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Redirecting mail

Jamespalmer2006

Hi,

I'm moving away to uni next week and its over 100 miles from my current address. I won't be able to come back home to collect my mail so I'm thinking on getting it redirected to my 'secure allocated pigeon hole' in my hall of residence. Does this sound like a plausible idea, it only cost £16.85 for 3 months.

Reply 1

Good bloke

19

Jamespalmer2006

Hi,

I'm moving away to uni next week and its over 100 miles from my current address. I won't be able to come back home to collect my mail so I'm thinking on getting it redirected to my 'secure allocated pigeon hole' in my hall of residence. Does this sound like a plausible idea, it only cost £16.85 for 3 months.

It doesn't sound very sensible if you are planning on returning at the end of term. All you have to do is get someone still at home to cross out your home address, write "Forwarded to <your term-time address> and re-post the mail. No cost, no fuss, and no post going astray when you confuse them by trying to change back at the end of term.

Reply 2

CrazyChris

14

Good bloke

It doesn't sound very sensible if you are planning on returning at the end of term. All you have to do is get someone still at home to cross out your home address, write "Forwarded to <your term-time address> and re-post the mail. No cost, no fuss, and no post going astray when you confuse them by trying to change back at the end of term.

Trusting the Royal Mail with the post more than once?!

But, to OP, this is probably the best idea.
Okay, so it may take an extra day or two for it to arrive to your place, but that's not too bad, and saves you the money.

Reply 3

ClaireHogben

13

Good bloke

It doesn't sound very sensible if you are planning on returning at the end of term. All you have to do is get someone still at home to cross out your home address, write "Forwarded to <your term-time address> and re-post the mail. No cost, no fuss, and no post going astray when you confuse them by trying to change back at the end of term.

This is what I'll be doing :smile:

Reply 4

Jamespalmer2006

OP

Oh I see, though I receive alot of mail and I believe my parents would get fustrated having to forward my mail all the time, for £17 do you not think it is worth it?

Reply 5

Good bloke

19

Jamespalmer2006

Oh I see, though I receive alot of mail and I believe my parents would get fustrated having to forward my mail all the time, for £17 do you not think it is worth it?

No. And I've never heard of anyone else contemplating this idea. Mail forwarding is really for those that move house permanently. They can simply put any stuff that is non-time-critical to one side (for you to read at Christmas) and forward the urgent letters and important stuff like bank statements.

Reply 6

Jamespalmer2006

OP

but how would my parents identify mail that is critical or non critical? For £17 I thought it was really a no-brainer, but I guess it seems like a pointless exercise

Reply 7

Good bloke

19

Jamespalmer2006

but how would my parents identify mail that is critical or non critical? For £17 I thought it was really a no-brainer, but I guess it seems like a pointless exercise

You can usually see where things are from, or you could warn them to expect something in particular.

Reply 8

~ Purple Rose ~

19

Just get your parents to send it on. If they don't want to do each bit separately then get them to put it all in an envelope and post it to you every couple of weeks and you can pay them back for the postage - it will probably be cheaper than having it re-directed.

Reply 9

CrazyChris

14

Just a thought....
Would they agree to redirect mail for a particular name at a property? As far as I was aware, they processed by surname - anything with the specified surname heading for that specified address would be redirected. I may be wrong, though.

Reply 10

Good bloke

19

CrazyChris

Just a thought....
Would they agree to redirect mail for a particular name at a property? As far as I was aware, they processed by surname - anything with the specified surname heading for that specified address would be redirected. I may be wrong, though.

I'm sure you are right, now you mention it - I had forgotten that they only re-direct mail with a particular surname.

Reply 11

andrewkeith5

1

Just get them to keep it till the end of the week, stuff it all into a bigger envelope, and send it to you. That way you always know when your mail is arriving, and it's much cheaper :smile:

Reply 12

jellybeanjen

16

Jamespalmer2006

Oh I see, though I receive alot of mail and I believe my parents would get fustrated having to forward my mail all the time, for £17 do you not think it is worth it?

Buy a box of sticky labels, print off a load with "Please forward to: Your Name, Your Uni Address" on them and give them to your folks. Whomping these on envelopes will be far less time consuming than crossing out your old address and writing out the new one on every bit of mail.

If you can get any of your bills or bank statements online, this would also save on the amount of mail your parents have to forward. I know Nat West offer this for their accounts, and O2 do on certain mobile contracts.

Reply 13

Zack

11

Just to clarify it is done by first name & surname. They charge based on surname, but you can pick the first names to be redirected, for example I’ve picked Zack. So only Z/Zack/Mr Z…. etc would be redirected, but other people with the same surname wouldn't be unless you add them to the redirected (although nobody else here shares my surname, but that's how it would work if they did! :p:

).

The point about sticky labels is a good idea. I'm paying £40ish for 12 months though, but then again I'm not coming back at all so even if I managed to get an agreement to have it all sent on to me it would get annoying, especially as I’ll be having no contact!

I don't want to change my address (the obvious solution to avoiding redirection in my situation) as it will screw my credit rating up big time (which would then affect me when I get a permanent place as a lot of things do credit checks, like internet). Also some companies take a while to update their records so it’s hit and miss what goes where for a little while that way. Also Royal Mail say they won't let you forward on from Student Halls/other places with lots of people (although my friends halls advice them to forward mail at the end of the contract :|), as although it’s done by first name as well as surname, the problem comes if it’s “John Smith” or something and they try to redirect J smith, which could be going to a Jack. So at the end of your contract the new people could be getting your mail (again as some companies take their time updating)

At the end of the year (my contract runs out in June, but I’m getting an extension until September, hopefully the same room (if I move rooms Royal Mail would class it as a new address even though I’m in the same building!! :banghead:

)) I’ll get a new one taken out from where I am now to wherever I’m going to be moving to, then cancel the one that will have been running for the best part of a year. They send a letter to the original address in my name for security reasons, but it doesn’t say where it’s going to etc. The limit for redirect is 2 years, so hopefully by 2011 I’d be looking at a permanent place, or be in one, otherwise there could be trouble!

Reply 14

Make_It

If I was to ask my parents to do the whole 'forward to' thing, should I ask them to put more stamps on or is there no need for this?

Reply 15

Good bloke

19

Make_It

If I was to ask my parents to do the whole 'forward to' thing, should I ask them to put more stamps on or is there no need for this?

No need.

Reply 16

nikki_louise

13

my mum for a whole year just wrote on my uni address and re-posted it and it all turned up fine. she will be doing it again this year.

Reply 17

Garabanda

I've been forwarding mail for my sons at Universities for years. The most recent post, just a couple of letters, were held by the Post Office while he was asked to pay extra for them. I have been trying to google the deal with "Please forward" items. I can find nothing. Can anybody say whether there is an agreement for this, or whether it is just a goodwill gesture by the PO?

Redirecting mail

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