The U.S. Postal Service's Snowbird Reship Program is a little known service for those moving to a temporary address and want to be sure all of their mail is forwarded to them. Subscribers must sign up and pay for the extra postage required for the Snowbird service. While the more familiar Change of Address service is provided without extra charge, one may want to consider paying for the Snowbird Reship Program for this reason—mail sent by the University, many businesses, and agencies such as the IRS is often labeled "Return
Service Requested." Such mail is sometimes not forwarded to a temporary new address, but is returned to the sender with a notification that the addressee is “temporarily away”. No forwarding address is provided to the sender. Also, forwarding Change of Address cards are now only good for six months.

How does the snowbird reship program work? One must go to the Post Office and fill out USPS form SRP1 that asks for both permanent and temporary addresses, starting and ending dates, etc. The postal personnel will then save mail for bundling and re-mailing to the temporary address.  All forwarded mail is sent Priority Mail once a week, on Wednesday. An enrollment fee of $10.00 is charged and the customer must pay $11.95 /week in advance.

• Many hotels and motels offer discounts to employees of state and local government agencies even when they are not traveling on business. It's often the best discount they offer, even better than AAA and AARP. Simply ask if they offer a "state and local government discount."  A valid University of Iowa ID card will be needed to obtain the discount.