Mail forwarding is when you have mail redirected from one address to another, whether domestically or abroad. For domestic residents, mail forwarding is done by the USPS, after an authorization for a change of address. There are two types of address changes; temporary and permanent. Temporary change of addresses will allow you to have mail forwarded by the USPS, for up to 6 months. With a permanent change of address, you will have your mail forwarded for up to 12 months.

For international mail forwarding, people usually prefer mail forwarding companies such as US Global Mail, because of discounted shipping that you get. In order to have the USPS forward your mail internationally, they would need to cooperate with international shipping companies, and therefore that increases your shipping costs. When you work with mail forwarding (or package forwarding,) companies, you can get up to 80% off retail shipping rates.

Mail forwarding has another added benefit, in that you can request to have different mail items and packages, bundled into one, and therefore save on shipping.

Once a change of address has been completed with the USPS (temporary or permanent,) all mail and packages that you receive from the USPS moving forward (pun intended,) will be sent to your new address. When you have mail forwarding done by US Global Mail, in addition to having mail forwarded to you physically, you can also take advantage of our virtual mailbox. This allows you to view pictures of your mail & packages, from any desktop or mobile device.

With the arrival of a piece of mail or package, you get an e-mail notification letting you know you have mail. From there, you can log into your virtual mailbox account, and request for the mail item to be scanned (you see digital copies of your letters,) shipped or shredded.

Mail forwarding is completed by in-house employees at our facility, and never outsourced. That means that you can request that we bundle up items into one large package, so that you can save on shipping costs. Because of the amount of mail we forward, you can expect to receive discounted rates for major shipping carriers (UPS, FedEx, DHL) of up to 80%.

When it comes to international mail forwarding, this is usually preferred by expats or frequent travelers. Living overseas while still being a citizen of the US, means that you will still receive documents such as IRS notices, bank notes etc. Some expatriate groups may consist of corporate employees on an overseas assignment or retired couples. In those cases especially, the mail forwarding needs are such that require a higher volume of mail or packages to be handled.

Domestically, mail forwarding is handled by the USPS for up to 12 months (when you complete a permanent change of address,) which gives you the opportunity to update contacts and other parties of your new mailing address. Usually, mail forwarding domestically will take place once someone moves to a new address.

An increasing number of people however, has been signing up for virtual mailboxes, in order to receive their mail digitally. They still reside at the same address, but their mailing address is what changes. Therefore in cases like that, they will need to notify the USPS of the change of address, and have all mail forwarded to their new virtual mailbox address.

Mail forwarding is free for domestic residents, who simply want to have their mail forwarded from one address to another. The USPS will ask for a $1.10 charge for the purpose of verifying your identity (when done online.) To change your address offline, there is no charge involved and you can fill out the change of address form at your local post office.

If you live overseas, and need to have US mail forwarded to your location, then depending on the weight of your package and the destination, you will get different quotes from our shipping partners (UPS, FedEx & DHL.) Mail forwarding will typically be cheaper by up to 80% when you work through US Global Mail, because of the amount of mail we ship and partner discounts that we get.

For the virtual mailbox, there is a membership fee that starts at $9.95/mo for our Basic plan and up to $29.99 for our Business plan. Depending on the usage of your account, there may be additional fees as well (scanning, storage fees etc.) We would advise you to check out our pricing page, where all membership and add on costs are outlined.

Mail forwarding, will last up to 12 months if you complete a permanent change of address. If you complete a temporary change of address, mail forwarding will last up to 6 months. This gives you the opportunity to update your contacts and any services you sign up for, including federal agencies.

When you sign up for a virtual mailbox with US Global Mail, if you are located overseas, we can forward your mail for as long as you use the service. However, your US Global Mail address (US physical street address,) does need to be added in place of the address you resided at, prior to your overseas move.

The added benefit with having mail forwarding done by US Global Mail, is that with your sign up, you also get a virtual mailbox. That means that you do not need to have every single mail item shipped to you, but can rather access it remotely, from any computer or mobile device.