Mailing Services, Strategies For Living Over The Road

I am planning on starting my CDL training in late April or May with a company here in Florida. I can't see any point in continuing to pay ridiculous Orlando area rent for an apartment that I will barely see. I would rather put that money away towards a down payment on a house. I could always use my folk's home address in San Antonio but figured things would be much less complicated keeping my residence here in Florida (using a mailing service) at least for the short term while going through training and getting underway. My plan is to schedule my orientation a couple weeks before my lease expires and leave Orlando for good at that point.

I ask the following questions as I have read that some here are basically living out of the truck as I am planning to doing for a while. Is it possible to use a mailing service as an address for your CDL? I have heard of some using Escapees RV service for this sort of thing on other sites and wanted to know what services or arrangements members here are using for their addresses. I appreciate any advice.

Thanks,

-Don

When I was OTR (before I moved out) I just left the mailing address at my parents, and if anything that looked important I'd ask them to open it and double check.

If you're paranoid about that I presume acquiring a PO box wouldn't be too terribly difficult.

What company are you working with? If they're large enough you could get a box (or any other flavor of mailing address) in basically any large city.

This is something I bring up and no one wants to believe it due to inconvenience.. .but here it goes in writing.

It is actually illegal to use a mailing service as a "residential address". By both state and federal law, you must provide proof of residency... Meaning a place in which you live. A place zoned as a residential zone. Domicile...dwelling..residence. Whatever the wording... It is the place in which you live and sleep.

You can legally use a mailing service or PO as a mailing address but need a true residence as a residential address. The FL statues states it is a nonmoving violation to move and not have a permanent residence listed.

This is from Michigan.gov. go to any state and you will find the same. Look at the Real ID act and you will see proof of address requirements. A license is a privilege not a right and can be taken away if the law is not followed. It would be best to use your parents address even if using a PO for mailing. My company mail boxes at my terminal. I used Michigan because it is more clearly stated than others.

What company are you working with? If they're large enough you could get a box (or any other flavor of mailing address) in basically any large city.

It is looking like it will probably be Cypress Trucking. I applied last year and was accepted and got a prehire , but delayed it a year with all of the uncertainty about the pandemic.

Thank you for the information Kersey. It looks like the Michigan law is very clear cut on what they mean with regards to residence. The Florida laws however are ambiguous and don't specify residence as clearly as Michigan does. The Florida statutes state that it is a moving violation to not update your address within 30 days of moving but they don't specify what constitutes an actual address. The Escapees RV Club website and conversations with them indicate that their service does serve as an actual legal physical address in Florida which you can use to establish residency and obtain a FL DL etc. It seems that Florida and TX are very popular places for mailing services that also offer a domicile. This of course is due in part to no state tax, though several other states do not have state income taxes. I think one of the reasons Florida is especially popular is that the official residence definition is ambiguous from what I have seen.

In light of what Kearsey said, just to avoid the hassle, and since you're dead set on not keeping the apartment in Florida... I'd just use your parent's place. I don't like monkeying around with laws though and so unless I really need to see something happen I don't go looking for legal cracks.

Shoot, anybody needs an address for mail, let me know.

In light of what Kearsey said, just to avoid the hassle, and since you're dead set on not keeping the apartment in Florida... I'd just use your parent's place. I don't like monkeying around with laws though and so unless I really need to see something happen I don't go looking for legal cracks.

As you mentioned it would probably be best to use my parents house as my permanent address. The transition seems like it would be a hassle either way though. As Cypress has terminals, a training center in Abilene and is hiring out of TX it seems I could start training in either state. It leaves the question of whether it would be best start in FL or TX.

I could get my CDL learner's permit in FL, go to training here in Florida, get a Florida CDL then transfer everything over. Or I could do the same in TX, except doing the residency transfer before going into training. It seems like starting in TX would be the best route but there is the downside of some unemployed time with no income while working on getting a DL and CDL learner's before being able to go into paid training.

Contact Good Sams Mail Service. You can obtain their service for mail, their address is a legal address for the state of Florida for DL and vehicle registration. Their address is Crestview, Fl. and you pay a yearly fee around $194 year and keep a small balance for mail services. They email you when you receive mail and will forward to any address that you specify, you can view the envelope online to see who it is, they will shred all junk mail and any mail that you do not want. I know for sure because when my wife and I went full time rving we had nowhere to call home or an address to use as a base. We signed up and it works just fine.

Contact Good Sams Mail Service.

I will definitely take a look at them, thanks for the info Navy.

I know for sure because when my wife and I went full time rving we had nowhere to call home or an address to use as a base. We signed up and it works just fine.

Yeah, if things go the way I am planning I will find myself in the same situation in a bit here. Although TX is where I am probably going to wind up, one of these services could help save some cash and hassles in the short term.