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When my mom went to a residential home care facility this past December from a corporate Assisted Living facility, we found out that her address could not be forwarded to a home address from a business address. Even met with the postmaster who knew exactly the facility we were talking about and said there is nothing he can do about it. So apparently from now to eternity any mail we could not get forwarded or may not even know about will go to her old facility and we will have to hope they will forward on forever. We would have got her a P.O. Box or had all her mail come to my home if we had been told about this. It has been a huge problem, especially during tax season trying to get her financial statements to prepare her taxes. So be sure to ask about what their mail forwarding practices are before move-in. We could have avoided this so easily if we just knew to ask.

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Assuming freqflyer knows that assisted living mail goes to the building and not to the individual and that staff sort it. So they have to hand it to the resident or put it in the residnts room in order that it is secured. Is it ok to put it in unsecured slot boxes in a public area?
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SoCalGal, thanks for the heads up on that.... never had given it a second thought but it does make sense why it can't be done.

As we know the postal workers sort the mail at the post office before it is placed on the trucks according to address.... an assistant living/nursing home, it goes to the *building* not to individual locked mailboxes like at an apartment building. Within the assistant living/nursing home the mail go to whomever sorts out the mail within the building, no different than a hospital.

Therefore, if someone moves out, there is no way the post office can redirect that mail automatically with a *moved* sticker within the post office because there is no slot in the post office sorting room for that patient only the *building*.... it can only be done at the assistant living/nursing home when time permits.

When and if the time comes for my parent(s) to go into assistant living/nursing home, I think I will have their mail forwarded from their house over to my house to avoid such complications. And if relatives want to send greeting cards, then use the assistant living/nursing home address.
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With regard to the tax documents and other important correspondence (bank statements, insurance bills, legacy property documents... nothing should keep you from updating her mailing address with those organizations. Everyone should be able to change their address of record with a legitimate organization. It might be easy to provide the old assisted living facility with a supply of mailing address labels that would indicate "Moved to:" and include the forwarding address in accurate legible convenience. Just a thought.
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Great investigating, Pam! Hmm, sounds like this could happen to others then, even though he said it was just an issue with her facility. Just wish they would have let us know before moving in as it was all preventable. Perhaps I should try the federal postmaster, there is an address given. I have tried to change it online, I have spoke with my local post office who said it was impossible, and then spoke with the postmaster in my mother's town face-to-face who said it was impossible. I don't see a head postmaster for our state, but perhaps Washington, D.C. Just ridiculous the things we go through, and this was one I never saw coming that has been a huge and potentially continuous headache.
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A change of address may not be filed with the USPS for an individual’s mail addressed to an organization, or to the individual at his or her place of employment, business, or other affiliation either during or after the termination of the employment, business, or other relationship.
This is meant to keep employees from redirecting mail after they are terminated. It was never intended to hold up grandma's mail. Take it higher up the food chain until you get the right answer.
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