First, I should mention first that we still have bills, statements, etc. delivered to us in hard copy by USPS mail and we do NOT do anything financial online unless there is no other option – we are old school computer users (back to main frame computer programming) and know that there is NO such thing as a secure connection.
We have had problems in the past with mail delivery at our house and had transferred almost all of our mail delivery to a USPS box we had for our business at a different local Post Office to deal with it. We found this worked extremely well – go on a trip, no need to have mail held as it would automatically be held when there was too much in the box, need to have something delivered other than USPS – with street addressing it could go to our box.
Then along came the corona virus. We don't want to go out at all, let alone into a crowded Post Office – whether to send mail out or get our incoming mail. More about that from last March 26 at http://wheredidileavethat.blogspot.com/2020/03/ and from last April 16 at http://wheredidileavethat.blogspot.com/2020/04/ and I am sure there is more at other post inbetween.
So we started changing our mailing address back to our house address with any and every one we could think of. Every time I think I am done changing our address back to our house – something else pops up.
Latest things which popped up - Our car insurance renews soon and I checked to make sure our house address was the mailing address for same – it is, but that started me thinking about other insurances and I checked our homeowners' insurance comes to our house but our RV insurance goes to our PO Box. I telephoned the insurance company and changed the address – would not want to take a chance on the policy renewal being mailed to our box and never finding its way here.
We are members of Costco and a similar warehouse company called BJs. My excellent computer records for bills reminded me that our Costco dues are due during January – usually paid by now – but no renewal received and the renewal goes to our PO Box. So today I called Costco and, yes, we should have received the renewal by now. I changed our mailing address with them and checked the amount due for the dues and the mailing address to which I should send the check – I paid it, as I have paid so many other bills this past 9 months – with a cover letter. Our BJs renewal is next month – I called them also and changed our mailing address with them also. Strangely, the various ad circulars from both of them all come to our home address.
I am well organized, well at least as far as paperwork, especially bills. I went through all my papers, all our credit cards, etc. and made a list – I contacted each company to change our mailing address to our house – but each time I think I am finished doing so – something else pops up. Worst of all, some day, soon I hope, I will have to reverse this and change all of the mailing addresses to back to our PO Box so it does not go astray and we can again go on our little trips with the mail snugly and safely in our little box at the Post Office.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK-
We will soon have a new control of our government here in the U.S.A. I hope that they will be organized and get control of the pandemic so we can all go out again and be with friends and family as we did before (and go to the Post Office again for mail) without fear of getting of getting Covid-19.
Until then- please be careful and safe and keep yourselves and your families well.
Showing posts with label post office box. Show all posts
Showing posts with label post office box. Show all posts
Thursday, January 14, 2021
CHANGING ONE ADDRESS FOR MAIL - EVERY TIME I THINK I AM DONE - OOPS
Thursday, June 18, 2020
COVID 19 #14 - GETTING OUR MAIL DELIVERED TO US
I think I got our mail straightened out – finally.
Back in the early 1990s (maybe even the late 1980s) my husband and I opened a USPS Post Office Mail Box at a local Post Office. At the time we lived in an apartment and did not want the mail for our craft business to come to our apartment lest the landlord think we were running a big time business in our apartment. The Post Office which was in walking distance of our apartment did not have any available boxes, so we went to the next nearest Post Office and opened the box there. When we we bought this house it was in a third local community so we kept the box where it was to avoid having to change addresses on various items. The Post Office that our house mail goes to is actually much further away from where we live than either of the two mentioned and is not in a direction we go to often. So we left our craft business mail going to its PO Box. Originally I would go to this Box and pick up the mail daily Monday to Friday and mail out any outgoing mail we had. When husband retired it became something we both did together.
About 7, maybe 10 years ago, we started having problems with mail deliveries to our house – we had several pieces of mail that we should have received and did not - and that was just the mail we were expecting – we did not know what other mail might have never have made it to us. We also received pieces of mail that had been opened and taped closed again. Having done this myself once or twice – I knew it probably meant that someone else had received these pieces of mail, opened it without looking at the name it was addresses to, and then when the error was realized, taped it closed again and dropped into the mail for delivery. We also received mail for people that not only had we never heard of, we had never heard of the streets which they lived on – and husband has lived in this area since he was 7 (and I for 30+ years when this happened) so the streets were not anywhere near us - so they were probably not just misdelivered by the local mail carrier. We decided we need to have our mail not go through our home post office for security and safety. Rather than open up a second Post Office box, we just changed our mailing address for almost all of our mail to our business box. This has worked very well – until now.
Back in mid March husband decided we should not be going into a Post Office in general and this one in particular (the local community has a much higher number of Covid-19 cases than ours and others in the area do). I came up with the idea of making a once weekly run to this Post Office on late Sunday nights – on the logic that since it closed at 1pm on Saturday and was closed on Sunday – it would mean that than the few people who went in to pick up mail from boxes or to mail something out with the computer setup in the lobby, Sunday night , it would have had the fewest people in it, for the longest time. So on the last two Sundays in March we picked up mail at 11 pm – using a credit card to activate the door unlock. After that, though, husband thought it too unsafe to go at all.
Thinking quickly the last Sunday night we went, I went online and put in a “temporary change of address” for 2 months for the mail in the box to be forwarded to our house. I had to do it in the name of our business as that is all that the USPS website would let me do. Since it said that the mail could only be forwarded to the business name in which the box was held and that the business would be responsible for all forwarding all mail to anyone receiving mail in the Box. Sounds like we would be getting all the mail - right?
No, only mail with the name of our business could be forwarded. I found this out when I called after 2 weeks had passed and we had not received any mail forwarded. Our business generally receives only it's bank statement and credit card statement – and we have not used the credit card since maybe mid March. This is not much of a help. The very nice female Postal employee I spoke with offered to mail us the accumulated mail to give us some time to figure it out. I thanked her and she put the mail in an envelope and mailed it to our house. Two weeks later I called again and apologized and asked if I could pay the postage for her to again send mail to us – she said she just could just mail it the same way again. Three weeks later I called her and – well, you can see where this is going.
Luckily I use Quicken for our accounting and had an ongoing, constantly updated list of when our bills would be due. I would call up each credit card – even ones I was sure we had not used – to make sure of the amount due and when or that no amount was due. I did the same with the utilities and any other bills – such as insurance. I write a cover letter and send the check with it, except for the few bills that I have received in time to pay normally.
Last time I called to have the mail sent to us, I asked if there was way to close the box in the name of the business and immediately reopen it in one of our names as a personal box – I even offered to pay the annual fee again. This started a discussion among several employees at this Post Office and myself – they did not know about a difference between “business” and “personal” boxes and did not have any record of same – though the main computer did. Apparently one has to come into the Post Office to close a box – so that would not work. One employee spoke with the employee in charge of the boxes and they worked it out so that he would change the name and status of the box for us. I did go online and change the mailing address for my 2 magazines.
This was finally done!! While we have not received any forwarded mail as of yet (well, I only check it on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday and it is Wednesday so there may be mail sitting out there in the box from today's delivery that I will get tomorrow), it is done. I went online and was able to put in similar temporary changes of address for my maiden name, our craft business (since the original one has ended), our reenactment unit and my embroidery chapter – the latter two do not have their own mailing address and I receive the business mail for them as I am the treasurer of each.
Hopefully we will start receiving our mail from the box here at our house.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
What works well for one in normal times, might not work well when one should stay home. There is always some way to deal with problems and people are very understanding and nice right now due to the pandemic. Be sure to thank those who help you and let their bosses know how helpful they have been (as I am going to do) so that they know that their help is appreciated so they will go out of their way to help others in the future when they need help.
Back in the early 1990s (maybe even the late 1980s) my husband and I opened a USPS Post Office Mail Box at a local Post Office. At the time we lived in an apartment and did not want the mail for our craft business to come to our apartment lest the landlord think we were running a big time business in our apartment. The Post Office which was in walking distance of our apartment did not have any available boxes, so we went to the next nearest Post Office and opened the box there. When we we bought this house it was in a third local community so we kept the box where it was to avoid having to change addresses on various items. The Post Office that our house mail goes to is actually much further away from where we live than either of the two mentioned and is not in a direction we go to often. So we left our craft business mail going to its PO Box. Originally I would go to this Box and pick up the mail daily Monday to Friday and mail out any outgoing mail we had. When husband retired it became something we both did together.
About 7, maybe 10 years ago, we started having problems with mail deliveries to our house – we had several pieces of mail that we should have received and did not - and that was just the mail we were expecting – we did not know what other mail might have never have made it to us. We also received pieces of mail that had been opened and taped closed again. Having done this myself once or twice – I knew it probably meant that someone else had received these pieces of mail, opened it without looking at the name it was addresses to, and then when the error was realized, taped it closed again and dropped into the mail for delivery. We also received mail for people that not only had we never heard of, we had never heard of the streets which they lived on – and husband has lived in this area since he was 7 (and I for 30+ years when this happened) so the streets were not anywhere near us - so they were probably not just misdelivered by the local mail carrier. We decided we need to have our mail not go through our home post office for security and safety. Rather than open up a second Post Office box, we just changed our mailing address for almost all of our mail to our business box. This has worked very well – until now.
Back in mid March husband decided we should not be going into a Post Office in general and this one in particular (the local community has a much higher number of Covid-19 cases than ours and others in the area do). I came up with the idea of making a once weekly run to this Post Office on late Sunday nights – on the logic that since it closed at 1pm on Saturday and was closed on Sunday – it would mean that than the few people who went in to pick up mail from boxes or to mail something out with the computer setup in the lobby, Sunday night , it would have had the fewest people in it, for the longest time. So on the last two Sundays in March we picked up mail at 11 pm – using a credit card to activate the door unlock. After that, though, husband thought it too unsafe to go at all.
Thinking quickly the last Sunday night we went, I went online and put in a “temporary change of address” for 2 months for the mail in the box to be forwarded to our house. I had to do it in the name of our business as that is all that the USPS website would let me do. Since it said that the mail could only be forwarded to the business name in which the box was held and that the business would be responsible for all forwarding all mail to anyone receiving mail in the Box. Sounds like we would be getting all the mail - right?
No, only mail with the name of our business could be forwarded. I found this out when I called after 2 weeks had passed and we had not received any mail forwarded. Our business generally receives only it's bank statement and credit card statement – and we have not used the credit card since maybe mid March. This is not much of a help. The very nice female Postal employee I spoke with offered to mail us the accumulated mail to give us some time to figure it out. I thanked her and she put the mail in an envelope and mailed it to our house. Two weeks later I called again and apologized and asked if I could pay the postage for her to again send mail to us – she said she just could just mail it the same way again. Three weeks later I called her and – well, you can see where this is going.
Luckily I use Quicken for our accounting and had an ongoing, constantly updated list of when our bills would be due. I would call up each credit card – even ones I was sure we had not used – to make sure of the amount due and when or that no amount was due. I did the same with the utilities and any other bills – such as insurance. I write a cover letter and send the check with it, except for the few bills that I have received in time to pay normally.
Last time I called to have the mail sent to us, I asked if there was way to close the box in the name of the business and immediately reopen it in one of our names as a personal box – I even offered to pay the annual fee again. This started a discussion among several employees at this Post Office and myself – they did not know about a difference between “business” and “personal” boxes and did not have any record of same – though the main computer did. Apparently one has to come into the Post Office to close a box – so that would not work. One employee spoke with the employee in charge of the boxes and they worked it out so that he would change the name and status of the box for us. I did go online and change the mailing address for my 2 magazines.
This was finally done!! While we have not received any forwarded mail as of yet (well, I only check it on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday and it is Wednesday so there may be mail sitting out there in the box from today's delivery that I will get tomorrow), it is done. I went online and was able to put in similar temporary changes of address for my maiden name, our craft business (since the original one has ended), our reenactment unit and my embroidery chapter – the latter two do not have their own mailing address and I receive the business mail for them as I am the treasurer of each.
Hopefully we will start receiving our mail from the box here at our house.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
What works well for one in normal times, might not work well when one should stay home. There is always some way to deal with problems and people are very understanding and nice right now due to the pandemic. Be sure to thank those who help you and let their bosses know how helpful they have been (as I am going to do) so that they know that their help is appreciated so they will go out of their way to help others in the future when they need help.
Thursday, June 4, 2020
COVID-19 #12 - DEALING WITH INCOMING MAIL WHEN ONE CAN'T GO TO POST OFFICE TO GET IT
So how is everyone holding up? Is your area coming out of having to stay home? Stores, parks, beaches, barber shops, beauty parlors, restaurants starting to open where you are?
If your area is opening up – are you going to be running out to go everywhere? Or do you feel it is not safe enough yet and maybe you should stay home awhile longer?
We tend towards the second choice. Since he bought all the food we have plenty to eat in the house – maybe for the rest of the year or longer. Okay, we have been thinking of looking for sales on Diet Coke 2 liter – presuming the store actually has some when they advertise it – as we are down to 3 full bottles and one almost empty one and have been drinking diet orange drink and diet grape drink alternating which one I mix – and he has iced tea for lunch. He likes the orange better and I like the grape better. Yes, we have lots of good water from our tap and drank water only for the first month – I finally had the idea to fill 2 quart plastic bottles and keep them in our refrigerator to keep the water cold for drinking(which are used for same in our RV when traveling so water cold on a hot day and water to drink is from home – as is the water in our water tanks in the RV). We have been drinking the Diet Coke very sparingly – not at all until I pointed out to him in early May that the best by date was May 18 – so we would not drink it so we did not finish it off – or we could drink it slowly before it got too old and the taste is gone.
One big problem we have had is mail – coming in and going out. In the late 1980s or early 1990s we opened up a box at a USPS office for our craft business. We lived in an apartment back then and did not want mail addressed to a business coming to our apartment. There was a Post Office about a block and a half from our apartment – but no boxes were available, so we went to the next nearest Post Office and opened the box there – where it still is. Our home is in close to where our apartment was, but is in a third community which shares a Post Office (and zip code) a different community and that Post Office is far from our house – further than the one near our old apartment (which is in fairly easy walking distance) and than the one where our businesses' box was. We started having problems with mail delivery to our house maybe 7 or 10 years ago and have changed the address on most of our personal mail which used to come to our house to the box, as well as the mail that I receive as Treasurer of both my embroidery club and our reenactment unit. In normal times we basically went to the Post Office where our box is every day Monday to Friday to check for incoming mail and mail outgoing mail. If we went on a trip we could put a hold on the mail in the box. If we needed something delivered – it has been sent to the box and was inside the Post Office and safe. This system worked great. Today I am talking about the problem with the mail coming in to us.
The last two Sundays in March we went to the Post Office late Sunday night (forgive me if I repeating myself here) and picked up the mail for the entire week and mailed the outgoing mail for the week. I had figured out that since this Post Office closed on Saturdays at 1pm and was not open on Sundays – there were the fewest people in it for the longest time at that point and would have the least chance of us catching the corona virus then. Unfortunately our local paper started publishing the number of people who were ill by community and the community that Post Office and the Wendys we normally went to for daily lunch – are in had rather a high count of people who were ill and husband decided we should not go there for some time.
So – all our mail was nice and safe in our Post Office box – but we had no access to it! Aha!! Have the mail what I called forwarded and the Post Office calls “Temporary change of address”. I went online and set the mail up to be sent to us – since I did it online it cost $1.05 by credit card for verification that we are the box owners. We were only able to enter the name of our craft business – the name the box is in - as it is a “business” box. The wording implied that all mail would be sent to us and we were then responsible to forward it to those who it was addressed to - great, they are all us.
We waited for the forwarded mail to come. I had called and checked the second day of the forwarding to make sure that the Post Office had received the paperwork and they had. We kept waiting – it should take 7-10 days for each item to reach us from the Post Office – after 2 weeks of no mail I called. Since it is a “business” box only mail in the name of the business can be forwarded (okay, most months a bank statement and a credit card statement – and we are not currently using the latter). The woman I spoke with was very nice and offered to mail the accumulated mail in an envelope to us to give us a chance to figure it out. I had hoped we would be going again in a week or two and thanked her profusely. I did go online and change the mailing address for the two main magazines I get to come straight here. I also emailed the members of my embroidery group and told them to only mail things – such as the dues I was collecting in April and May for end of May annual renewal – to me at home and not at the box and did the same with my accounting clients for anything they would need to mail to me. Husband did the same with the members of our reenacting unit.
Two weeks later – same problem. I called again and offered to pay for the mail be mailed to us again – she said she would do so at no charge. I made a third call – this time waiting over 3 weeks and again she was able to mail us the mail. Then it was 3 weeks again – this time I asked her if there was some way to - without having to go into the Post Office – there was some way to close the box in the business name and reopen it immediately in one of our names – even if we had pay the annual fee again. This started a multi-day discussion involving her, two other employees at the Post Office and the Postmaster. What they finally worked out is for them to change the name on the box and change it from business to personal. It would take a couple of weeks – at that point – 2 weeks no problem. They have mailed us our mail twice since then. I was suppose to call yesterday and check how it was coming – but ran out of time. Today I was going to call – but I was called and it suppose to all be changed and all the mail set up to be forwarded – we will know for sure in about in a week – and the accumulated mail is again being mailed to us.
Since I use a Quicken to keep track of our finances I had the advantage of having all the bills we pay being memorized with the day of the month I normally sent out the payment (such as a bill due 30th of the month – would be dated to be written on 23rd of the month) and it repeats monthly, quarterly, or annually – bi-monthly I have to adjust myself and have bills due same set as monthly as change the date due – I knew I would not miss paying any bills. I also figured that bank statements can always be reconciled after the fact. It was the unexpected item that I was concerned about – luckily there have not been any surprises. When a bill will be do I call and, generally by computer on their end, check the balance due – if any – and due date. If I do not have the bill I write a cover letter giving the name on the account, account number, amount I am paying and the check number and letting them know that I am doing this as I can't get to the Post Office to pick up mail.
Hopefully we will be getting the mail forwarded and all will even off – of course we are depending on the same Post Office that we were having trouble with to deliver the mail from the box to us when it is forwarded, but the mail carrier has been doing well so far with the mail when it comes from the the Box, as well mail which does come here.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
Sometimes what seems like the perfect thing to do – is no longer good at all when the situation changes. One has to figure out what to do, to make things work as needed. It sometimes takes a bit of creative thinking to do this.
Plus – we should be grateful for our Post Office employees who are doing their best to help us keep getting our mail despite the health risks to them (next time you lick an envelope to seal it – remembering people will be touching that envelope and many others and risk getting ill from them. They are making sure we have bills so we can timely pay them, checks so we have the money to pay the bills, plus the cards, photos and letters (yes, people still mail send same) that are sent to us by loved ones and friends. (I just found out that my mom does not have to go out of her apartment and downstairs to the mail boxes to get her mail – it is being brought to her – I am going to mail her some “cute” photos of my Teddy bear village under the stay home at order – the summer setup also when I get it set up later this month – I hope the photos make her smile.)
Please all stay well and return next week for the problems sending mail out we have had.
If your area is opening up – are you going to be running out to go everywhere? Or do you feel it is not safe enough yet and maybe you should stay home awhile longer?
We tend towards the second choice. Since he bought all the food we have plenty to eat in the house – maybe for the rest of the year or longer. Okay, we have been thinking of looking for sales on Diet Coke 2 liter – presuming the store actually has some when they advertise it – as we are down to 3 full bottles and one almost empty one and have been drinking diet orange drink and diet grape drink alternating which one I mix – and he has iced tea for lunch. He likes the orange better and I like the grape better. Yes, we have lots of good water from our tap and drank water only for the first month – I finally had the idea to fill 2 quart plastic bottles and keep them in our refrigerator to keep the water cold for drinking(which are used for same in our RV when traveling so water cold on a hot day and water to drink is from home – as is the water in our water tanks in the RV). We have been drinking the Diet Coke very sparingly – not at all until I pointed out to him in early May that the best by date was May 18 – so we would not drink it so we did not finish it off – or we could drink it slowly before it got too old and the taste is gone.
One big problem we have had is mail – coming in and going out. In the late 1980s or early 1990s we opened up a box at a USPS office for our craft business. We lived in an apartment back then and did not want mail addressed to a business coming to our apartment. There was a Post Office about a block and a half from our apartment – but no boxes were available, so we went to the next nearest Post Office and opened the box there – where it still is. Our home is in close to where our apartment was, but is in a third community which shares a Post Office (and zip code) a different community and that Post Office is far from our house – further than the one near our old apartment (which is in fairly easy walking distance) and than the one where our businesses' box was. We started having problems with mail delivery to our house maybe 7 or 10 years ago and have changed the address on most of our personal mail which used to come to our house to the box, as well as the mail that I receive as Treasurer of both my embroidery club and our reenactment unit. In normal times we basically went to the Post Office where our box is every day Monday to Friday to check for incoming mail and mail outgoing mail. If we went on a trip we could put a hold on the mail in the box. If we needed something delivered – it has been sent to the box and was inside the Post Office and safe. This system worked great. Today I am talking about the problem with the mail coming in to us.
The last two Sundays in March we went to the Post Office late Sunday night (forgive me if I repeating myself here) and picked up the mail for the entire week and mailed the outgoing mail for the week. I had figured out that since this Post Office closed on Saturdays at 1pm and was not open on Sundays – there were the fewest people in it for the longest time at that point and would have the least chance of us catching the corona virus then. Unfortunately our local paper started publishing the number of people who were ill by community and the community that Post Office and the Wendys we normally went to for daily lunch – are in had rather a high count of people who were ill and husband decided we should not go there for some time.
So – all our mail was nice and safe in our Post Office box – but we had no access to it! Aha!! Have the mail what I called forwarded and the Post Office calls “Temporary change of address”. I went online and set the mail up to be sent to us – since I did it online it cost $1.05 by credit card for verification that we are the box owners. We were only able to enter the name of our craft business – the name the box is in - as it is a “business” box. The wording implied that all mail would be sent to us and we were then responsible to forward it to those who it was addressed to - great, they are all us.
We waited for the forwarded mail to come. I had called and checked the second day of the forwarding to make sure that the Post Office had received the paperwork and they had. We kept waiting – it should take 7-10 days for each item to reach us from the Post Office – after 2 weeks of no mail I called. Since it is a “business” box only mail in the name of the business can be forwarded (okay, most months a bank statement and a credit card statement – and we are not currently using the latter). The woman I spoke with was very nice and offered to mail the accumulated mail in an envelope to us to give us a chance to figure it out. I had hoped we would be going again in a week or two and thanked her profusely. I did go online and change the mailing address for the two main magazines I get to come straight here. I also emailed the members of my embroidery group and told them to only mail things – such as the dues I was collecting in April and May for end of May annual renewal – to me at home and not at the box and did the same with my accounting clients for anything they would need to mail to me. Husband did the same with the members of our reenacting unit.
Two weeks later – same problem. I called again and offered to pay for the mail be mailed to us again – she said she would do so at no charge. I made a third call – this time waiting over 3 weeks and again she was able to mail us the mail. Then it was 3 weeks again – this time I asked her if there was some way to - without having to go into the Post Office – there was some way to close the box in the business name and reopen it immediately in one of our names – even if we had pay the annual fee again. This started a multi-day discussion involving her, two other employees at the Post Office and the Postmaster. What they finally worked out is for them to change the name on the box and change it from business to personal. It would take a couple of weeks – at that point – 2 weeks no problem. They have mailed us our mail twice since then. I was suppose to call yesterday and check how it was coming – but ran out of time. Today I was going to call – but I was called and it suppose to all be changed and all the mail set up to be forwarded – we will know for sure in about in a week – and the accumulated mail is again being mailed to us.
Since I use a Quicken to keep track of our finances I had the advantage of having all the bills we pay being memorized with the day of the month I normally sent out the payment (such as a bill due 30th of the month – would be dated to be written on 23rd of the month) and it repeats monthly, quarterly, or annually – bi-monthly I have to adjust myself and have bills due same set as monthly as change the date due – I knew I would not miss paying any bills. I also figured that bank statements can always be reconciled after the fact. It was the unexpected item that I was concerned about – luckily there have not been any surprises. When a bill will be do I call and, generally by computer on their end, check the balance due – if any – and due date. If I do not have the bill I write a cover letter giving the name on the account, account number, amount I am paying and the check number and letting them know that I am doing this as I can't get to the Post Office to pick up mail.
Hopefully we will be getting the mail forwarded and all will even off – of course we are depending on the same Post Office that we were having trouble with to deliver the mail from the box to us when it is forwarded, but the mail carrier has been doing well so far with the mail when it comes from the the Box, as well mail which does come here.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
Sometimes what seems like the perfect thing to do – is no longer good at all when the situation changes. One has to figure out what to do, to make things work as needed. It sometimes takes a bit of creative thinking to do this.
Plus – we should be grateful for our Post Office employees who are doing their best to help us keep getting our mail despite the health risks to them (next time you lick an envelope to seal it – remembering people will be touching that envelope and many others and risk getting ill from them. They are making sure we have bills so we can timely pay them, checks so we have the money to pay the bills, plus the cards, photos and letters (yes, people still mail send same) that are sent to us by loved ones and friends. (I just found out that my mom does not have to go out of her apartment and downstairs to the mail boxes to get her mail – it is being brought to her – I am going to mail her some “cute” photos of my Teddy bear village under the stay home at order – the summer setup also when I get it set up later this month – I hope the photos make her smile.)
Please all stay well and return next week for the problems sending mail out we have had.
Thursday, April 16, 2020
COVID 19 #5 - ANOTHER WEEK IN THE HOUSE - TAXES, MAIL AND RAIN
Normally the last few days would have been busy ones for me as I am an accountant. I would be finishing up the tax returns for my husband and myself and our business – they are always done after I finish the returns for clients. I would be preparing and mailing out extensions for those clients who did not manage to get their information together in time. And I would be looking forward to some quiet time to catch up on what has been thrown aside due to lack of time.
This year is so different. I am down in general to less than 10 clients, but even so this year, well, I have barely done any returns. Clients have contacted me that they can not wrap their minds about putting the information together, not going out so they cannot mail me the info, etc. I tell them that it is not a problem – quite frankly we are not going out either and their completed returns would be a problem to mail to them -we can only put letter sized envelopes in our house mail box for pickup by the same postal employee who delivers to us, as when I tried to put larger envelopes in the clip – they fell inside the mailbox when I closed the front door of it (which they were clipped to). So I have two 6inch by 9 inch envelopes sitting in the house until we feel safe enough to go to a mail collection box and send them out.
I have a dear friend who is also a client and had not filed her 2016 return (her husband was ill and they had also moved) and that was a priority for me to get finished and out. I knew she would be getting a refund and if returns are not filed within 3 years of their due date one loses their refund and I did not want that to happen to her. I kept reminding her by email and telephone – but suddenly it was this past Saturday and I still not have her information – too late to mail the return to her even in the best of the times as she lives out of state (which is where she moved). My husband caught her on Facebook Saturday night and reminded her. I received her information on Sunday and did her return and emailed it back to her with specific instructions – in my panic and excitement to get the returns to her – I sent the wrong version of her Federal return – it was blank! She telephoned me and the correct one was emailed to her on Monday. Another client had her info to me earlier in March and her state was not extending the time for her to pay her taxes, so I finished it and mailed it to her back then.
I managed to fix some errors in our corporation's last year return, when I was going through the “do everything wrong and redo it no matter how I tried” period. It is ready to go out when we go out to mail larger items again. I am now doing this year's return for same. Next I will start ours. All will sit and wait for us to go out again.
We actually had a problem with the mail which goes to our PO Box – most of our mail does as we have problems with mail delivery at our house. We had put in to have it forwarded to us as March 31. Nothing has arrived which has been forwarded. I called the Post Office on Monday and was told that since our box is in our business's name only mail from same has been forwarded as there is no way to say to forward all from a business box. Husband started crying – the employee heard him and said she would put what she has in an envelope and mail it to us – it came the next day. She said we could call again in a couple of weeks and make arrangements to pay the postage and have same done again. What does confuse me is two things. If a company moves should not all the mail addressed to the employees of the company, even if the company is not listed in the address be forwarded also? And on the USPS website it says that if a business puts in a forward all will be forwarded to the business and the business is responsible for getting it to those who receive mail through them – doesn't that mean it should all be forwarded to us? Well, we got the large, full envelope and I will get to take them out of the sealed plastic bag that I put them in, this Friday as we cannot wait a full week for 2 week old mail to be opened. The community where our mail goes (just north of where we live) had over 4 times the number of virus cases as does our community so it really scares husband to go to the Post Office, even late night on Sunday nights as we had been going. When life is normal again we will find out how to change the box from our business name to our names so next time we can specify “all for address” if God forbid we ever have to do this again.
We also had to deal with a bad storm this week – heavy rain and huge winds. Not as bad as those of you who got hit tornadoes, and we were lucky and only lost our electricity for a few seconds. Husband was terrified, as he always is, of losing our electricity, as to do so would result in the loss of much of our food. I moved everything from the kitchen refrigerator's freezer to our spare small freezer in the basement and turned that one to the coldest it goes and added some frozen plastic “ice” also. Our logic was the larger the amount of frozen items in a confined space, the better the cold would keep if we lost electricity. I also found out that we still have some Thanksgiving leftovers – more food, which we did not remember we had, a dinner for one of us.
How are all of you faring in lock down – or are a some of you in areas which have not been hit enough to have stay home? I would love to hear from any or all of you – and I am sure that others would like to hear how people are getting by and coping.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
We are another week along and closer to being able to go out again. In our state and our local area they say we are now at the point where the number of new cases and hospital admissions are both going down – more people are now leaving the hospitals than being admitted. My original guess when the area was hit was mid to late May before we could go out. I hope I guessed right.
My best wishes for you and yours to remain healthy – or to safely return to good health.
This year is so different. I am down in general to less than 10 clients, but even so this year, well, I have barely done any returns. Clients have contacted me that they can not wrap their minds about putting the information together, not going out so they cannot mail me the info, etc. I tell them that it is not a problem – quite frankly we are not going out either and their completed returns would be a problem to mail to them -we can only put letter sized envelopes in our house mail box for pickup by the same postal employee who delivers to us, as when I tried to put larger envelopes in the clip – they fell inside the mailbox when I closed the front door of it (which they were clipped to). So I have two 6inch by 9 inch envelopes sitting in the house until we feel safe enough to go to a mail collection box and send them out.
I have a dear friend who is also a client and had not filed her 2016 return (her husband was ill and they had also moved) and that was a priority for me to get finished and out. I knew she would be getting a refund and if returns are not filed within 3 years of their due date one loses their refund and I did not want that to happen to her. I kept reminding her by email and telephone – but suddenly it was this past Saturday and I still not have her information – too late to mail the return to her even in the best of the times as she lives out of state (which is where she moved). My husband caught her on Facebook Saturday night and reminded her. I received her information on Sunday and did her return and emailed it back to her with specific instructions – in my panic and excitement to get the returns to her – I sent the wrong version of her Federal return – it was blank! She telephoned me and the correct one was emailed to her on Monday. Another client had her info to me earlier in March and her state was not extending the time for her to pay her taxes, so I finished it and mailed it to her back then.
I managed to fix some errors in our corporation's last year return, when I was going through the “do everything wrong and redo it no matter how I tried” period. It is ready to go out when we go out to mail larger items again. I am now doing this year's return for same. Next I will start ours. All will sit and wait for us to go out again.
We actually had a problem with the mail which goes to our PO Box – most of our mail does as we have problems with mail delivery at our house. We had put in to have it forwarded to us as March 31. Nothing has arrived which has been forwarded. I called the Post Office on Monday and was told that since our box is in our business's name only mail from same has been forwarded as there is no way to say to forward all from a business box. Husband started crying – the employee heard him and said she would put what she has in an envelope and mail it to us – it came the next day. She said we could call again in a couple of weeks and make arrangements to pay the postage and have same done again. What does confuse me is two things. If a company moves should not all the mail addressed to the employees of the company, even if the company is not listed in the address be forwarded also? And on the USPS website it says that if a business puts in a forward all will be forwarded to the business and the business is responsible for getting it to those who receive mail through them – doesn't that mean it should all be forwarded to us? Well, we got the large, full envelope and I will get to take them out of the sealed plastic bag that I put them in, this Friday as we cannot wait a full week for 2 week old mail to be opened. The community where our mail goes (just north of where we live) had over 4 times the number of virus cases as does our community so it really scares husband to go to the Post Office, even late night on Sunday nights as we had been going. When life is normal again we will find out how to change the box from our business name to our names so next time we can specify “all for address” if God forbid we ever have to do this again.
We also had to deal with a bad storm this week – heavy rain and huge winds. Not as bad as those of you who got hit tornadoes, and we were lucky and only lost our electricity for a few seconds. Husband was terrified, as he always is, of losing our electricity, as to do so would result in the loss of much of our food. I moved everything from the kitchen refrigerator's freezer to our spare small freezer in the basement and turned that one to the coldest it goes and added some frozen plastic “ice” also. Our logic was the larger the amount of frozen items in a confined space, the better the cold would keep if we lost electricity. I also found out that we still have some Thanksgiving leftovers – more food, which we did not remember we had, a dinner for one of us.
How are all of you faring in lock down – or are a some of you in areas which have not been hit enough to have stay home? I would love to hear from any or all of you – and I am sure that others would like to hear how people are getting by and coping.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
We are another week along and closer to being able to go out again. In our state and our local area they say we are now at the point where the number of new cases and hospital admissions are both going down – more people are now leaving the hospitals than being admitted. My original guess when the area was hit was mid to late May before we could go out. I hope I guessed right.
My best wishes for you and yours to remain healthy – or to safely return to good health.
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