Going on a longer travel is always hard to organize, but if you are leaving your house and not having a fixed address things get even more complicated.
There are still a lot of institutions that require you to have an address to get mail - all the banks, ATO, the travel insurance company and so on. There is no option to request all communication to go through email or to explain that for some time, even though your country of residence is Australia, you are not occupying a property here.
The easiest way out of this is to have a friend's or relative's address in place of yours - they'll get all your mail, check if anything needs your attention and notify you accordingly. But this option has its drawbacks, it may sound like a small favor to ask of someone, but it is not, it is a big responsibility and can be time consuming too. And on top of that - what if they want to travel or forget to tell you of something important or just get tired of taking care of your business? Then you are out of luck and probably out of a friend.
The good news is you can organize everything yourself and not rely on anyone to handle your mail. There are several options we found and you can choose the one that would best suit your situation.
AusPost Mail Hold
You can request to have all your mail on hold until you come back home. It will be held at the post office and delivered when you get home.
This options is easy to set up and if you are travelling for up to a few months and keeping your home is probably best to do it this way.
Pros
- easy to set up
Cons
- no option to check or read mail
- no option to get mail before coming home
- at the end mail is send to original home address
- for period of up to 1 year
Cost: 12 months - $480
AusPost PO Box
For this one you'll need to first get a PO box and then redirect your mail to this PO Box. All your mail is going to be sent there and when you get home you can collect it.
Pros
- easy to set up
- can be used without a fixed address
Cons
- no option to check or read mail
- no option to get mail before coming home
- PO Box has a limited physical size (should be taken into consideration)
Cost: 12 months - $290 (redirection $133 + PO Box $157 (small))
Mail redirection service
There are a few companies out there that offer mail redirection services - what it means is that you redirect all your mail to them, they collect it and then send it to you wherever you are (on request), give you a complete list of all your mail, scan letters, send specific ones to you or even shred whatever you deem junk. Some would even give you a physical address you can use.
Not all mail redirection companies will offer all of those services so, as usual, it is good to shop around to find the one that suits you.
As I say that there are a few companies out there that offer this services, I do mean just a few - we found just three, might be others, but probably not many.
SOS Mail
SOS Mail Solutions are our choice as they are very serious, have a neat online system for checking mail and choosing what to do with it, offer shredding, sending overseas or in Australia of all mail or specific letters/parcels, scanning of letter contents.
Pros
- can check received mail online
- can read received mail online
- notification on receiving mail
- action per letter - forward, shred, scan
- can be used without a fixed address
Cons
- none
Cost: 12 months - $333 (redirection $133 + SOS Mail $200)
mail scans, forwarding mail cost extra
Aussie Mailman
Aussie Mailman offers similar service to SOS Mail, however the annual cost is higher and they don't seem to offer mail shredding.
Pros
- can check received mail online
- can read received mail online
- action per letter - forward, scan
- Gold subscription - scan of face of each envelope
- can be used without a fixed address
Cons
- no shredding of mail
Cost: 12 months - $493 (redirection $133 + Aussie Mailman $360)
mail scans, forwarding mail cost extra
Trail Mail
Trail Mail is a simple solution, couldn't get in touch via phone to clarify details.
Pros
- can forward all mail
- can be used without a fixed address
Cons
- no checking of mail, reading, scanning, shredding
Cost: 12 months - $303 (redirection $133 + Trail Mail $170)
forwarding mail costs extra
Landbase
Landbase is the oldest company in this business, unfortunately falling behind with high costs and lack of per letter actions.
Pros
- can forward all mail
- can be used without a fixed address
Cons
- no checking of mail, reading, scanning, shredding
Cost: 12 months - $643 (redirection $133 + Landbase $410)
forwarding mail costs extra
* All prices shown are updated as of March 2018.
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