Mail? Phone?

Is there anyone on here that stays in Sint Maarten for extended periods of time? Longer than 30 days. We'll be staying around 35 days. What do you do for your mail, bills, etc? I have most on auto pay, but some won't do that. Important mail?
What do most do for phone on the island? We've never really used our phone on the island, but for that long we will need to do something with a program.
Thanks.

You would be home before you got your mail !!

Have a trusted friend pick up "held mail" at Post Office once a week and notify you of important mail. They could then email it. No way to get mail forwarded to SXM. Keep your phone on airplane mode and call using wi fi.

I have stayed up to 30 days. The only mail I worry about during that time is bills that might need to be paid. Before traveling, I make a list of any bills that may come in while gone. I then develop a plan to pay each. I use my bank to pay most bills over the internet so I can pay most remotely. And many bills I can access over the internet. Takes a little time but gives me peace of mind.

It all makes sense. I was just making sure I wasn't forgetting to do something.

You can also sihn up with USPS for them to email you each morning a copy of mail that has been received. you could then use this to remind yourself what needs to be paid

I have Verizon service and when I arrive to SXM, I turn off the airplane mode and just turn off my cellular data. Then I can receive important calls and messages. No charge for unanswered calls, so I return them on Wifi calls or FaceTime. The charge for incoming text messages is 5 cents. For a 3 week stay, my bill has always been less than $20.

No help on the mail... I know they offer the free service to email what they are holding, but not sure that would be a big help if you couldn't open it. We have all the bills that we can put to autopay so we don't have much that isn't automatic these days.

Since you can only hold it for max 30 days have someone pick it up on day 30 and start a new Hold Mail request. You can always find out balances before you leave and prepay/overpay some of the ones not on Auto Pay.

Appoint a trusted relative or your bank as limited POA to handle that for you. Some bank trust departments will do that, for a fee...

we use "paperless billing" for all our monthly bills, so we don't receive any bills by normal mail...and although we make all payments online, i usually prefer not to use auto-pay

We pay all our bills electronically except for the snow removal service that I pay when I get home. As far as the mail is concerned Scuba is correct that you can only do an online hold for 30 days. I make a special trip to the post office to get approval for a longer period (up to 90 days or more) and then I communicate with our long time carrier as to the exact date I’m coming home or whether I need to extend further. It pays to get to know your carrier. I give him a nice tip around Christmas in appreciation for his service.

I keep the phone on airplane mode and use WhatsApp on WiFi. And sometimes Skype if my contact is not on WhatsApp. I tried a SIM card with local service but found I was topping up all the time. The place where I stay and all my favorite bars have WiFi.

You didn't ask about it, but make sure you have enough prescription meds. You might have trouble getting a refill in SXM if you run out. Talk to your insurance company if the pharmacy doesn't fill more than a 30 day supply. Personally I have cholesterol meds, high blood pressure meds, and eye drops all of which I take daily so I would have to make sure I had enough to last.

You can easily refill those meds here if you carry the container with your script on it. Now if I go to the US with mine, they would laugh in my face.

Elaine, would they refill if the prescription indicates zero refills? My BP prescription is always 90 days with zero refills.

I don't take any meds, at least up until now I don't. So, I guess I'm kind of lucky.

While the post office says they will hold mail for only 30 days, the "hold mail request card" also says they won't resume delivery service until mail has been picked up. I have routinely stayed more than 30 days; I think this last trip was 36 days. USPS has put themselves in a bind. They won't hold beyond 30 days but they won't resume delivery until you pick up. So . . . they continue to hold. They have never said anything when I go to pick up.

As far as bills go, I have everything on auto pay except for my Visa bills. I pay those over the internet when I am on island.

If I have meds that expire, I contact the insurance company prior to departure and request a "vacation exception" and pick up refills before I go. I did once have to get a refill of one while on island, and Simpson Bay Pharmacy couldn't have been more accommodating. I asked for just enough to tide me over until I was back home.

Thanks BillandElaine for that info. Wondering if the Insurance would cover the Pharmacy in SXM? My insurance doesn't cover all the pharmacies in my area, so I would have to check with them to see if they would allow someone in SXM to refill..

Thanks to all for the info. It is very informative. I guess that is what information is, informative.

Re: the "30 day mail hold " Every year for the past several years we have stayed longer than 30 days. No comments from PO at pickup. I don' think the PO keeps track of days.

We always have the mail delivered after our hold mail experation date. One of the options we do on line.

Linda and others--I have never tried to have my mail held for over 30 days, but when I do a mail hold, I do it online. Just curious, do you do an actual physical CARD, or do to do it online? I wonder if you try to do it online, whether the computer would not allow you to do over 30 days? Just curious.

With regard to prescriptions, we have done that numerous times, just informed the pharmacy that our meds would run out before we return to the country, and never had a problem getting more meds.

We do ours online, do a card as backup and talk directly to our postal delivery person.

My biggest problem is that when I do it online, almost always they still deliver until I call and remind them. This time I went to the PO and physically told them to hold. I saw on camera that one day a mail carrier came and put in my mail, walked 10 steps and turned around and came and took it back out. Interesting.
But this time, none was actually delivered to my mailbox. I guess I need to talk to my delivery person if I can see him for this trip to make sure. At least I can check on my cameras to make sure it doesn't get delivered. If it does, I have my neighbor come and get it.

Tim, they are pretty good, so long as it's NOT narcotics and a few special others I expect. My scripts here actually never say how many refills. My BP med is a script given to me years ago and I just take an empty box to the pharmacy. Original script was written in US. My family doctor here gives me a check up every year and we haven't had to change it yet.

Scotty--Interesting. I don't have a camera view, but I've only ever done it online and never called and reminded them to not deliver. Always when we come home, our mail is in the box with a rubber band around it, and a printed out copy of our mail hold request attached.

Can't help with insurance as we have global so we are reimbursed. I find the meds quite reasonable. My BP meds are just under $20 a month so if you're stuck, it's a decent option.

If you are concerned, take Linda's advise and arrange for "vacation" meds prior to travel.

I think you would find the cost significantly less than in the US and quite possibly not worth getting insurance to cover it.

When we first started doing more than 30 days I held mail with computer message. When mail kept getting delivered I asked a friend to inquire at PO. He was told "Oh, we don't pay attention to that." Since then I have always put yellow card in mailbox. That way carrier also knows mail is being held.

Interesting. The computer hold has always worked for us.

I used to leave the yellow "stop mail" card at the post office. I have since found it much more reliable to leave it in my mailbox. My carrier likes when I leave two copies as they use one at the post office (for the container where my mail is collected) and the other they leave in my mailbox so when there is a substitute carrier, they see my mail is being held.

In addition to stopping the mail at the post office because the hold is over 30 my carrier told me to duct tape my mail box closed in the event of a substitute. Kind of messed up my mailbox when I took it off.

It's sad when we have to resort to backup methods to make sure directions are followed.

My parents usually handle mail for me. They collect any important mail and keep it safe until I return. And most of my bills are on auto-pay.
As for phones, I rent a private number from AnonymSMS if the country where I go doesn't have local eSIMs. This allows me to receive SMS codes for banking and account verification.