How to Set Up an International Snail Mail Address

International Snail Mail Forwarding

Yeah, mail! Comes in an envelope with a stamp on it. How do you receive snail mail while you're traveling internationally? Several mail services will forward mail and parcels to international mailing addreses.

How International Snail Mail Addresses Work

According to Brian Lempel of USGlobalMail, setting up an international snail mail address is simple: register a U.S. address, no matter in which country you live or to which you are traveling, and choose a service plan. Hand out the address and Mom sends a cookie care package to that address; the service forwards it to you.

How US Global Mail Forwarding Works

US Global Mail offers two international snail mail address plans:

• Premium - for $15 per month, log into your account on Lempel's site and view all the mail you have waiting and identify, prioritize and direct. For instance, Mom's cookies are perishable -- enter your international destination and choose a fast FedEx option to get them to you. On the road but know you'll be in Sydney in three days? Have your mail sent there.

• Value - for $10 per month, choose one fixed international address and US Global Mail sends your mail there at intervals that you set.

Consider the $15 premium account - a disadvantage to the value account: your mail may be forwarded but sit in your one identified place, like Italy, for six months while you're in, say, Iceland. And if your credit card bill is in that mail, you may end up stuck in Iceland after it's cut off for non-payment.

Note: US Global Mail's international snail mail service has a quarter pound minimum price; one letter or five letters to Australia is $2.30, for instance. A 10 pound box sent by FedEx to Australia will be $72.50 USD.

Choosing Your International Snail Mail Address

No matter which mailing service you use, you can't choose your U.S. address; it is set by the service. In US Global Mail's case, your address will be their office building in Houston, Texas (at which they can receive US mail, or packages from companies like FedEx and UPS).

For more information:

• Mail Network - 1-888-248-6245
  
• U.S. Global Mail - 1-866-596-8965
  
• Access U.S.A. - 1-941-827-2021

Write Home

Sometimes there's nothing like a real letter from home, written by a friend or in a family member's familiar handwriting, to conquer a touch of homesickness. And your family feels the same way - take a day in a cafe and write a letter describing what you're eating or drinking right then to bring your family into your life. Those letters with their exotic postage will be saved forever as priceless family mementos.