Getting Your Mail

It's amazing to us how long of a tube some people have tied to the U.S. Mail.  "How will I get my mail?"

When we initially made summer runs for a couple of months, we had a neighbor pick up our mail and send it to the General Delivery pickup at the local U.S. Post Office.  Without question, if you want to see the most inefficient, inconsistent use of your tax dollars, with the worst customer service available, deal with the U.S. Post Office on a weekly basis throughout the country.

I'm not saying we didn't have some great Post Offices to work with, we did.  But if you want continuity -- forget it.

Each summer that followed, the rules had changed.  One Postmaster told me I had to fill out a pink card prior to my arrival to be able to pick up the package that I was looking at behind him, and the signature had to be witnessed by the Postmaster.  "Um, how can I fill it out before I get here?"  More than once I had to go to two or three Post Offices to track down my package.  It was a mess.

Now that we full time, and our business needs consistency, we use America's MailBox from South Dakota which has been great.  Each campground at which we've stayed accepts U.S. Mail for their guests.  Having a schedule done through winter of 2011-12, we just set up a mail schedule and have it sent.  We're down to only needing it send about every 8 days.

If we know we're going to be somewhere for a while, we do have things shipped/sent directly to us at that site.

Plus, we've cut our U.S. Mail down to probably 10% of what it was five years ago, plus direct deposit of our commissions has been a great help.