How To: Change Your Mailing Address

If you're preparing to move, without a doubt one thing on your to-do list is changing your mailing address with the USPS. Here, we've compiled the very basics.

There are three ways to request a change of address: online ($1 fee), by telephone (1-800-275-8777) ($1 fee), or by mailing in a form (free).

Change of address forms can be picked up at the post office. Alternatively, they can be printed from the USPS website. Simply fill out the prompts as if you are changing your address online then choose to print out the form once your info is entered.

A single request can be completed if everyone in your household shares a last name and everyone's moving to the same address. If you have different last names, an individual request must be completed for each person. This goes for maiden names, household members with different last names, or households where not everyone is moving to the same place.

You should receive a confirmation letter at your new address within 7-10 business days of receipt of your request. The letter will show your old address and new one. Review it for accuracy and contact the USPS at 1-800-275-8777 if there are any discrepancies.

If you don't receive a confirmation letter within the 7-10 business day period, you can check the status of your address change with the USPS by calling 1-800-275-8777 or emailing.

There's a large FAQ at the USPS website (over 300 questions!) if you need more information. However, we thought this simple outline would be helpful and quick to use for the great majority of people who are moving.

(Image: via Writing Under a Pseudonym)

Comments (17)

Man... I hate Canada Post. USPS doesn't charge a dime for a year of forwarding services - in Canada, aside from the extravagant shipping rates we have to pay, we get charged $39 for routing services - and it only lasts 6 months!

I wish the couple who used to live in my place had known how to do this properly. I still continue to get some of their mail, and we're talking insurance bills, credit card bills, etc!!

As a professional nomad, I can testify to the importance of doing a change of address in a timely way. I have moved nine times in the past fifteen years.

Yes, do a change of address with USPS as soon as you have a new address. But you can help the process enormously by doing many things yourself, especially magazines, professional journals, newsletters.

As soon as I know I'm moving, even if I don't have a new addresses yet---I cancel all my mail-order catalogs. That takes a huge burden off the post office.

And while it seems silly to mention it, don't forget about property you may own but not live on---all those taxing entities want to be up to date on your whereabouts.

Last and most important: your credit cards! Credit card companies are extremely careful now (finally), about addresses and charges. At your worst hour of need, you don't want your credit card denied because you forget to put in a change of address in a timely way.

Good post on, umm, filling out a form at the Post Office. Another helpful strategy given that forwarding can add up to 3 weeks to the delivery of a letter is to collect your mail for a month and sit down on the web and update the addresses that are necessary (if not the web , the Post Office provides free address change postcards).

Just remember to change all the names you use. Not only do my husband and I have different last names but I also use a nickname of my legal name, so I made changes for both. Never trust that the USPS will know that Dick is a nickname for Richard, or some such. It is insulting that they charge you $1, but whatever...

Tip: the USPS only sorts by the first 4 letters of your first name, so if you're moving away from home and have a sibling or parent that share those, good luck! I had such a massive hassle after moving into my first post-college place because my dad's name is Michael and mine is Michelle. So of course the best bet is to change change change everything yourself as soon as possible!!

good tip on collecting mail for address changes, Boraxics!

When my husband (boyfriend at the time) moved in with me, he changed his address with the USPS and sure, our mailman started delivering his mail to the new address...but he also stopped delivering MY mail! He thought that my boyfriend had moved in and I had moved out! We rectified the situation but I think a few pieces of mail were lost. Sidebar note: The USPS is a farce. They lose over a billion dollars a year and yet never go defunct.

Michpc, I had the same problem when I moved into my first apartment. My name is Jamie and my dad's name is James... I started getting all my dad's bills (and only really junk mail for me, since I officially changed my address at the bank and such). And then *I* couldn't cancel the forwarding for some reason, so my dad had to go down to his post office and cancel it.

Anyway, you really should change your address with as many sources of your mail as you can, and not rely on the post office to do it.

The USPS is a farce. They lose over a billion dollars a year and yet never go defunct.

hey good one CallDoctorBison lets put 600,000 plus hardworking postal employees out of work, I mean forget that fact that they are among the largest employers of veterans in the nation.

I'm grateful they are around to give us veterans a good paying job after leaving the sand pits. Do your change of address in a timely manner if you feel they have not handled your mail correctly speak to a manager but don't take all your frustrations out on the rest of the Postal Service, they work really hard to deliver everyone's mail everyday, I know.

Oh, don't get me started on this one.

I've found the post office to be COMPLETELY incompetent. Though that's no surprise.

I requested my mailing address be changed on July 23rd, from one portion of the city I live in to another. Today, a full 2 weeks later, I haven't received a SINGLE piece of mail at the new address. I've called both the new and old post offices and am just told it takes 7-10 business days for it to be forwarded and to be patient.

HELLO?!! I moved within the SAME CITY. HOW can it take 7-10 business days for the incompetent USPS to process the forwarding?!!!!!

I changed by address recently when I moved within Manhattan. The "confirmation" letter was received at both addresses.... 10 days later not a single piece of mail was forwarded (luckily I changed most of them myself). After I called the post office and spoke to a woman I was told that she would look into it and call me back. 2 days later after no call I called her back. She said that the change request was NOT DONE BECAUSE MY CARRIER WAS ON VACATION. Umm, what kind of a backwards system is this. A week later and I finally got my mail.

I seriously hate the Post Office and can't wait for the day when it is dissolved by more modern technology.

The Post Office can never seem to match my billing address on any of my credit cards in order to process a change of address online or over the phone. Does this happen to anyone else? What is it about their system that can't match my address, when every other company on earth has no problem??

It's not hard to believe they're going bankrupt.

discomonkey, it's much the same in Australia. They charge you a fortune to forward your mail for only a short time, and you never get half of it anyway. I try to change it on things myself so less Australia Post forwarding is required, but there's always a few things that you forget.

A government operated agency that is bungled and bleeds money? Who'd a thunk it?!

It could be worse. We could live in Italy, where mail that's returned or "late" just gets burned.

Personally, I the USPS. Even though the employees are often obnoxious and irresponsible, they deliver an amazing volume of mail every day. I still get excited to check my mail!

I have moved a number of times and have found that the USPS sells new addresses they take from the address change forms. Filling out the USPS form is a guarantee of more junk mail.

You will get much less junk mail if you just take the time to notify companies/friends yourself of your new address.