Mr. Zip’s Tip:
The Postal Service’s call center is staffed 24x7 and handles over 31,000 customer calls per month.

Each year, Southwest Florida welcomes back its regular seasonal residents for the winter season. And, each year, the U.S. Postal Service needs to remind these people to make sure their mail keeps up with them.

The good news is, thanks to the U.S. Postal Service, there are a variety of convenient ways to make sure you mail keeps up with you when you travel between homes. Here is some helpful information.

Change your address online. The fastest, easiest, and most convenient way to change your address with the Postal Service is online. It’s easy:

• Go to www.usps.com
• Look under Receiving Mail
• Click on Change of Address
• Fill out the Official Change of Address Form

To safeguard your mail and personal information, credit card or debit card identity verification is required. You will be asked to pay $1 using a credit or debit card with a billing address that matches the information you have entered. In addition to getting your mail delivered to your new address, you will receive valuable change of address information.

How forwarding works. The Postal Service forwards your Express Mail, Priority Mail, and First-Class Mail for one year at no extra charge. It also forwards magazines and newspapers for 60 days from the effective date of your change-of-address order at no charge. But, you need to advise Post Offices at both your old and new address of your change. Seasonal residents are advised to file temporary change of address orders and it is always recommended that you contact your correspondents to notify them of the change as well. Keep in mind that some utility providers include an endorsement on their billings that prevents the forwarding if a change of address is temporary. Premium Forwarding Service is perfect for seasonal residents!

Premium Forwarding Service. Check out this service. It lets you take your mail with you while you’re in Southwest Florida. Anyone who is going to be away from home for at least two weeks, or for as long as one year, is eligible to sign up for this service. The Postal Service takes all of the mail sent to your permanent address, including bulk mail that normally does not qualify for forwarding service and sends it to your temporary address for you by Priority Mail once each week. You pay a one-time enrollment fee of $10.00 and a weekly reshipment fee of $11.95.

Items sent to you by Express Mail and Registered Mail and those requiring a signature are sent ahead separately whenever they arrive. Some larger items will be shipped separately with postage due at the same mail class and postage rate under which they were originally sent.

Premium Forwarding Service offers a lot of advantages for customers who will be gone for extended periods of time.

• Your permanent address does not change, and your temporary address is not provided to mailers.
• You won’t miss important mail while you are away from home.
• You won’t have to impose on neighbors or loved ones to pick up your mail or pay your bills.
• You can enjoy your magazine and newspaper subscriptions instead of having them pile up while you’re gone.

Premium Forwarding Service is reliable. The week’s mail goes out the same day every week on a regular schedule and will arrive in 2-to-3 business days.

For more information about purchasing stamps, stamps by mail, postal regulations, a free subscription to USA Philatelic magazine, Post Office events, the location of the nearest postal store or contract unit, or for answers to your specific Postal Service questions, contact USPS at 1-800-275-8777, or visit www.usps.com. To schedule a presentation for your community, club or group on how the Postal Service brings the Post Office to your home or office computer, call 239-573-9638.

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Please Note: For broadcast quality video and audio, photo stills and other media resources, visit the USPS Newsroom at www.usps.com/news.

A self-supporting government enterprise, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation, 150 million residences, businesses and Post Office Boxes. The Postal Service receives no tax dollars. With 36,000 retail locations and the most frequently visited website in the federal government, the Postal Service relies on the sale of postage, products and services to pay for operating expenses. Named the Most Trusted Government Agency five consecutive years and the sixth Most Trusted Business in the nation by the Ponemon Institute, the Postal Service has annual revenue of more than $68 billion and delivers nearly half the world’s mail. If it were a private sector company, the U.S. Postal Service would rank 26th in the 2008 Fortune 500.