It's the little things that get you when life changes. In the past I have never had to worry about my mail because there was always someone around to pick it up for me. But this weekend I am taking several family members on a trip. Anyone else is not going to be around this weekend. So I won't be able to pick up my mail Friday or Saturday evening, and probably not Monday before the mailman delivers then as well.

How many days do you let your mail go before having the post office hold it? Seems like a lot of hassle for only a couple of days. But I don't want it all piling up, either.

I travel regularly and only have my mom come over twice a week when i am on a lengthy trip. Unless I know a package is being delivered I wouldn't worry about it. Do you live in a shady area of town where you need to worry about mailbox theft

I believe the USPS minimum is 3 days to hold mail. If I am gone that long, I would have my mail held. It is very easy to do online. I could hold my mail in the time it takes to make this post.

While its not a hassle to have your mail held (you can do it online in a few seconds) I get so little real mail anymore that a long weekend is fine.

Most of what lands in my physical mailbox nowadays is junk so I don't sweat letting it go for a week at a time while traveling. Bank statements, credit card statements, utility bills, etc. I have largely set up to go paperless. I view and pay them online, and keep a spreadsheet of them so I know when statements cycle and payments are due.

Edited to add: As a bonus we just recently installed a locking mailbox (Post Office approved) nearly 2x larger than the previous one. Given our current rate of mail (reduced because of paperless statements/payments as noted above) it can hold upwards of 2 weeks of deliveries. The only time we care to make special arrangements is when we're expecting a package in the mail while out. Though that's rare because we attempt to schedule orders to avoid that.

Locked mailboxes are a godsend. Also, with Informed Delivery, you can keep track of if something important is sitting in your mailbox.

No need for a hold! Besides, as most things are now done paperless, the vast majority of my mail is literally junk

My local post office is literally ranked as one of the worst in my city. I've never had them hold my mail. When I've been out of town, I've always had a friendly neighbor pick up my mail once a week. Sometimes it's a pile. Sometimes it's like 3 pieces of junk.

However, recently I was out of town for a couple weeks and asked my partner to pick up my mail. They completely forgot about it. My mailbox was absolutely stuffed when I got back. There was even a t-shirt in there. And yet the post office still kept delivering.

6 months. Letterbox was half full when I got back (box is 8 x 8 x 12 in). Mostly junk mail (some **** removed the "no spam" sticker). Most of my bills are sent electronically. Quicker and easier to store.

I'm thoroughly unimpressed with my local postal service, too. I'm on a training route, and the quality of the trainees that cycle through it is sometimes very poor. I frequently get misaddressed mail-- like not just mail addressed to my neighbor (which happens on average once a week) but also mail addressed to someone who lives a few blocks away. It's ridiculous. In addition the postal center mishandled half or more of the temporary-hold requests I submitted. Basically I stopped trusting USPS with anything sensitive years ago. That was my major driver for switching my important financial accounts to paperless years ago and why I'm happy to let the junkmail pile up in my box today.

Second this. I use informed delivery, if nothing that matters shows up I don't bother to go to the mailbox. I've let it build up 3 or 4 days despite being here.

Months at a time. There's very little (if anything) that needs to be dealt with that couldn't be handled electronically some other way.

I only just discovered this feature, and it's great!

My carrier has a problem with failing to leave packages that should be left (i.e. don't have a signature requirement, and in some cases fit in the mailbox), and leaves a little note instead, and then the package goes missing for a few days- not delivered, not at the post office. At least now I can tell in the morning what I'm supposed to be getting.

Me too. Most I get at home is junk. Packages are delivered to my office, where they can wait while I'm away. If more than a few weeks of travel, I put the newspapers on hold and that's it .

For the few things I care about, I use my office address. That way, if something important arrives, I can have my assistant PDF it to me. Anything in my home mailbox is junk. I use the online hold feature just so that it does not accumulate.