Sold home bought boat - now what?!

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by DShant

Just a quick note. These laws of course try to blanket the country but there are often problems. I had a house in the mountains in California where US Post would not deliver mail to your house and gave everyone a PO box. It was a pain in the butt as many companies refused to send things even though that was all we had.

Couldn’t you have just use the address for your house and the post office would know enough to just hold the package for you?

You can’t be the only one facing that problem in that area. And small towns just work like that usually.

[Kettlewell]

Couldn’t you have just use the address for your house and the post office would know enough to just hold the package for you?

No, it is all automated now and the mail is pre-routed at some major postal distribution point long before it gets to your local post office. When that distribution point spits out the address as non-deliverable the package will be returned. I lived in such a place for the last four years--no home delivery. The local postal people were some of the orneriest people I have ever met and seemingly took great pleasure in providing terrible service. It was routine that my Informed Delivery app would declare a package as having arrived at the post office only to not actually get a note in my box for another week or longer. First class mail routinely took over a week to travel a few miles.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Kettlewell

No, it is all automated now and the mail is pre-routed at some major postal distribution point long before it gets to your local post office. When that distribution point spits out the address as non-deliverable the package will be returned. I lived in such a place for the last four years--no home delivery. The local postal people were some of the orneriest people I have ever met and seemingly took great pleasure in providing terrible service. It was routine that my Informed Delivery app would declare a package as having arrived at the post office only to not actually get a note in my box for another week or longer. First class mail routinely took over a week to travel a few miles.

Ha ha ha. That made me laugh at how awful your post office is.

I was recently down in Hatteras and it’s exactly the opposite. The post office down there is the center of all life and everyone is soooo nice. They do all sorts of things for you down there. It’s a very small community and the post office probably bakes you cookies at Christmas. Lol. You could even just drop by the post office and drop off something for someone and they’ll put it in the PO Box for you. I did that, personally

I think it might be time to check into moving out of New York. Everything you have describes so far sounds awful. Government overreach, worst possible postal employees, is there anything else aside from the higher taxes? Life sounds very hard where you are.

I would probably have set up a PMB if I were in your situation. More expense, I know, on top of all the other expenses, but how annoying that must have been to deal with those employees at that post office

[Kettlewell]

I think it might be time to check into moving out of New York.

It wasn't in New York. Where I live currently in upstate NY there are no major problems with postal delivery and I have a regular residential street address for deliveries. Love it where I live. We have hiking trails all around, mountains nearby, beautiful lakes you can drink out of if you want to, a big library less than a block away, great public schools, very low crime, great healthcare, great universities. We cruise in New England currently where nobody locks up their dinghies anywhere and a lot of people don't bother to lock their boats either. We always anchor out, and there are places where you might be the only boat after sunset. OTOH you can visit tons of friendly small towns whenever you want to. It's only a six-month season at best, but is some of the best cruising IMHO between Canada and the Caribbean.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Kettlewell

It wasn't in New York. Where I live currently in upstate NY there are no major problems with postal delivery and I have a regular residential street address for deliveries. Love it where I live. We have hiking trails all around, mountains nearby, beautiful lakes you can drink out of if you want to, a big library less than a block away, great public schools, very low crime, great healthcare, great universities. We cruise in New England currently where nobody locks up their dinghies anywhere and a lot of people don't bother to lock their boats either. We always anchor out, and there are places where you might be the only boat after sunset. OTOH you can visit tons of friendly small towns whenever you want to. It's only a six-month season at best, but is some of the best cruising IMHO between Canada and the Caribbean.

Well, that’s good to hear. I thought all of that bad was in one place. It didn’t sound fun

I agree with you about cruising New England. That’s where I’m from. It’s such a relief to be home. Not have to worry about theft all the time like you do when you’re in Florida. It’s just overall much nicer

Also, your general area is pretty nice. I have been there. I like it. I’m always a visitor however so I don’t know much about the services we were discussing

[Kettlewell]

By the way, IMHO, the myth of "high taxes" may or may not be true for a particular state for your own personal situation. I have lived in a whole bunch of states and they each tax you in different ways. NY has a high income tax on high earners, but the tax rate is much lower if you earn less. There is no annual property or excise tax here on things like your car or boat. I used to pay hundreds of dollars a year in annual property taxes in South Carolina/ Our local sales tax rate here in NY is 7%, which is lower than some. Some states even charge sales taxes on groceries! Some friends moved to Florida recently and they had to pay many hundreds of dollars to change their car registrations. Plus insurance rates there are very high. Bottom line is that you have to look at your individual tax situation and your broader economic picture before deciding that one state will save you money over another.

[AKA-None]

Originally Posted by John_Trusty

Thank God we have the Patriot Act so that terrorism can no longer be funded! /s

That’s the same US law that allows federal agencies to ask which library books I checked out? I’m with Chotu on this one, government overreach and ineffective at the same time. I think it’s my patriotic duty to foul up their databases however I can, without running foul of the man.

Anyhow, to OP, not having a physical land address works, but takes some care setting up, so ask. It’s not illegal for you and I don’t care if it irritates the banker or auto reg people (they work for me).

To be fair there is no law to see what books you checked out at the library
Someone tried that and it was shot down

[JMaav]

So… All well and good to use alternatives to get your mail. However, you also need to think of the legal side of things. If your bank turns a blind eye to the legal format of your address… What do you think is going to happen if you die (God forbid)… I your kids are going to have real trouble getting access to your account since there is no way to prove an address. Unfortunately, that is also a requirement for your estate.
Whatever you do, choose some thing that meets all the criterion of the commercial enterprise you are trying to get a workaround from. Someday, it may pay off for somebody, other than you…

[JMaav]

So, all well, and good to bend the rules to get your mail. But in the long run, you’re going to need to find a strong legal solution. For example, what happens if you die while this phase of your life is going on [God forbid.]
In order to access your state, your kids will need to show proof of a physical address as well. Believe me, it is not going to work any other way than to have one… Register your entire physical situation with your attorney, who acts as your executor, if you plan to do the alternative. Someday your kids will thank you.
If you choose not to work out a physical address, at least record your entire situation with your attorney and/or executor.