lundoner

I will be moving back to the UK within the next month from the US. I wanted to see if anyone had used USPS service for forwarding their mail from USA to the UK. On the USPS website it does not let you enter any international address for forwarding mail. Does that mean I have to go to my local Post office here and fill out a form? If so what is the charge?

Dundee15

We are having our mail forwarded to us from US. We had to go to our local USPS and complete a form. Like you we could not complete the online form as it did not allow for a International address.

We have been getting our mail from our old address in Boston sent to us here is Scotland since April 2015. The USPS will forward mail for 12 months at no cost. I think the local USPS collect the mail and send it every few weeks as we can go for 14+ days with nothing from US then we will get a few pieces of mail altogether.

spouse of scouse

If it's not a rude question , may I ask what the USPS charge is for forwarding mail? I'm interested because I was going to do the same through Australia Post here, but the annual charge was just short of AU$1,000.

So instead, I just redirected my mail to my sister's address, which is also in Perth WA. AU$99 a year., and she can just forward on anything vital. I think I've notified everyone I need to of my change of address, but there are always a few orphans!

britwhore

We've been having our mail forwarded from the US to the UK. Had to go into the post office and complete the form. Managed to fit a UK address into the US address format...all very confusing but the mail is getting here. They will forward it for a year (as Dundee15 said) for free. Didn't have to pay anything.

Dundee15

There was no charge to forward the mail from Boston to Scotland. They forward the mail for 1 year.

spouse of scouse

Sorry, I missed the 'no cost' bit in your first post. Free vs $1,000 - wow! The mail forwarded from Australia must get its own first class suite

spouse of scouse

Great service Brit, and you can't complain about the price! I know Oz is a bit further than the US, but gawd we get ripped off on so many things here.

Simon Legree

I have my mail forwarded to Canada every spring by USPS. Go to your Post Office and get the moving pack. It's a large white envelope which contains coupons from such people as U haul. It has a facility for international addresses. Do not use the single form re-director. This has been discussed several times over the years on this forum.

britwhore

An amazing service indeed but doesn't help with the USPS going broke! Whoops!

Simon Legree

They are "going broke" because the Republicans are forcing them to fund the pension plan 75 years in advance to the tune of $5.5 billion a year or more !

spouse of scouse

Oh dear! Australia Post was fully government owned, but like so many others it's been (partly) sold off to the highest bidder. No wonder things cost so much - I HATE privatization of government assets.

britwhore

That's crazy!

lundoner

Thanks for the replies, Good to know its free. But did anyone find the US mailing system complicated and overpriced compared to Royal Mail and also terribly slow?

britwhore

I find the Royal Mail terribly expensive compared to USPS.

Novocastrian

That's a lot! The equivalent service Canada to the UK with Canada Post was C$240 for 12 months. So far (started July 2015) it's worked well.