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Comment by Aachen | Hacker News Reader

This looks like a snail mail forwarding service? Surely that's not mandatory to move somewhere else? I've never used this in Europe (moved 5 times), just tell the places that need to send me physical mail my new address

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Not mandatory, though it is nice because USPS also notifies the sender of your updated address and then most places automatically update the address so you don't have to. The main work you actually have to do is closing/opening new utility accounts and possibly update your drivers license/vehicle registration.

It's not mandatory as far as ... nobody is going to let you move.

It does mean that you'll get your old mail delivered to your old place forwarded to your new place while the other folks mailing you get their ducks in a row. And honestly I can't think of all the places that might mail me.

Yeah I thought the topic was things you have to do to move, like registering in the new city and notifying the old country or so

Yeah I agree. But my point being it is a pretty tangential thing and also the first thing you think of in the US. The scale of "have to do" is really low, to the point that you start with something pretty easy and that's largely it as far as "official" moving activity.

You can't use 'just' when the thing you're suggesting is more work.

But works. The post already doesn't sort a decent percentage of stuff correctly as it is, I'd never trust it to correctly identify which mail needs to go to me when some senders may put the first name, others the last name, others my name, others my partner's name, others including the cat's name as a joke, and others not including a name at all. The sender also needs to send something in the right timespan (before you stop ordering the service) in order to get your new address. This is also assuming nobody in your household shares a first or last name with the new inhabitants

Compared to what seems like a big mess of telling only the post and hoping everyone will get the memo from them, telling the utility, my employer, family, and a few insurances that I moved (updating the info on the self-service site or sending support an email) seems like the better solution to me

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