Shimmer
Junior Nomad
Posts: 69
Registered: 11-29-2005
Location: Todos Santo BCS
Member Is Offline
Mood: In the Question
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Expats / usa mailing address.
We moved to Todos Santos 4 years ago... full time residents. We are researching info for relocating our USA address to somewhere in the southwestern
US. We are currently listed in Hawaii and need to locate closer... for drivers licenses, mailing address, Medical plans ect. Any ideas??? Open to
Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona,Texas. Issues revolve around taxes, proximity, health care...
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comitan
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4177
Registered: 3-27-2004
Location: La Paz
Member Is Offline
Mood: mellow
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http://www.americas-mailbox.com/home/plans
Strive For The Ideal, But Deal With What\'s Real.
Every day is a new day, better than the day before.(from some song)
Lord, Keep your arm around my shoulder and your hand over my mouth.
“The sincere pursuit of truth requires you to entertain the possibility that everything you believe to be true may in fact be false”
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Lauriboats
Senior Nomad
Posts: 563
Registered: 9-6-2006
Location: Mulege/Bahia Asuncion
Member Is Offline
Mood: Loving life in Baja
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We started using America's Mailbox in June this year and it is working out great for us.
What we see depends mainly on what we look for.
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CasaManzana
Nomad
Posts: 398
Registered: 7-4-2004
Location: Was Mulege:Posada Beach/now Zihuatanejo
Member Is Offline
Mood: Naykid
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Mail service
We are fulltime at Bahia Concepcion. For nine years now we have used MailMax in Chula Vista, halfway between San Diego and the border. A box there
is $125/year. Your address would be NAME, 1177 Broadway #4, Chula Vista, CA 91911. The manager (Larry) is at
lcsmith39@yahoo.com
Things are expensive, but at least we get a free trip around the sun once a year
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DENNIS
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 29510
Registered: 9-2-2006
Location: Punta Banda
Member Is Offline
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A feature of America's Mailbox that the others don't seem to share is that they will forward your mail. I use postal Annex in San Ysidro and they
won't forward anything, anywhere.
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taoswheat
Junior Nomad
Posts: 73
Registered: 11-29-2007
Location: Taos, NM USA
Member Is Offline
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Several companies offer scanning of mail and notification via email. Loooks handy.
Here is one for example-
http://www.mailboxforwarding.com/features.html
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DENNIS
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 29510
Registered: 9-2-2006
Location: Punta Banda
Member Is Offline
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Interesting, for sure. Thanks.
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oladulce
Super Nomad
Posts: 1625
Registered: 5-30-2005
Location: bcs
Member Is Offline
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Shimmer
Issues revolve around taxes, proximity, health care... |
We made a trip to Sioux Falls, South Dakota to get our Driver's Licenses last week. Retirement feels a little more official now that we're not
California "residents".
We changed our vehicle, trailers, and atv's registrations to SD a few months ago and I already forget we're driving around with "Great Faces, Great
Places". But it was a little weird handing over the CA driver's licenses. It was their busiest day of the week at the Sioux Falls DMV but luckily
there were enough chairs for all 6 of us waiting, and my husband and I walked out with photo licenses in our hands in 10 min.
I don't recall how we ended up on the eastern side of SD but it was probably because of the mail forwarding service that I selected to become our new
US address.
Your Best Address
The owner Larry and his wife run the place themselves and offer very personalized service. Larry charges $10/month for your "personal mail box" and
his physical address becomes your new address.
Most other mail forwarders have set options that require you to choose a schedule for them to forward your mail to you and they can cost 2-3 times
more than Your Best Address. Other places charge extra if you want a flexible mail schedule. There are quite a few to choose from in Sioux Falls and
Rapid City because South Dakota is hugely popular with fulltime RVer's.
I like the flexibility of Larry's place- you can call or email at any time and he'll send your mail. We won't utilize his mail fowarding service on a
regular basis since there's no way we'd receive the package in rural BCS. But he has forwarded some items to us already here in CA and it's fast and
efficient.
They will open a piece of mail at your request and scan and email a copy to you. This was the clencher for me- at least if something important-looking
is in our mailbox, we won't have to wait for months until our next trip NOB, or drive for 3 days back to the US to find out what the mail is. He's
doesn't offer a fax receiving service at this time but said he's considering it
So for $10/month we now have a SD address - no more ties to CA means no state income tax payments.
For a small fee Larry will register your vehicles for you also. We had him do the initial transfers from CA to SD registrations, but i was able to
call the Minnehaha county treasurers office and renewed everything with a credit card over the phone. No smog check or safety inspection required, and
you do not have to drive the vehicle to South Dakota.( a big difference between some of the other "no income tax" states). If you have a SD driver's
license you can do annual registrations online. Unfortunately, driver's licenses must be renewed in person - every 5 years. This is the only bummer
I've found so far.
Our 2008 Silverado was costing $750 for annual CA registration and it's now $86/ yr for tags in South Dakota.
Both of us have had group medical insurance our entire lives so applying for our retirement policy as individuals has been an eye opener. We're still
in the midst of that saga...
So far I can recommend what not to do. If we stumble across a hot tip for health insurance I'll post the info.
[Edited on 11-17-2009 by oladulce]
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wessongroup
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 21152
Registered: 8-9-2009
Location: Mission Viejo
Member Is Offline
Mood: Suicide Hot line ... please hold
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Thanks for all the good information
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