For whatever reason you’re RVing right now, you must be wondering where you will get all your mail. RVing definitely comes with the benefits of a relaxed lifestyle and enjoying a stress-free life.
However, there are other factors at play too that you definitely need to consider, such as careful budgeting or the way to receive mail in an RV. If you want to know how you can get mail while living in an RV, stay tuned to find out!
How to Get Mail While Traveling In an RV?
Living in an RV can be quite the relaxing adventure you’re looking for. You might think you have to sacrifice things such as receiving mail while living in an RV, but that is definitely not the case.
You don’t have to compromise on receiving important news through the mail. There are many ways you can easily receive your mail while enjoying your life in an RV.
Rent a Private Mail Box
Did you know that you can rent private mailboxes and receive all your mail through those? Many private companies such as Postnet allow you to rent out mailboxes.
Your mail would be directly delivered to these mailboxes, and you’re just going to have to go and collect it. However, please note that renting a private mailbox could be expensive.
The costs of these mailboxes vary depending on the size and location. This can be an excellent way for full-time RVers to receive their mail without any distress.
Ship to a UPS store
If you cannot receive mail through the above services, another option can be to have your mail shipped to UPS stores directly.
You would obviously be renting out mailboxes over here too. However, it would be much cheaper than renting a private mailbox.
Renting the UPS boxes will cost around $20 to $25. By renting these boxes, you will be using the store’s address as the mail delivery address and receive your mail at the UPS stores.
Mail Forwarding From a Friend or Relative’s Address
If you’re out on a trip, enjoying the small-town life and exploring something new, you don’t have to worry about your mail.
If you trust your friend or a relative enough to have them collect mail from your house, you can definitely use this option.
To receive mail while traveling in an RV, the first step would be to ask a friend or a relative to collect mail from your house. You can then send them your current location, and they can directly send you your mail.
However, this can be a burden on your friend/relative. So, you should only be using this option as a last resort.
You can also use a USPS mail forwarding service to have your mail forwarded. We will discuss it further below.
USPS For Forwarding Mail
USPS offers free mail forwarding services that can be really helpful for your short-term RVing. You have to fill in an application and submit it to USPS along with your new address. The USPS would make a temporary shift of your mail from your permanent address to your current temporary address.
They can forward your mail to your current location. The best part about this is that these services are free for up to one year.
However, it may take significant time before the mail gets delivered. Please note that this is a temporary solution, so this won’t really be applicable for full-time RVers.
How Can Full-time RVers Receive Mail?
All of the above solutions are temporary fixes for receiving mail. Suppose you are traveling in an RV long-term. Does that mean that there is no permanent solution for full-time RVers to receive their mail? Absolutely not. Here are a few options available for you.
Ask Someone to Let You Use Their Address
If you live in an RV full time, you can ask someone (a friend living nearby or a relative) to let you use their address for your mail delivery.
You can check their mailbox daily and see if any new mail has arrived for you. This can be an easy, long-term solution for you to receive your mail without any hassle.
However, you must trust that person enough not to interfere with your mail and maintain appropriate boundaries.
Post Office Box
Another option is using a post office box to receive mail for your RV. You should go to a nearby town and sign up for a post office box or mailbox. These post office boxes provide a fast and hassle-free way to receive your mail. Best of all, it is relatively cheap.
While the costs may differ from place to place, a PO box can be rented for around less than $100 for six months.
Once you sign up for the PO box, you should sign up for mail forwarding, and you will get the mail delivered right to the desired address. Another option could be just to pick up your mail from the PO box office.
RV Mail Forwarding Services
An RV mail forwarding service can also be another great option for full-time RVers to receive mail. The best part about these services is that they provide a proper street address for your mail delivery. Most full-time RVers struggle with receiving mail due to not having a residential address.
You need to redirect your mail to the address of these RV mail forwarding services. These services then forward your mail to the appropriate street address that you give them.
Additionally, these services can keep your mail safe for as long as you want. They can also scan your mail and send it to you if you are physically unavailable to receive it.
Some excellent mail forwarding services are:
- 1) Escapees RV Club (Florida and Texas)
- 2) My RV Mail (Florida)
- 3) Texas Home Base (Texas)
To use these services, you need to buy a monthly subscription.
RV parks
An RV park is where different RVers live together and stay overnight or longer. You can make reservations in these RV parks, and they let you stay in allotted campsites. These RV parks usually contain mailboxes.
You can use these mailboxes to receive your mail. However, you have to check the policy of your RV park first because not all of them allow their guests to use their mailboxes.
These RV parks are very specific with their reservations and their details. Therefore, any mail that you’re receiving should have the reservation name mentioned very clearly on it. Moreover, you should inform the authorities about your mail beforehand.
Why Does Conventional Mail Not Get Delivered to an RV?
For conventional mail to get delivered, you need to have a permanent housing address and a domicile. An RV, however, does not offer that.
Therefore, it cannot get registered with your mailing service and you cannot receive mail directly to your RV.
No Permanent Address
When you’re living on wheels and enjoying life differently, who cares about having a permanent address? Apparently, your mailing services and a ton of other things do.
Since you’re living in an RV, you don’t have a permanent address. You cannot have the mail delivered to your RV simply because it can’t be processed without a permanent address.
No Domicile
A domicile is a document that represents your permanent home and the state that you live in. When you don’t have a permanent address, you cannot possibly have a domicile.
While you can set up a domicile on a permanent address of a relative or a friend, the RV itself cannot have a permanent address and hence, no domicile.
This makes it impossible for your RV to register with any mailing service, and you cannot expect to get mail delivered to your RV.
If you can secure your domicile through external services such as Escapees, things can get much easier.
What State is Best For Full-time RVers?
For domicile-holding RVers, the best states to live in are Texas, Florida, and South Dakota. Besides the fact that these states are income-tax-free, they also contain the main headquarters of different mail forwarding services. So, these states are ideal for full-time RVers to live in.
Final Thoughts
While you might think that you won’t be able to receive your mail because of a lack of a permanent address, that is not the case. You can easily receive mail when living in an RV through any of the above methods and enjoy the RV life. Happy RVing!
