Redirecting Mail to Post Box

3guesses

I am effectively about to be made homeless so I would like to have my mail redirected to a post box for a short period until I have found somwhere new to live (in the meantime I will probably be staying in Southampton). Does anybody know where I can find details of companies which offer a post box service? I have only been able to find Mail Boxes Etc (on Southampton High Street = expensive?) charging £69 for 3 months (which is not much less that the cost of my 25 sq. ft. storage unit!) so I'd like to check out any alternatives.

Thanks,

3g

camptownraces

Why not have your letters sent "to be called for" or "poste restante" at the main Post Office in Southampton, or wherever else you choose?

See Royal Mail website. It looks as if there is no charge for this, but I would imagine that there is a charge for redirecting from your previous address to the particular Post Office. Go and ask at your local delivery office.

3guesses

Thanks - that sounds like a very promising idea. I don't suppose you have the link to the page on the RM website which details this service?

Edit: OK, have found it. Will contact them and see if this is possible.

custardy

I assume you are planning to stay within a reasonable distance of your old delivery office
if so then simply set up a mail collect for free
http://www2.royalmail.com/delivery/outbound-mail/mail-collect/details

if time is tight then pop in with ID/proof of address to your local DO and ask them to hold your mail pending a mail collect application.
you will not be able to collect until this is completed though

mynameisclare

custardy wrote: »

I assume you are planning to stay within a reasonable distance of your old delivery office
if so then simply set up a mail collect for free
http://www2.royalmail.com/delivery/outbound-mail/mail-collect/details

if time is tight then pop in with ID/proof of address to your local DO and ask them to hold your mail pending a mail collect application.
you will to be able to collect until this is completed though

That's odd, I applied for Mail Collect at the start of the year* and they sent my form back with a letter saying they were about to start charging for the service (and it wasn't cheap). Did it change back or have they not updated the website?

*had some trouble with tenants in another flat

3guesses

custardy,

That would be a great solution but I don't currently live in Southampton - it's just whre I expect to be while finding somewhere new to live. Would have been ideal otherwise!

3g

custardy

mynameisclare wrote: »

That's odd, I applied for Mail Collect at the start of the year* and they sent my form back with a letter saying they were about to start charging for the service (and it wasn't cheap). Did it change back or have they not updated the website?

*had some trouble with tenants in another flat

businesses pay,residential customers dont
well at the moment anyway
TBH I expect in the near future anything 'free' RM does will go

3guesses

Just to update, it appears that I can use the redirection service to have post sent Poste Restante at a Post Office of my choosing. Hopefully, I'll be able to confirm this with the Post Office in question next week.

3guesses

OK, well my trip around Shirley in Southampton was completely unproductive: neither the sub-Post Office nor the main Post Office had heard of Poste Restante, and even the Royal Mail Delivery Office had no idea what I was talking about! So I rang Royal Mail Customer Services who expressed surprise that neither of the Post Offices had heard of the service, but then went on to advise me that you can't use their Redirection Service to have mail sent to a Poste Restante address - which leaves me back where I started...

I guess I have little choice but to use the Mail Boxes Etc [expensive] post box service - unless anyone has any other suggestion?

3g

custardy

3guesses wrote: »

OK, well my trip around Shirley in Southampton was completely unproductive: neither the sub-Post Office nor the main Post Office had heard of Poste Restante, and even the Royal Mail Delivery Office had no idea what I was talking about! So I rang Royal Mail Customer Services who expressed surprise that neither of the Post Offices had heard of the service, but then went on to advise me that you can't use their Redirection Service to have mail sent to a Poste Restante address - which leaves me back where I started...

I guess I have little choice but to use the Mail Boxes Etc [expensive] post box service - unless anyone has any other suggestion?

3g

well its nothing to with deliveries so not really a surprise they know nothing of it

Owain_Moneysaver

Poste Restante is intended for travellers. Your correspondents just write to you eg

Mr Three Guesses
Poste Restante
The Post Office Address Goes Here
Southampton
Postcode

and you turn up with your passport and wait while they hunt around for it. (*)With it being so little used now (and most post offices being franchises, not actual Crown Post Offices) I wouldn't regard it as reliable.

Often, homeless hostels and support groups offer a mail holding and message taking service even if you aren't a resident user. You could start with Southampton council homeless service

http://www.southampton.gov.uk/living/housing/moneysolutions/homelessadvice/

or Two Saints Day Centre, Cranbury Avenue.

http://www.twosaints.org.uk/services/Day_Centre.php

(*) In 'foreign places' you have to persuade the clerk to look under M, T and G as they don't always understand which is the surname.