Looking for a mail forwarding service from the US to Thailand

[Bubbha]

I’m looking for a mail forwarding service from the US to Thailand.

My family has been helping me with this task for many decades but this is no longer feasible.

Currently, my family address is in Florida so I would like to establish a virtual Florida address that I can use to forward US mail to Bangkok.

Thanks for any recommendations.

[mvdf]

Google is your best friend. Did it for you:

 

https://locations.theupsstore.com/fl/dunedin/1497-main-st/mailbox-services

https://www.atlanticpacknparcel.com/MAILBOX-RENTAL

https://www.safeshippacknship.com/Products-Services/Mailbox-Rental

https://www.a1ashippingdaytona.com/Mailbox-Rental/Domestic-Virtual-Mailbox

https://www.sasquatchmail.com/florida-mail-forwarding/

 

[James26]

I've been using this service for years. Manage all your incoming mail easily through the internet. Choose what you want to scan to pdf (download), delete, shred, or forward to any address worldwide.  Virtual address also satisfies most banks.

https://travelingmailbox.com/

[sante]

I've been using usabox.com for the past 10 years--very reliable and Florida based

[bendejo]

Used these guys for a while, all positive.

https://www.earthclassmail.com

 

 

[skatewash]

3 hours ago, James26 said:

I've been using this service for years. Manage all your incoming mail easily through the internet. Choose what you want to scan to pdf (download), delete, shred, or forward to any address worldwide.  Virtual address also satisfies most banks.

https://travelingmailbox.com/

I'm a satisfied user of this service for over 10 years.  You can get a Florida address (Tallahassee) for an extra charge.  I successfully opened a Charles Schwab Checking account using my virtual mailbox address from Thailand.  However, if anyone is really interested in whether the virtual address is a residential address or not (it's not) they can easily find out from the USPS.  In other words, Schwab could have easily determined that my address was not residential, but they didn't do so (at the time, this was several years ago).  So, if the virtual address satisfies a bank it's down to the bank not really being interested enough to check.

[Wake Up]

PhysicalAddress.com 

 

cheap and reliable. They shred what you don’t want and can forward anything to you anywhere in the world for various prices based on how soon you need the forwarded items. See all your mail on your phone or laptop upon receipt. 
 

one draw back for you  is you must sign a postal agreement. and mail them the original for them legally to accept and forward your mail. This is required by the USA post office. 
 

if you are in Thailand you have to download the form and DHL it to the USA. If in the USA can drop off the form at any of their many offices or mail by regular mail. 

[86Tiger]

usglobalmail.com

[srowndedbyh2o]

I’ve been using virtualpostmail.com  Works great. If you don’t get a lot of mail each month, their $20/month plan allows up to 25 pieces of mail per month and the price includes 10 scans per month. If you need more, their $35/month plan allows unlimited mail and 50 scans. That said, I have been considering changing over to physicaladdress.com since they are about half the price of virualpostmail.

Both have Florida addresses available.

[Jaybott]

I'm using Any Time Mailbox with a Tampa address.  They'll notify you of received mail and will send a picture of it.  If it's junk mail, they will toss it out,  something important they will open and scan it and email it to you if you want.   Then either forward it to you or shred it, which ever you want.  Then of course you can have everything forwarded; however you want; DHL, FEDEX, etc. or US Mail (about 30 days) but a lot cheaper.  They'll be worth checking out.

 

https://www.anytimemailbox.com/login

 

[Bubbha]

8 hours ago, srowndedbyh2o said:

That said, I have been considering changing over to physicaladdress.com since they are about half the price of virualpostmail.

Both have Florida addresses available.

Many thanks for all of the great replies and sharing of experience.

physicaladdress.com looks interesting as they are very competitive on price, don’t outsource their business operations, and get really excellent reviews on TrustPilot.

I think I will try physicaladdress.com.

[EVENKEEL]

For those using these services do you feel comfortable having strangers see your banking info?

[mvdf]

3 minutes ago, EVENKEEL said:

For those using these services do you feel comfortable having strangers see your banking info?

I use mail boxes etc (MBE) in Australia to forward letters from my bank, sometimes even renewed credit cards and letters with PIN numbers from my bank in Germany. Totally reliable and not one negative issue in my 11 years with MBE. I recall forgetting my credit card PIN last year and requested a new one (the bank sends them via snail mail). I didn't bother with having it forwarded to me so I emailed MBE a written authorization to open the letter, scan it and email it to me. Within minutes I had my PIN and they also sent a pic of the letter shredded. Convenient and some might think it's not safe but the physical card's with me.

[skatewash]

1 hour ago, EVENKEEL said:

For those using these services do you feel comfortable having strangers see your banking info?

First of all one sets up to the maximum extent possible "paperless" preferences with all your correspondent businesses.  The volume of snail mail is very small, but not zero.  From financial institutions it is mostly new credit cards, which you can have forwarded to you unopened or have it opened and scanned per your choice and then forwarded.  I don't receive bank statements by snail mail.

Second, even letters that do contain account numbers, etc., often don't show the entire number, masking most of the number and showing only the last four digits for instance.

In the 10 years I've been with travelingmailbox.com I've not had any problems.

Finally, I guess I'm more comfortable with staff at a virtual mailbox who handle hundreds of scans per day and to whom I'm an impersonal box number looking at my personal information than I would friends or family, which is my only alternative.

[srowndedbyh2o]

13 hours ago, Jaybott said:

however you want; DHL, FEDEX, etc. or US Mail (about 30 days) but a lot cheaper. 

I have all my letters forwarded using standard USPS 1st class mail. My virtual U.S. address is in Nevada. Usually takes 10 days from shipping day to arrival, and costs from $5.20 for a single letter to $14.46 for 5 letters (ATM cards) mailed in a single oversized envelope. CC/ATM cards I don’t have them open and scan. I just have them forwarded to me in Thailand. When I get mail, I don’t usually have them forward mail immediately, I usually wait a week or so in case more mail arrives and then have them forward everything at once to save on mailing cost.

Oh, and my Thailand address is way out in Isaan. No street address. Just District, Subdistrict, Province and house number.

[srowndedbyh2o]

7 hours ago, Bubbha said:

Many thanks for all of the great replies and sharing of experience.

physicaladdress.com looks interesting as they are very competitive on price, don’t outsource their business operations, and get really excellent reviews on TrustPilot.

I think I will try physicaladdress.com.

Please post back letting us know how the signup process went, and your opinion of the service. Although I’m very happy with the service I receive from virtualpostmail.com have been contemplating changing over to physicaladdress.com due to the monthly cost of their service. I’d be interested to see if they ‘make up’ for their low monthly cost with other fees or cost of mail forwarding.

[Nino3]

Earthclassmail or Ipostal1

[GinBoy2]

So I think we've agreed there are a multitude of mail forwarding options.

 

One subtle difference is whether or not they allow you to become a resident of the State they operate in.

 

If you are still subject to State tax consider using one which will allow you to become a resident get a DL etc.

 

TX & SD are the two standouts. 

 

The one I used for years was Americas Mailbox. One night in a hotel and boom, you're a South Dakotan

 

https://americasmailbox.com/

[Bubbha]

This is quick follow-up for people who might be following this thread.

 

I found a lot of very useful information about mail forwarding services in various RV forums.

 

As GinBoy2 indicates (above), South Dakota and Texas are good options if you want to become a resident in a tax free state.

Florida is also a tax free state and will let you become a resident (e.g. driver’s license, voting) via a mail forwarding service.

 

Given that I am already a (virtual/expatriate) resident of Florida via my family’s home address, I am going to try St. Brendan’s Isle mail forwarding service.

 

https://www.sbimailservice.com/

[skatewash]

58 minutes ago, andy said:

Can anyone confirm that physicaladdress.com provides an address that will be accepted by banks and brokerages?

 

This is the one snag that has stopped me from going the South Dakota route.  If you poke around with the customer service on the SD options long enough, they will admit that their addresses won't be accepted by most banks or brokerages.  Great option for residency/DL though.

 

I am getting by with using a relatives address, but I suspect this will not be feasible for me in another 5 years or so.

 

 

 That's an interesting question.  physicaladdress.com is a Commercial Mail Receiving Agency (CMRA).  When you sign up for the account you must submit a United States Postal Service (USPS) document that authorizes that CMRA to receive mail on your behalf.  There is a list of CMRA addresses that is maintained by the USPS.  Businesses can access this list to determine whether your address is a CMRA, which means it is not a residential address.  I don't know of any CMRA (and there are lots of them) that doesn't work this way.  They are merely complying with US postal regulations.

Will it be accepted by banks and brokerages?  Sometimes yes, sometimes no.  Depends entirely on how the bank or brokerage does their due diligence.  It does not depend on which CMRA you use, they are all registered with the USPS in the same way.  It depends on how rigorous the bank/brokerage will be.  The trend is for them to become more rigorous so they satisfy Know Your Customer (KYC) regulations and other anti-money laundering regulations.

That said, I was able to open a Charles Schwab Checking and Brokerage account from Thailand using only my US CMRA as my residence.  This was about 8 years ago.  I don't know whether that is still possible. CS could have detected that I was using a CMRA, but they didn't check.  Maybe these days they do.

Sometimes there is less rigor applied to changing your address on a financial account than there is when opening the account.  For example, you may not be able to open an account using the CMRA as your residence.  However, if you use a friend or family's actual residential address (which will not be a CMRA), have the account opened and then change the address to a CMRA, they may not do the same level of diligence as they would have if you had tried to open the account using that CMRA.

All CMRAs have the same risk of being detected, whether they are detected depends entirely on whether the bank or brokerage wants to be rigorous about its due diligence.  I see that physicalAddress.com says they use whole addresses:

 

e.g., 99 Wall St.

instead of the more usual CMRA address such as

99 Wall St., Suite #40020

If that's true then their address may appear more likely to be residential, and therefore maybe less likely to be checked in the USPS CMRA database, but if they were checked they would be found to be non-residential (CMRA) address.

 

[GinBoy2]

On 9/25/2022 at 2:36 AM, skatewash said:

 That's an interesting question.  physicaladdress.com is a Commercial Mail Receiving Agency (CMRA).  When you sign up for the account you must submit a United States Postal Service (USPS) document that authorizes that CMRA to receive mail on your behalf.  There is a list of CMRA addresses that is maintained by the USPS.  Businesses can access this list to determine whether your address is a CMRA, which means it is not a residential address.  I don't know of any CMRA (and there are lots of them) that doesn't work this way.  They are merely complying with US postal regulations.

Will it be accepted by banks and brokerages?  Sometimes yes, sometimes no.  Depends entirely on how the bank or brokerage does their due diligence.  It does not depend on which CMRA you use, they are all registered with the USPS in the same way.  It depends on how rigorous the bank/brokerage will be.  The trend is for them to become more rigorous so they satisfy Know Your Customer (KYC) regulations and other anti-money laundering regulations.

That said, I was able to open a Charles Schwab Checking and Brokerage account from Thailand using only my US CMRA as my residence.  This was about 8 years ago.  I don't know whether that is still possible. CS could have detected that I was using a CMRA, but they didn't check.  Maybe these days they do.

Sometimes there is less rigor applied to changing your address on a financial account than there is when opening the account.  For example, you may not be able to open an account using the CMRA as your residence.  However, if you use a friend or family's actual residential address (which will not be a CMRA), have the account opened and then change the address to a CMRA, they may not do the same level of diligence as they would have if you had tried to open the account using that CMRA.

All CMRAs have the same risk of being detected, whether they are detected depends entirely on whether the bank or brokerage wants to be rigorous about its due diligence.  I see that physicalAddress.com says they use whole addresses:

 

e.g., 99 Wall St.

instead of the more usual CMRA address such as

99 Wall St., Suite #40020

If that's true then their address may appear more likely to be residential, and therefore maybe less likely to be checked in the USPS CMRA database, but if they were checked they would be found to be non-residential (CMRA) address.

 

Well this is the problem.

All CMRA's need to be registered, so regardless of how the address appears if the financial institutions software is looking for it, it'll get flagged.

 

The CMRA's that operate in States, primarily non tax, that let you establish residency, get a DL, vote etc are great, But.........

 

None of them can ever say they can be used for financial purposes because of all the laws regarding money laundering.

 

Your financial institution is the one that decides how hard they are looking!

[funlovinkid]

I'm wondering if anyone has ever encountered a problem with a financial institution as a result of using one of the CMRA's mentioned above (or any, for that matter).  I myself have had a close friend receiving my mail for over a decade now, but that situation is changing, and I'm wondering whether I'm taking a significant risk of creating a problem by starting to use one of these companies.  I have another very close friend in the States who has expressed a wholehearted willingness to start receiving my mail, but I'd rather place most of the responsibilities on a paid entity in order to minimize any headaches for my friend.

 

The way I see it, if I change my address to one of these CMRA's, and one of my financial institutions flags my account, any (residential) address I provide it thereafter (like that of my friend) might not be accepted on a flagged account.  So, I'm wondering if this is one of those situations where you only get one chance.  If my checking account gets cancelled at my American bank, KYC/AML banking rules might require that I have to physically be present in order to open a new one, and I don't relish the idea of a trans-Pacific flight these days.  I'm not expecting this, just trying to consider the worst-case scenario.

[GinBoy2]

15 hours ago, funlovinkid said:

I'm wondering if anyone has ever encountered a problem with a financial institution as a result of using one of the CMRA's mentioned above (or any, for that matter).  I myself have had a close friend receiving my mail for over a decade now, but that situation is changing, and I'm wondering whether I'm taking a significant risk of creating a problem by starting to use one of these companies.  I have another very close friend in the States who has expressed a wholehearted willingness to start receiving my mail, but I'd rather place most of the responsibilities on a paid entity in order to minimize any headaches for my friend.

 

The way I see it, if I change my address to one of these CMRA's, and one of my financial institutions flags my account, any (residential) address I provide it thereafter (like that of my friend) might not be accepted on a flagged account.  So, I'm wondering if this is one of those situations where you only get one chance.  If my checking account gets cancelled at my American bank, KYC/AML banking rules might require that I have to physically be present in order to open a new one, and I don't relish the idea of a trans-Pacific flight these days.  I'm not expecting this, just trying to consider the worst-case scenario.

Best case keep your friends physical address as your mailing address

 

The next issue you will run into is a phone number. Pretty rare nowadays that financial institutions wont want to send a PIN code to a US cellphone number for any interaction.

 

The old days of using VOIP solutions are pretty much over

[Bubbha]

I use a CMRA in Florida and find that banks, investment companies, etc., accept this as a mailing address – but not as a residential address.

 

Another factor to consider is exposure to state tax authorities when using the residential address of a friend of relative.

[skatewash]

4 minutes ago, Bubbha said:

I use a CMRA in Florida and find that banks, investment companies, etc., accept this as a mailing address – but not as a residential address.

 

Another factor to consider is exposure to state tax authorities when using the residential address of a friend of relative.

Charles Schwab accepted my CMRA in Florida as my residence when opening an account online but this was about 9 years ago.  May be more strict now.

There are two levels of scrutiny at least.  The highest is for residences when opening the account.  Changing residences once the account is open may be easier.  Using a CMRA may be more readily accepted as a mailing address because they seem to be less strict about mailing addresses.

[funlovinkid]

On 1/14/2023 at 10:13 AM, GinBoy2 said:

Best case keep your friends physical address as your mailing address

 

The next issue you will run into is a phone number. Pretty rare nowadays that financial institutions wont want to send a PIN code to a US cellphone number for any interaction.

 

The old days of using VOIP solutions are pretty much over

I use a Skype In number.  I've been using this (domestic American) phone number for over a decade now, and the automated bank OTP service that contacts me there seems to work pretty consistently.

[funlovinkid]

On 1/14/2023 at 12:20 PM, Bubbha said:

I use a CMRA in Florida and find that banks, investment companies, etc., accept this as a mailing address – but not as a residential address.

 

Another factor to consider is exposure to state tax authorities when using the residential address of a friend of relative.

As far as state tax authorities, I've thought about this, but the possibility of a real problem has always struck me as pretty unlikely.  I mean, if the tax authorities were to investigate, it seems to me that it would very quickly become clear that the address represented neither my residence nor my domicile.  I suppose I could be found guilty of misleading the bank, but I can't imagine that would be the concern of state tax authorities.  Would you happen to know any different?  Besides, I'm pretty sure I'm too poor to consider pursuing  ????

[srowndedbyh2o]

On 1/13/2023 at 6:38 PM, funlovinkid said:

I'm wondering if anyone has ever encountered a problem with a financial institution as a result of using one of the CMRA's mentioned above (or any, for that matter).  I myself have had a close friend receiving my mail for over a decade now, but that situation is changing, and I'm wondering whether I'm taking a significant risk of creating a problem by starting to use one of these companies.  I have another very close friend in the States who has expressed a wholehearted willingness to start receiving my mail, but I'd rather place most of the responsibilities on a paid entity in order to minimize any headaches for my friend.

 

The way I see it, if I change my address to one of these CMRA's, and one of my financial institutions flags my account, any (residential) address I provide it thereafter (like that of my friend) might not be accepted on a flagged account.  So, I'm wondering if this is one of those situations where you only get one chance.  If my checking account gets cancelled at my American bank, KYC/AML banking rules might require that I have to physically be present in order to open a new one, and I don't relish the idea of a trans-Pacific flight these days.  I'm not expecting this, just trying to consider the worst-case scenario.

Can you just go online to your account and change the mailing address, leaving the physical address as is?

[Bubbha]

16 minutes ago, srowndedbyh2o said:

Can you just go online to your account and change the mailing address, leaving the physical address as is?

That's what I have done. The all of my mail goes to this mailing address.

It's not clear what, if anything, will get mailed to the residential address on file.