BajaNomad - Recieving Mail in Baja?

Recieving Mail in Baja?

henshaw - 4-9-2010 at 08:20 AM

We're planning on moving to Los Barriles for the winter (November to April) and haven't figured out how to send or receive mail from the states. Anyone have expierience with this ? Wouldl appreciate any feedback.

Bob

DENNIS - 4-9-2010 at 09:11 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by henshaw
We're planning on moving to Los Barriles for the winter (November to April) and haven't figured out how to send or receive mail from the states. Anyone have expierience with this ? Wouldl appreciate any feedback.

Bob

Refine your life to the internet. It takes three weeks for my phone bill to reach me and it only comes from Tijuana, 80 miles.
Never send anything through the mail that is sensitive in any way.
Get a MagicJack phone.

Mail

tehag - 4-9-2010 at 09:46 AM

Very good advice from Dennis.

My phone bill is delivered here about 3 days before the shutoff date, maybe every other month. On alternate months I pay a guesstimate.

I have used the mail here in Loreto and earlier in Todos Santos and between TJ and La Paz with varying results. Sometimes prompt and professional, sometimes a black hole. I have sent books, CDs, letters, and small packages. Several books went from TJ to La Paz in 7 days, no problem. But, I have had packages opened and pilfered, letters lost, stuff variously damaged, and lateness beyond belief. The letter from my sister telling me her flight info got to me in TS the day after her plane deposited her in La Paz. A friend got her birthday card exactly on that special day, a year late. Etc. etc.

DENNIS - 4-9-2010 at 10:09 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by tehag
My phone bill is delivered here about 3 days before the shutoff date, maybe every other month. On alternate months I pay a guesstimate.

I have used the mail here in Loreto and earlier in Todos Santos and between TJ and La Paz with varying results. Sometimes prompt and professional, sometimes a black hole. I have sent books, CDs, letters, and small packages. Several books went from TJ to La Paz in 7 days, no problem. But, I have had packages opened and pilfered, letters lost, stuff variously damaged, and lateness beyond belief. The letter from my sister telling me her flight info got to me in TS the day after her plane deposited her in La Paz. A friend got her birthday card exactly on that special day, a year late. Etc. etc.

That's perfect. If there are any questions left, well....I don't know what to say.

Hey, Tehag....are they putting in the bill-pay machines down there yet? We have one in Calimax. Just type in your phone number and it tells you what you owe. Pay as much as you want to cover the future. Very convenient.

Paulclark - 4-9-2010 at 10:18 AM

You can have your mail delivered to the post office -- if they have one in Las Barriles. In San Jose we used to have our mail delivered to General Delivery and they would have a list on the counter of people with mail, or you can get a post office box. (80 pesos per year) Letters generally take a week from the US or Canada and parcels take 10 to 14 days. We have never had any mail or parcels opened or mail missed -- in 15 years. The alternative in San Jose is to use Mail Boxes etc. in the Los Palmas mall on the highway in San Jose -- where the Scotia Bank is. The other option is DHL or UPS who deliver to your door, but they are expensive.

rhintransit - 4-9-2010 at 10:57 AM

I second and third the recommendation to become internet dependent. have all bills sent electronically if possible. also arrange for any payments...dividends, interest, rents, etc to be auto deposited. use on line bill pay for anything you need regularly paid in the states or set up automatic payments...utilities, car payments, any time payments. be sure you have the correct account for the money to come out of, and overdraft protection. notify your banks and credit cards you will be out of the country.

find a relative or friend to sort the rest of your mail. forward your mail to him/her. it's always fun to deal with things like jury duty summons, due yesterday bills and such but you will figure it out. remember USPS will only forward for six months so if you are going to be gone more than that, leave a presigned and postdated forwarding card with said relative to send in at the appropriate time.

kiss third class mail goodbye (no big loss). resign yourself to not getting many magazines, though the post office will forward for a certain period of time I used to lose fifty percent of those. so I don't subscribe any more. be sure to have any internet orders delivered to your friend/relative, not your home, unless there is someone there to receive it.

you can use a mail forwarding service and ask them to DSL batches at a selected interval if cost is not an object. and you can figure out how/where to receive it. and who does DSL around you...

get involved with the community. figure out who is coming south when. arrange to have someone drive or fly your mail down on a prn basis. return the favor by carrying mail out and in when you can. those of us in the cruising community use 'cruiser mail' via the local nets to do the same.

forget the Mexican postal service except for postcards; when/if they arrive will be a topic of amusement. on the other hand if you are mailing letters or such within Mexico it does work fairly well, if sometimes slowly.

Trueheart - 4-9-2010 at 11:00 AM

I have converted over to bill receiving and paying through the internet, eliminating the need to process the vast majority of "paper" back and forth through the mail. Security was of concern at first, but I overcame this through familiarizing myself with security procedures. It is important to have a secure internet signal in Baja (or anywhere away from home) for doing this. Then, just let the mail pile up back at home (US) and/or have someone collect it for you in a box.

I realize this is not an immediate answer to your mail question, but if you intend on going to Baja regularly for stretched out periods of time, the conversion will be worth it in the future.

Paulclark - 4-9-2010 at 01:39 PM

Have any of you with negative Mexican Post comments ever used the Mexican Postal Service???
I live 50 km. from the post office on a dirt road and I get special deliver letters delivered to my door by the postal truck, never had an opened letter or parcel including international deliveries and find them reliable. I now use them for all my international parcels as I have not had to pay any brokerage fees or duties vs. UPS which charged me $120US for the last parcel I received from them.

bajajudy - 4-9-2010 at 01:52 PM

We use both Correo and Mail Boxes.
Have never had any real problem with either.
And we also have at home service for phone bills, bank statements and Hacienda. We have had problems with this if the address is not correct and ours is two lines long!
We have gotten cd's, books, other merchandise in our Mexican PO box. To our knowledge we have never missed anything. There is a PO in Los Barriles but I would guess that the number of boxes is limited. However, there are many "cancellado" boxes in San Jose and I would guess that you could get one there. cost= (+ or -)$20/per year
Mailboxes has an address in San Ysidro. They make two runs a week so it is fairly timely. We use them for most of our business correspondence. They can accept Fedex , DHL and UPS for you. Also small parcels. We pay $46/month for a biz account.

Edit to add....Mailboxes accepts Fedex , DHL and UPS here for no charge. There is a fee if it is sent to San Ysidro.

[Edited on 4-9-2010 by bajajudy]

Bob and Susan - 4-9-2010 at 03:58 PM

"it's always fun to deal with things like jury duty summons,"
that was easy...just did that
just show them proof that you're in mexico most of the time
they DON'T want you then...

"remember USPS will only forward for six months"
WRONG...post office fwds for a year
some mail is sent back because the sender is asking for that service
remember... you are not the owner of the mail piece until you open it
the guy who puts the postage on it owns it

"magazines, though the post office will forward for a certain period of time"
90 days
and mostly the mag company puts your subscription on hold until you contact them...then they extend your subscription

no one gets mags anymore anyway...just old people
the internet has taken over

there are NO MORE letters to grandma
email took care of that

longlegsinlapaz - 4-9-2010 at 04:11 PM

10 years actual experience with mail service between Portland, OR & La Paz P.O. Box = 3-4 week delivery is common either direction. Express mail for important things is costly, but it requires a signature, so those have all come through....in the SAME 3-4 WEEK TIMEFRAME; there's nothing Express about it once it crosses over the border. :no:

Best advice is to wean yourself off paper mail & if you can't totally do that, then designate someone as your new permanent US address...someone you trust to receive & go through your mail & DHL/UPS the truly critical stuff to you. My sister-in-law has full POA for me, has a checkbook & has signature authority on my US checking account....after 10 years, I've been able to get it down to a point where she only needs to write 1 check a year for me. She only forwards my tax documents & credit/ATM cards.

Even my 92-year-old mother had to become semi computer literate to communicate with me! :bounce:

Bob and Susan - 4-9-2010 at 04:19 PM

"there's nothing Express about it once it crosses over the border."
EXCEPT it's insured with document reconstruction
that's important here

"she only needs to write 1 check a year for me."
she doesn't even have to do that...
you can send a check using the internet that's mailed
that's how capt mike got the money for his car
the check came in the mail to him from our computer here in mulege
no charge

"She only forwards my tax documents & credit/ATM cards."
tax docs only need to be "scanned" and emailed
file taxes on the internet
the plastic needs to be sent still

Pompano - 4-9-2010 at 04:22 PM

I have never had a problem with receiving mail at my Mulege P.O. Box.

I got it when the post office was across from the downtown square.

Yesterday I got word that Nixon resigned.

What's the problem?

DENNIS - 4-9-2010 at 04:26 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Bob and Susan
no one gets mags anymore anyway...just old people
the internet has taken over

What? I get no less than thirty Cabela's catalogs every year. A while back I was spending so much money with them they sent me a catalog about an inch and a half thick, faux leather hard-bound with my name in gold print on the cover.
I knew then I had to cut back. :lol:

Bob and Susan - 4-9-2010 at 04:27 PM

yes... and of the 2 letters i recieved last year
NONE were misdelivered

Bob and Susan - 4-9-2010 at 04:29 PM

Cabela's catalogs are not magazines

theses are 3rd class advertisments
the only real moneymaker for the USPS

mags are 2nd class

DENNIS - 4-9-2010 at 04:31 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Bob and Susan
Cabela's catalogs are not magazines

Well...they're built like magazines. What do I know.

longlegsinlapaz - 4-9-2010 at 05:48 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Bob and Susan
"there's nothing Express about it once it crosses over the border."
EXCEPT it's insured with document reconstruction
that's important here

That may be true, but if it's say for instance....plastic, then I'd probably be SOL for funds for another 1-2 months it'd take to physically get another ATM reissued & sent down here.

Quote:

"she only needs to write 1 check a year for me."
she doesn't even have to do that...
you can send a check using the internet that's mailed
that's how capt mike got the money for his car
the check came in the mail to him from our computer here in mulege
no charge

Care to share more info or a URL for this process?? What bank? ANY USA bank?

Quote:

"She only forwards my tax documents & credit/ATM cards."
tax docs only need to be "scanned" and emailed
file taxes on the internet
the plastic needs to be sent still

What can I say....I asked her to scan them & e-mail them to me....she's a CPA & fanatic about me having the originals I may need here with me....I think for fear she might round-file something important during spring-cleaning! :lol:

Bob and Susan - 4-9-2010 at 06:09 PM

we use citibank
just issue a check on the internet
easy

tax info...you ONLY need originals if audited
then ...you can lose half if you document what you claim
copies are acceptable
ask her to research this if shes unaware

after a few years you round file everything
just let it go

remember the plastic card needs to be activated at the phone that is on record
and if you have a copy with the back security number you could use it
its just a numbered account

YARDSAIL - 4-10-2010 at 08:28 AM

I have had my mail forwarded to los barriles post office for 12 years and have had very few problems. It takes 2-3 weeks to get here, I never have mags or catalogs sent, as it costs to much from my mail forwarder, but have had meds sent...But that said, it"s because the forwarder knows how to get it done with customs...

toneart - 4-10-2010 at 11:35 AM

It's a crap shoot. I have heard the stories. But my experience has been good with the post office in Mulege, albeit I don't have much activity with them.

Two years ago I received a parcel that I wasn't even expecting. It was a box (Christmas gift) with a new mechanical wine bottle opener, the kind that grips the top and with a lever you plunge the corkscrew down into the middle of the cork. It also came with six wine glasses. Only one was broken. I guess it came general delivery. The postmaster must have asked a gringo who happened to know me, to tell me. The gringo got him to release the package to him and he delivered it to my door on his quad.

The only other thing I do each year is mail my fideocomiso payment to the bank in LaPaz that holds my trust. I mail it two or three weeks before the deadline and it always gets there on time. They mail a receipt to my home in California. I also get my new bill from them, to my home in California.
:coolup: