13, 2020, 7:14 am
Available for Pickup
AUSTIN, TX 73301 
August 13, 2020, 5:37 am
Arrived at Post Office
AUSTIN, TX 78710 
August 12, 2020, 12:47 pm
Forwarded
AUSTIN, TX 
August 12, 2020, 6:43 am
Arrived at Post Office
AUSTIN, TX 78752 
August 12, 2020, 6:07 am
Arrived at USPS Facility
AUSTIN, TX 78752 
August 12, 2020, 5:54 am
Departed USPS Regional Facility
AUSTIN TX DISTRIBUTION CENTER 
August 12, 2020, 4:15 am
Arrived at USPS Regional Destination Facility
AUSTIN TX DISTRIBUTION CENTER 
August 11, 2020
In Transit to Next Facility
August 10, 2020, 3:15 pm
USPS picked up item
SANFORD, NC 27330 
August 9, 2020, 12:09 pm
Shipping Label Created, USPS Awaiting Item
SANFORD, NC 27330 

[OnMyWay]

Now, I am trying Travelling Mailbox check deposit service. 

I received an envelope from my former mortgage company early this evening and requested it to be opened and scanned.  TM did this within 2 hours.  It was a large check I had been expecting.

Previously I posted about downloading a check and then using my Chase Bank phone app to deposit it.  Chase has me on a $5000 limit for depositing with the phone app.  I pleaded with them to raise it because I knew this check was coming, but they would not budge.

The Traveling Mailbox check deposit process was very simple.  The most tedious thing was typing in my address and banking info for my bank, but that is a one time thing.  Chase has a Bank By Mail physical address, and that is what I used because I knew that TM would use Fedex for the shipment.  After selecting the mail with the check, you just type in the amount and last 4 digits of the check number.  Then, if you have another mail with another check, you can select it and add it so you save on shipping.  I didn't need to.

The cost for Fedex Express was cheap.  $6.99 I think, +$4.99 service charge.  Total was less than $12 and it will be there Monday, I think.  Optionally, I could have added Fedex Saturday service and the total would be over $30.  No need.

I expect it will be shipping Friday afternoon their time and I will get the tracking # then.