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mail/shipping

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joband
  7/27/2014 09:51 EST

I have seen shipping mentioned as being very expensive and I presume that is referring to the shipment of large items rather than smaller items being "shipped" by post or parcel post such as from Amazon or other.

Is this the case or is any parcel shipped via US/CA/Guatemala post expensive-much-more so than "anywhere"? Do they also go through a customs? How much time would this add?
Thanx.

bajasur
  7/27/2014 10:29 EST

I order from Amazon through my mail forwarding service service in Miami. Normal shipping costs to Miami. The last order I had was valued at $56. I paid about Q200 for shipping from Miami and Customs. They take care of all that stuff. Shipping time to Miami is normal Amazon 4-5 days then another 6-7 days to get to the Antigua office of the shipping company.

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joband
  7/27/2014 10:59 EST

When you say "shipping" are you talking about MAIL via a regular postal service or a courier type.
This is where the conversation and information gets confusing as "shipping" is a term used for regular post as well as a courier/shipper.
Antigua office of the "shipping" ?? company?? is that Guatemala mail or some shipper< like >Fedex or UPS?

Does Amazon not "ship/mail" directly to Guatemala?

bajasur
  7/27/2014 11:07 EST

ok, I use a mail forwarding service for my regular mail, letters, etc. and packages from family and Amazon. I have two addresses with the company. One for letters, a PO Box, and one for packages, a street address because Amazon and others won't ship to a PO Box. They are both used for "regular" post just like at your home. This company is a mail forwarding company, make sense? They have an office here in Antigua and my mail, packages are forwarded from my Miami address then on to Antigua. Many products on Amazon are "shipping only to US address".

busman7
  7/27/2014 20:23 EST

I have found that courier charges for letters are about 1/2 the cost from El Salvador to Canada via DHL (income tax return I wanted a signature when received) than FedEx charge to courier a letter (didn't want to chance it getting lost in mail) from Canada.

As lots of companies will not deliver outside the US/Canada I have a US virtual mail address for my US bank for OAS/CPP bank direct deposit and another Canadian one for Canadian mail.

DRThomas
  7/27/2014 22:29 EST

Which services are you fellas using? I'm in Antigua. My complaint with Traelo Ya is that "office hours" is a concept that has not caught on well. Just because you get there when the office is supposed to be open does not mean that it is actually open. Aero Casillas does a decent job, but it buries you under email notifications. It will advise you that a pacage is ready for pick-up, but it's not. Apparently the notification is being sent from Guatemala City where nobody has thought of contacting the clent when the package has arrived in in Antigua. As I recall, a problem arises with both when a seller does not use a tracking number and does not include an invoice. (This is a common problem with Ebay purchases from the small internet business that commonly ignore requests for enclosed invoices/receipts.) Customs wants to know how much you paid. The courier service describes the package to you by the name of the shipper and the contents. Often the name is restricted to someone's first name or even first initials, and contents are often described as "parts", "pieces or metal", etc. Completely useless unless you are averaging one box a month or are expecting a rattlesnake or something else as easily described. /// I did not use a service my first years in Costa Rica. Very rarely did Customs hold on to a package unless it was large (like a jacket). A trip to Customs meant about two hours of travel and from 30 to 120 minutes of waiting. Import duties tended to be very reasonable, often just a couple bucks. In time I went to Aero Casillas which worked well for me. In Panama I was around 90 minutes from Customs, so I used Airbox. No major complaints. With Aero Casillas in Antigua, the office is in a cybe cafe-type business at the Monoloco and it is open around 15 hours per day, seven days per week. You just learn not to go in because a notice tells you the package is ready,

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joband
  7/27/2014 23:42 EST

Well a bit off on a tangent..what I was really wondering about-and I guess one needs to be extremely explicit..is if it is better to bring as much as you can or is it reasonable to purchase online and have it "shipped" later.
That was the essence of Mail vs shipping cost question -whether it is from Amazon or any other place...to Guatemala.

#1 Is the cost/time reasonable to mail/ship (via post)?

Is it not a simple thing to send mail to Guatemala without virtual mailboxes and other mediators/middle people?

joband
  7/27/2014 23:49 EST

ok, I use a mail forwarding service for my regular mail, letters, etc. and packages from family and Amazon. I have two addresses with the company. One for letters, a PO Box, and one for packages, a street address because Amazon and others won't ship to a PO Box. They are both used for "regular" post just like at your home. This company is a mail forwarding company, make sense? They have an office here in Antigua and my mail, packages are forwarded from my Miami address then on to Antigua. Many products on Amazon are "shipping only to US address".

Obvioulsy you need to urchase from someone who ships internationally using POSTAL service.
Amazon does ship vias Canada post to a PO box as I lived in a remote sub arctic town for 5 years and did almost all my shopping online.only from people who were willing to ship using >US or Canadian mail and Amazon did indeed use the mail service and shipped to my PO box.
I still do 90% of my shopping online and still insist on mail/post rather than "shippers".
I just do not buy from people who insist on a shipper. Surely this is available to Guatemala if you shop around.? is it not?

bajasur
  7/28/2014 09:23 EST

Yes you can have regular mail delivery to your home here. As far as mail from out of country it may take awhile to get to your home. Also you can go to the post office and mail items. What are you planning to bring with you or have shipped? In some cases the item may be cheaper here in Guatemala. Electronics, no far more expensive.

zaqwsx
  7/31/2014 14:36 EST

if your talking letters, for the hell of it, when I was visiting in Florida I stopped at the post office and bought a envelope with postage and mailed to myself in Grate a letter with a piece of junk paper with a dollar bill folded inside. Here, I live in Antigua not the boonies and it took 64 days to arrive, I got the junk paper but no dollar bill. After that I got 3 very official looking letters from the Antigua post office wanting a donation for them providing mail service. I use Caniz (7832 6554 in Antigua) (sort of) they have a mail box in Miami a week later it shows up at their office in Antigua (or other cities) and you pick it up. they charge q20-q30 a letter depending on size and weight. Caniz has 3 problems 1. they will not consolidate so it can get expensive 2. it's a P.O. Box and a lot of companies will not send things to a P.O. Box and 3. the internet of everything has figured out that it is a mail forwarding address and many companies will not send to it and government agencies know it is not a residence. So I still use my old R.V. forwarder(escapees.com) they give you a unit number in a real R.V. park. They will consolidate (and weed out junk mail and magazines if you want). they will send me one envelope a month to Caniz in Miami and I pick it up in Antigua around 10 days later. Escapee's will also help you with registering to vote in Taxas, getting a local drivers license and a local bank account. So for all intents and purposes you are a resident of Texas (if you want).
For mail back to the U.S. the Guatemalan postal service seems to work fine.

busman7
  8/1/2014 09:24 EST

As the OP is Canadian this would be better for him http://www.canadianaddress.ca it gives a legal Canadian address in Quebec for documents, offers mail scanning so you can see if you want the letter forwarded or not, package forwarding.

Best of all there are no monthly fees you only pay for services rendered, have used them for 2 years, they are good and very accommodating.

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