Over the past few months I’ve had 4 people complain to me about having to switch their email address.

Of course, they sent out an email:

“Everybody,	(obviously this is an email that “everybody” wants to get/see/deal with)
We had to switch from AOL	(why the heck were you using AOL in the first place)
to MSN	(NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!)
so our email address is changing.	(Why? Why does your email address change when you switch ISP’s?…That’s retarded.)
Please update your address book	(Yeah Right!)
to our new email address:
SomeOldFolks@msn.com
Thanks,
Grandma and Grandpa”

I’ve never once updated my address book from receiving an email like this.

Seriously people. Just because someone tells you that your “new email address is SomeOldFolks@msn.com” doesn’t mean you have to use it.

Nor do you have to go around for the next month complaining to everyone about how bad it is to switch your email address, all the while you’re just setting yourself up to have the same problem again.

You’re just asking to go through this “nightmare” of changing your email address again by using your ISP’s email address.

Stop using your ISP’s email address!

Here is the proper solution to having to change your email address:

1. Open up a Gmail account (Even yahoo mail will work). The point is to get a permanent email address that won’t ever HAVE to change.
2. Don’t email everyone about it.
3. Save yourself the headache and pay for your old service for one more month and forward your old email address to your new one for that month. You’ll still get all your emails from your old account, and as you reply from your new account, people’s address books will get automatically updated.
4. Start sending all emails from your new email address.

Voila!

Problem Solved.

Now you never have to go through the “nightmare” of changing your email address again.

If you do have to change it again, you don’t have to tell everyone. All you do is forward your gmail (or yahoo) email address to your new one.

People’s address books will get updated automatically.

Besides, if some people do lose your email address, it’s probably a good thing. One fewer thing to deal with.

Aren’t we all sick of email anyway!

If they really need to contact you, they’ll call (unless you just changed your phone number too…in which case you’re really, really lucky and you can actually start living your life, instead of living technologies life).