You’ve got mail. Or maybe not.

Two popular mail forwarding services have gone out of business and their former clients are scrambling for replacements.

MyDakotaAddress, in Madison SD, is ceasing operations, effective immediately. They’ve stopped accepting mail delivery from the Postal Service. So if you’re awaiting an important delivery, who knows where it might be or how you could receive it. And those using MyDakotaAddress's address for South Dakota residency are screwed.

MyDakotaAddress did a terrible job notifying their clients. Some still haven’t received official notice and only learned about it on various nomad and RV forums. The suddenness, and the slipshod way they told their clients, suggests some sort of big trouble. Or big incompetence.

J&B Mailroom, of Pahrump NV, gave more warning. It was known for a while the owner was terminally ill. What wasn’t known was whether someone else would take over the business. Now we know both the owner and business have died. Condolences to the family, and sympathy for former customers.

Although we nomads like to be as independent as possible, mail forwarding is something most of us need. A few have friends or relatives handling that chore, but most of us use a service, and those services are small businesses—sometimes just one person and a part-time assistant. While the small forwarders can give more personalized service at a lower price, they’re at greater risk of things going south.

My forwarder—which I’m in the process of abandoning—is a decent sized operation. I just don’t like them as people. So I’m switching to a mom & pop outfit in a different state and crossing my fingers they’ll be around for a while. And that they’ll give plenty of advanced warning if things change.