So, when you are ready to sign up for a mail forwarding service after you do all the diligence on rates, plans, shipping prices, trustworthiness etc, do you look for a service that lets you keep your address in the state you are moving out of?

Don’t. Your mail forwarding address should be state-agnostic.

Here’s why: once you fill out a change of address form with the USPS, it will forward your mail to that address, irrespective of where in the US it is. And US laws don’t make you liable for taxes in any state without living there. Just having an address in the state  does not mean you become a resident of that state.

Fancy/Premium addresses:  Mail forwarding companies or commercial mail receiving agencies (CMRA’s) sometimes will offer a choice of several states and addresses to you. Your personal mailbox number could potentially be in New York, Florida, Texas, California, the possibilities are endless! However, these fancy or “premium” addresses can come at a steep price – often a discreet +$14.99 hidden somewhere! Watch out. And don’t pay for something you absolutely will get no additional value out of. Instead choose the service that works best for your needs, not for the address.

When is having an address in a particular state important?

If you have a business and you are based in Florida and you need to bill your customers, it makes total sense to have a billing address in the city or at least the state you operate from. From a customer standpoint, it looks less suspicious. They won’t have to question the authenticity of who they are sending their money to. Certain health care providers require you to reside in the state you are covered in to maintain your insurance rates. The rates for insurance coverage can vary state-to-state. If you like the plan you currently have, it would be very important to maintain an address in your current residency state. If you are trying to be discreet about moving or traveling abroad, then you do have the anonymity of maintaining your residency state address. Other than those few areas, it’s really not an issue to have an address in a different state, usually just a preference. Which if it is your preference, those options are certainly available to you!

Dallas-skyline.jpg

Vanity Addresses: are they really worth it?

So, you’ve researched a few mail forwarding companies, one company offers a single real street address in Nevada. Another company offers 3 street addresses, one in Wisconsin, one in Texas, and one in New York. Let’s say the Wisconsin address is their standard address. The Texas and NY addresses are premium; premium meaning they cost more. Standard mailbox prices are usually “free”, or, included in the price of membership. The prices for a premium address can range anywhere from an extra $4.95 per month and all the way up to $12.95 per month. Now the real question is what is the value in these “premium” addresses? Is it just the address itself? The location? Convenience? Why would you want to pay extra for a mailing address?

Example: you want a personal mailing address to give out to your friends and family and you want a separate address for your bills and taxes, all on the same account of course:

  • Standard mailing address on an individual plan, $25/mo
  • Premium mailing address on an individual plan $25 + $4.95/mo
  • Separate 1583 forms for the addresses which need to be notarized
  • One forwarding request (you can only have one open at a time via USPS), then reach out to everyone who needs your change of address

A lot of the premium address locations are UPS storefronts…? Not a private office or warehouse that deals specifically with commercial mail and package forwarding, a UPS store. Which is why these addresses are not equipped to handle all incoming mail and packages. They literally are not built for it! On top of that, each location will handle mail differently, since the UPS stores are not owned or managed by the CMRA, the possibility of errors occurring increases dramatically.

—-

By US Global Mail, the expert in mail & packages forwarding