Changing your address is not the most challenging part of moving, but it is a tedious task compared to packing your belongings. Making sure everyone who needs your new address has gotten easier over time with online address forms, but remembering is the hard part. Whether you are moving locally or moving long-distance, you need to get your mail before you miss essential documents.
Changing your address has become a lot easier than running down to the post office and standing in line. Read over the following tips to make sure that when you move, your mail will be moving with you:
- In British Columbia, you can use the Address Change BC Service
- In Ontario use the Ontario Change Address Online service
- In Alberta, you may have to change your address in person. Find a Registry Agent here.
- If you are ok with the conventional way of changing your address, head down to the post office and take a minute to fill out the Canada Post service’s official change of address form
- The most important part of filling out the Canada Post service’s change of address card is including your old address and your new address. However, it’s also vital you remember to include the names of anyone else who is moving with you. If you only have your name, your husband/wife’s mail will not follow you.
- If you do not feel like waiting in line at the post office, you can have your mail forwarded from the comfort of your computer by completing a short form at the Canada Post services address change webpage.
- Think you are done? Sorry, nothing involving official government documents is ever that easy. Turning in your change of address form to the post office only means that your mail will be forwarded for a limited time. First-class mail – letters and such – are forwarded for one year. Periodicals – newspapers and magazines – are only delivered for 60 days. After the forwarding period expires, anything that arrives for you will either be sent to the post office’s dead-letter room or stay with whoever’s moved into your old place.
- If you are a college student moving away from school (either for the summer or for good), check with the campus mail service to see their mail forwarding policies. Colleges and universities have their delivery systems, separate from the post office, and usually their forwarding policies.
- To keep receiving your mail after the Canada Post service stops forwarding it, you need to send out change of address cards to everyone you do business with. These change of address cards are available at the post office for free.
- Most of the bills you receive, like home utilities, credit card bills, and your insurance carrier, have a section where you can update your address information. If that takes too much time, sign on to your account online and change the address in your settings. Take advantage of it, and you will save yourself a little trouble down the road.
Keeping track of whom you’ve given your new address to and who still needs it can get pretty confusing pretty quickly. Make a checklist of all the companies that need your address (don’t forget the CRA) and all the friends and relatives you want to keep in touch with before you start mailing anything out. Keep your change of address checklist after you’ve moved into your new home, so if a few months down the road you cannot find your current phone bill, you will know exactly why.
