I am concerned if I get a summons for jury duty. We have gotten local county and federal duty in the past. I looked at my files and they give about 3 weeks to one month notice to report or request change of date.
Has anyone tried Premium Forwarding Service vs Regular (temporary) Forwarding Service? I will need to send the mail out of state to an adult kid so they can screen. I thought of holding at the post office for the last few weeks until I return, if I can do both forward and hold.
If it was me, I’d just roll the dice and play the odds. 
Aren’t the odds somewhat slim that they’ll call you for jury duty during that 1 month period? And if you windup being unlucky, I find it hard to believe that you’d get into serious trouble if you could prove you were out of the country when the notice was mailed.
You have a good point, they probably would be understanding.
For some bizarre reason we have been called almost yearly for county and once for federal ( including the adult kids).
USPS will not hold the mail for over 30 days so I do have to choose Premium vs Regular forwarding.
When I vacation (which is typically for a week max), I have a trusted neighbor who collects my mail for me. Don’t want local USPS employees to know I am not at home.
As kiddie mentioned - we are that trusted neighbor. Our neighbors go on world cruises, so they are away 4-6 months at a time. They transitioned to doing all of their bills online, so that’s not an issue. They bring us two Rubbermaid tubs to collect the rest of the mail. I look through to make sure there is nothing important or time sensitive. We also have a key to their house and walk through once in a while to make sure everything is ok and we just generally keep an eye on the place.
@kitty56 You are a GREAT neighbor! 4-6 months at a time is a big commitment. I hope they bring you nice gifts from their travels.
I’m using Premium mail forwarding right now. We split our time between 2 homes so I have mail forwarded for many months at a time. It gets expensive for the amount of time I’m doing it, but it works very well. Your home post office packs up all your mail (including every bit of junk mail) on Wednesdays and sends it in a priority mail box. Last year I got my box every Friday like clockwork but this year it arrives on Saturday and once or twice on Monday. I’ve spoken with the sending post office and am convinced they are sending it promptly but there is some kind of issue going on at the receiving post office that is taking an extra day. Packages are handled in one of two ways. Small packages that are in a padded envelope or small plastic bag are stuffed in the weekly box with the rest of the mail. Larger packages are forwarded separately without being held until the following Wednesday.
doschicos ~ they are great neighbors also! We are very lucky. And yes, they bring us small gifts but also take us out to dinner several times at very nice places. We can always count on them, too (when they are home :))
Our neighbor has the key and will check on the place. I guess my neighborhood has gotten rather older and getting my mail every day and going through it would be too much to ask. I’m going to run the Premium mail forwarding by my daughter to see if that will work for her. That sounds like my best option. Thank you all!
What are the advantages of ‘premium mail forwarding’ over standard forwarding? I’ve had mail forwarded for up to 2 months with only a few minor glitches (that I know about).
We have very nice neighbors who collect our mail when we travel. So far we have only been away a few weeks at a time. We tell them to stop their paper and read ours when we are away. They also take our trash to the curb and back.
Our other neighbors have just offered to water our potted plants. We have great neighbors!
There are several advantages to Premium Forwarding Service.
(1) Your mail gets forwarded all together in one envelope, so you know you have it; it doesn’t dribble in piece by piece.
(2) You will most likely get your mail quicker. Even though they only ship it to you once a week, a human being does it on the appointed day. With regular mail forwarding the human just chucks the pieces into the automated forward stream and it can take 2 weeks to get to its destination.
(3) Some pieces of mail have endorsements so that they are not forwarded but instead returned to sender. I’m not 100% sure, but I think with PFS those pieces go in the envelope to you. I think you get all first class mail regardless of endorsements.
YMMV, but I seriously doubt you’ll get into trouble if you receive a summons which expires before you return. My DH got one and just plumb forgot until several weeks after his report date. He called and they simply sent him a new notice. I don’t think they’re out to punish people who self-report missing jury duty. The opposite – I think they’re grateful if you “confess” and will happily put you right back into the jury pool. I certainly wouldn’t make special mail arrangements just for this.
After getting ready to sign up for premium forwarding service I did learn the following: