When we talk with people about moving to Portugal, inevitably one of the first things they ask is, how do you get your mail? The answer is our Virtual Mailbox.
Can your contacts ship letters directly to Portugal? Do you ask someone to check a PO box? Can you have it sent to a friend’s house for them to open and scan for you? How does that work? So many questions.
It’s a Matter of Mail
The question of where, how, and privacy concerns related to physical mail is an important consideration for anyone who is thinking of moving overseas.
There are a variety of reasons expats and immigrants might need to retain the ability to receive US mail in the States while living abroad. As much as we might prefer, not every transaction is carried out via email. There are important disclosures that are still sent out physically. Additionally, credit cards issued to your stateside address expire and are replaced with new cards showing updated expiration dates.
Alternatives to Virtual Mailboxes
There are lots of free ways to manage to receive your mail in the States while living abroad. The problem is, most of them involve trusting friends and family members with your financial secrets. Then, once they know how much money is in the bank, friends or family will need to be responsive and responsible enough to forward your mail to a foreign address. It’s a rare, gold-star human being who is able to manage this discretely and reliably.
Virtual Mailbox Solutions
There are a handful of remote mailbox vendors and we have relied upon a few of them in the past. Unfortunately, they were always missing a feature or two that made it difficult for us to remain on-the-go for long.
That all changed when we started working with Traveling Mailbox. With locations throughout the US, we were able to establish one address in Washington for personal use and a second address in Oregon for our businesses.
Traveling Mailbox Services
Traveling Mailbox offers a robust variety of services that have really made it easy for us to continue to live remotely. When a piece of mail arrives, they scan the front of the envelope and send us a message to let us know. Then, we can ask them to scan the internal contents or dispose of it, like in the case of junk mail. Scans are usually completed within 24 hours. We receive another email when they are ready.
We click on the link in the email to access our dashboard and view the letter to determine next steps. Usually, we just save the scanned image for our electronic records and ask them to shred and delete the notice. If we don’t know what to do with it, they can hold onto it for a month while we ponder the best dispensation.
Alternatively, if we need to have them forward it to a different address, that process takes about 24 hours too. There is a slight charge for forwarding to cover postage but it is completely reasonable and logical. Usually, they charge about $3 to send credit cards to Portugal.
We even set up check deposit authorization, which took a few more steps, but now they can forward checks to our bank for deposit. We were lucky enough to test this process with an insurance rebate and it went off without a hitch.
How Secure are Virtual Mailboxes?
Certain scanned items are considered highly sensitive, so some people worry about staff security protocols. Never fear, they are extensive.
All staff members undergo rigorous screening and background checks and are under video surveillance when performing scanning and shredding tasks. You can even ask for video evidence of tasks performed on your mail if you need added assurance.
Simplify Your Life with a Virtual Mailbox
Lots of people rely on remote mail solutions for receiving, reviewing, and shredding their mail. Even people who are not residing internationally have enjoyed the simplicity a virtual mailbox offers. Since these services scan your mail once asked, you will always have an electronic image of the physical mail. With that image, you can immediately save the data to your online records. This saves you a lot of time and trouble dealing with a scanner.
Plus, it’s a lot more fun to let someone else sort through your junk mail – keeping your house clutter-free.
We enjoyed our experience with Traveling Mailbox so much, we shout about their services to the world! As a bonus, they provide a small commission to us as affiliates. To be clear, this is a bonus, we would shout about them anyway.