In such a digital age, who even thinks about mail anymore? We’ll give you one good answer — travel nurses. Working travel assignments far from home for anywhere from a few weeks to a few months long throughout the year means your official home address isn’t always where you actually spend the most of your time.
Bills, birthday and holiday cards, and other important documents still get delivered via mail, even if less often than years past. As for packages, those seem to be constantly on the rise thanks to the convenience of Amazon and online shopping!
So, how can you make sure you get your mail and packages as a travel nurse while away for work?
You have two main options: mail forwarding and delivery boxes. Under these umbrella options, however, are a variety of options for you to choose what’s best for you.
Mail Forwarding
Mail forwarding is pretty much what it sounds like. If you’re going to be working a travel nursing contract far from home for longer than a month, forwarding your mail is going to be one of your best options to get your mail instead of coming back to a pile of it when you get home.
Let’s look at your three choices.
Forwarding with the USPS
You don’t need to worry about changing your permanent address! The United States Postal Services offers temporary mail forwarding services from any period of time between 15 days for up to one full year.
The basic Change of Address (COA) option is completely free, and all mail will be delivered to your temporary address and what the USPS refers to as a “piece-by-piece” forwarding of mainly first-class mail and periodicals, each item forwarded one at a time as they arrive.
Set up mail forwarding to where you’ll be staying for work as soon as you know the address. This is especially important as the USPS tells patrons,
“Although mail forwarding may begin within 3 business days of your submitted request, it’s best to allow up to 2 weeks.”
To receive what the USPS categorizes as marketing mail or package services, you’ll have to pay some fees for their Premium Forwarding Service (PFS) options. Mail delivered undered PFS will arrive once a week to your temporary home away from home.
For short assignments less than 15 days or for assignments that just pass 15 days, you might also consider having the post office simply hold your mail for the time being until you return home from your travel assignment.Â
Virtual Mailboxes
Don’t want to collect physical mail while at your temporary address? Travel nurses can also try one of many new mail forwarding services that make use of secure digital technology to scan your mail and deliver it in a virtual mailbox for your eyes only.Â
PostScan Mail is an example of a company leading the way with virtual mailboxes. The process works by the PostScan receiving your mail as your temporary forwarded mailing address, scanning the front of your items, then giving you the option to have your items opened and scanned, recycled, or physically forwarded to your current address.
For busy travel nurses, the last thing you want to deal with is piles of junk mail to either shred, recycle, or hold onto until you return home. Virtual mailboxes are an easy way to reduce the clutter. Just be sure to thoroughly investigate the security of the virtual mail forwarding services you look into before making a decision!
Family or Friends
If you’re on close terms with any family members or friends near your permanent residence, you can always go the old fashioned way and have someone you trust check your mail for you periodically while you’re away for work. This is probably the most convenient method if someone you trust already lives at your permanent address.
Having a family member or friend check your mail, inform you of what’s important, throw away what’s not, and sending you anything you immediately need saves a few dollars while decreasing any mail delivery anxieties you may have.
PO Boxes, Mailboxes, and Lockers
Maybe you really do want all your mail delivered to you while you’re working that three month-long travel nursing contract — or maybe you want to be able to receive packages from friends, family, or online shopping. The good news is that rentable PO boxes, mail boxes, and lockers provide both extra room and some added security to where your deliveries arrive.
PO Boxes
PO boxes aren’t just for companies. Individuals can also rent them! As the name suggests, the USPS provides PO boxes available to rent throughout the country.
Benefits of PO boxes include the variety of box sizes (whether you want to receive just mail or also packages), the security of all mail items being delivered to secure post office location and kept behind a box with a lock and key, and the privacy of not having your mail and packages delivered to your temporary home and left unattended while you’re away on a long 10 or 12-hour shift.
For added convenience, some PO box locations are open 24/7, and some others even offer free premium services that include mobile alerts.
Do remember that you’ll still need to have your mail forwarded to the PO box address.
UPS Mailboxes and Lockers
Similar to PO boxes, The UPS Store offers personal mailboxes available to rent at many locations. So, why might you choose a UPS personal mailbox instead?
First and foremost, your mailbox comes with a real street address and not just a PO box number. Some mail and packages might not be able to be delivered to a PO box depending on the sender’s policies and restrictions. So, if you want to make sure you can receive all mail and packages, a UPS personal mailbox is one to consider.
Many other features of UPS mailboxes and PO boxes are quite similar in terms of security, accessibility, box sizes, and notification methods, so it’s up to you to decide which is more convenient for your travel assignment length and location.
The UPS Store also offers locker services in nine states and 20 total locations. If you’re lucky enough to be near one, these lockers can be an easier alternative than renting a large mailbox or PO box for package deliveries. This is because the lockers are available on an as-needed basis. Just make sure to register your package’s delivery location as the locker address!
Amazon Hub Lockers
If you aren’t near a USPS locker location, Amazon offers a similar option that may be even more accessible. Amazon Hub Lockers are secure and self-service lockers available to use as a delivery location for your Amazon packages. There are Amazon Lockers available in over 900 cities and growing, so they’re a perfect package delivery solution for travel nurses! Another benefit is that Amazon Lockers are also completely free to use. Just be sure to set the nearest locker to location to where you’re staying when setting the delivery location at check-out.
Need a cheat sheet for PO box sizes, UPS mailbox sizes, and Amazon Hub Locker size limits to help you make your decision? Here you go!
Unusual Circumstances
For travel nurses staying in less common places while on a travel nursing assignment such as a campground or an AirBnB with an address where mail can’t be delivered, many of the mail and package delivery options we’ve covered can still work well.
PO boxes, UPS mailboxes, and Amazon Lockers are likely to be your best solutions for receiving mail and packages in these circumstances. Their nationwide accessibility is growing by the day, so adventurous travel nurses who love camping, live out of RVs or tiny homes, or who love staying in trendy AirBnBs can feel confident knowing they won’t go without access to their important mail or receiving packages while working away from home for a while.
No matter where you work as a travel nurse, we hope that you’re always able to feel at home! To find your next great travel assignment, Loyal Source has you covered with nationwide assignments for nurses and healthcare professionals of all specialties.