Premium forwarding service has record first year
More than 105,000 customers have taken advantage of the U.S. Postal Service’s Premium Forwarding Service (PFS), that allows mail to be forwarded from a permanent to a temporary address for up to one year.
Available to all customers for a little more than a year, PFS exceeded its initial goal of 100,000 customers, and has found favor with “snow birds,” those who seek warmer climates during the winter, according to tracking data. The service is so popular, the data shows, that the number of new subscribers more than doubled in September (6,866) from the previous year (2,787).
PFS is a personalized service for sending all mail from a primary residential address to a temporary address using Priority Mail packages. Express Mail, First-Class Mail or Priority Mail packages too large to fit inside the Premium Forwarding Service package are rerouted separately at no additional charge. PFS is available only for domestic mail.
The service is designed for residential customers who want to receive all of their mail at a temporary address, including a Post Office Box, regardless of the distance. The average duration of the service is about six weeks.
With PFS, the Postal Service boxes and reships mail to a temporary address for customers who are away from their primary address for at least two weeks but not longer than one year.
“Americans are mobile and increasingly on the move,” said Nick Barranca, vice president, product development. “Premium Forwarding Service allows them to take a little piece of home along with them.”
Interested customers simply complete an application at the Post Office serving their primary address. Necessary information, including name, address of primary residence, temporary address, contact numbers and start and end dates is required. Premium Forwarding Service is temporary, but it does not replace the temporary or permanent Change-of-Address option or Hold Mail services. These services still are available at no charge.
“Convenience to the customer is key,” Barranca said. “Whatever your situation may be, the Postal Service has several convenient service options for handling your mail. You may be away from home, but that doesn’t mean your mail can’t be with you.”
There is a one-time fee of USD10 to start the service. Customers are charged USD10.40 weekly for the service.
Since 1775, the United States Postal Service and its predecessor, the Post Office Department, have connected friends, families, neighbors and businesses by mail. An independent federal agency that visits more than 144 million homes and businesses every day, the Postal Service is the only service provider delivering to every address in the nation. It receives no taxpayer dollars for routine operations, but derives its operating revenues solely from the sale of postage, products and services. With annual revenues of USD70 billion, it is the world’s leading provider of mailing and delivery services, offering some of the most affordable postage rates in the world. The U.S. Postal Service delivers more than 46 percent of the world’s mail volume-some 212 billion letters, advertisements, periodicals and packages a year-and serves ten million customers each day at its 37,000 retail locations nationwide.
