Houston - and the mail forwarding that won't happen

God bless all those souls in Houston and the surrounding countryside, downstream from all the rain that's falling.  What a mess.   

In the meantime, if you have your mail forwarding service as U.S. Global Mail, as we do, it's just north of I-10 and west of the 290, south of Jersey Village, in the NW Houston area. Next to the large park - which is usually synonymous with "flood plain we can't build on" - on the map.  And from what I can glean from the flood maps, it's now underwater. So, no mail forwarded for months, I think, from them - if they recover at all. Probably need to find another mail forwarding service - I think there's one that's good in like North Dakota? Any recommendations for other providers?

I'm with them too. Not ready to jump - l'd rather give them time to make sure their staff is safe and their homes livable. My mail can wait! If you have super urgent stuff it is a bit of an issue for sure - I don't think you can do a change of address away from a forwarder; you need to notify each sender individually. I think I remember that correctly


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From their website: Hurricane Harvey update, Aug 28th.

As you may be aware, Houston is severely affected by hurricane Harvey. Large parts of the city are flooded making it impossible for postal service, shipping companies and us to resume operations.

USGM offices are safe and team members are working from home to answer customer service emails. We are trying our best to minimize impact to service and will be headed to work as soon as it is safe and advised by city officials to do so. Once again, thank you for your patience and support and apologies for the inconvenience. We will keep you posted on new developments. Please know we are trying our best to resume service and operations as soon as possible. Thanks.


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Ah, glad to hear that!  Thanks for posting - I sent them an email earlier that has not been responded to, so I'm sure they've got a backlog.  I am not able to find that message on their website, but perhaps I'm just missing it.

Yes, you can't forward away from a forwarding service. But we are still within the original forwarding from our home address period, so I think we can change that forwarding from our home address to another forwarding service.  Unfortunately yes, I have items that we do need, while not urgently, much sooner than I think they'll have their business up and running. I can spare about two weeks, no more than that.  I would be extremely happy to hear that they are able to be functional by then. It looks like everyone's worst nightmare there, now!

I had found one in Florida, but got to thinking: Florida, Texas Gulf Coast, same problem at some point. There's the one in the upper midwest, but they have blizzards. Still, blizzards end and don't leave the office equipment destroyed. So...

Too soon to call it, but doing the legwork in advance. If anyone has a recommendation for another forwarder, that'd be great. Needs to be in a "no state income tax" state.

I wrote them and got this reply (redacting my real name):    Tyler Buchanan (US Global Mail)
Aug 29, 10:14 AM CST
Hi Xxxxx, 

Thank you for the kind words. It really means a lot!

The building is fine, thankfully!
Kind Regards,
Tyler
Customer Support Manager
US Global Mail - Your Personal Shipper


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Oh, that's good to hear!  There's still nothing up on their .com website that I can find, but if their plant is ok, once the mail can physically get in and out things will go back to normal. Maybe in a month... if nothing else happens... is my guess.

The website says this now:
Service interruption, Aug 30th

The aftermath of the massive storm Harvey that hit Houston is unbelievable with much of the city still inaccessible by road, thousands of people in shelters and power outages in many areas.

USGM offices and all your mail and packages are safe and secure with no damages. The power grid in our area is down, cutting off both electricity and internet. We are on backup generators and are working with skeleton crew to resume operations as soon as our internet is back up.

We understand it can be frustrating to not have access to y5our mail but please know we are doing everything in our power to get back up and running. The city has been devastated and many essential services are not operational.

Many thanks for your patience as we work through this unprecedented event.

I found it on the right hand side of the page after logging in.


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Thanks for posting.

In case you haven't seen:
Operations resumed, Aug 31st
USGM offices are open with all operations restored. Houston area airports are set to open today and Postal Service, UPS and FEDEX have resumed operations in some parts of houston.
Thankfully all of team usgm members, families and loved ones are safe. We are working to help our teammates with flooded homes and fellow Houstonians who are in need. If you have friends or family members that might need help in the Houston area, please let us know. We understand it can be hard being away from home at moments like this. We are here to help in any way we can, reach us at support@usglobalmail.com. We are here for you.



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Well, color me impressed as hell! Good on them!   

Well, color me impressed as hell! Good on them!   

Me too, I was looking for a service as we are leaving the U.S. for U.K.very soon, this response has convinced me these are the people to go with.