Forwarding mail: US Postal Service or private mail box service?

A full-timing couple we know spends the bulk if their time in Arizona. Come summer, the northern climate is a bit more conducive to their needs. They need mail service on "both ends," and for them, mail forwarding is a necessary evil. So which service to rely on? This little story may hold an answer.

Carl and Ann can tell you they've got experience with both. In Arizona they have a mail box at a local US Post Office. In Washington, they've hired a private mail box service. When in Arizona, the Washington facility forwards mail to their post office box; in summer the government boys and girls are supposed to reciprocate. Admittedly, the cost for the private service is a great deal more expensive. Renting a private box and the "service" that goes with it costs them $90 a year; the box rental on a similar sized box from the USPS costs about $40 a year. And "Uncle Sam," offers to forward all of their first-class and priority mail for free. From an economic standpoint, it sounds like the taxpayer funded arrangement should be a winner.

Here's where it can get sticky. Let's call it the case of the real snail mail. On leaving Arizona, Carl filed a "temporary change of address," with the Postal Service, asking for the family mail to be forwarded to their Washington address. That was in mid-July. After several weeks of checking the private service in Washington, finally, a single letter came through -- originally mailed in Southern California on July 25. It took four days shy of a month for a first class letter to make its way from California to the Washington address.

Thinking this a bit odd, Carl called the Postal Service to inquire. A half-hour of frustration and wait time later, Carl was told that the service's toll-free customer service people couldn't even find a forwarding order on file. Carl called back to the local post office in Arizona -- they found the order, and as far as they could tell, everything was A-OK. If you consider waiting A month for your mail, well, OK.

The couple has had the same private mail forwarding service in Washington for years, and with one or two minor exceptions, they've had their mail forwarded to them quickly and reliably. A phone call to the outfit, a minute or two on the phone, and their mail wings to them wherever they need it. Yes, they have to pay postage to have the mail forwarded to them -- that's courtesy of a government directive -- but like they say in the credit card commercial: "Six months mail box rental, $45. Postage for forwarding a week's mail, $3.50. Knowing where your checks and bills are, priceless."