One of the challenges of selling almost all your worldly possessions and living life on the road is the surprising number of places that insist you need a “legal” address. This cannot be a post office box, despite the amount and type of identification it took to get one. Most of the reasons seem to revolve around the collection of local taxes — some local municipality/state somewhere wants their cut.
The original plan was to receive any monies through various forms of electronic payment — Zelle, Paypal, or Venmo, and to receive and pay all bills electronically. This has mostly worked, though I discovered a few hold-outs for physical bills. Mostly department stores that I don’t need to shop at while living on the road, and utility companies that I’m settling with by the end of August. I thought a PO Box would cover the miscellaneous rest.
As a solution, Jan has offered to let me use his home in Tennessee as a permanent address. But since he’s trying to sell his place, that doesn’t make it an attractive long-term choice. I also don’t want to impose on friends in Chicago, though I’m sure one or two would be okay with it for a while.
Anyway, a lack of physical address is one problem I had not considered when we first hatched this plan a few months ago. I did some recent searches on the topic and came upon this post from someone who’s on a similar journey. I’m not sure how current the information is, but the problems sound awfully familiar. They have some suggestions about companies that offer a permanent legal address beyond the PO Box.
For those who are curious, the places that insist you have a legal address are investment companies like Fidelity, banks, and voter registration. If you want to renew official documents like a driver’s license or get health insurance, you have to have an official answer to the question of where you live. This especially makes sense as there are tax implications and coverage options vary by state. For those places that have insisted, I’ve used the physical address of the post office (which they gave me for deliveries) and that has worked for the moment. It’s a sop until I figure out the thorny answer to this unexpected question.
How have others handled this? If you’re living on the road, let us know! Thanks!