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henshaw
Junior Nomad
Posts: 86
Registered: 4-9-2009
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Recieving Mail in Baja?
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
You can\'t fix stupid
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DENNIS
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 29510
Registered: 9-2-2006
Location: Punta Banda
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| 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.
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tehag
Super Nomad
Posts: 1248
Registered: 1-8-2005
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Mail
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.
Certainty is the child of ignorance, knowledge is the mother of doubt. Question everything!
http://bcsbirds.com |
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DENNIS
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 29510
Registered: 9-2-2006
Location: Punta Banda
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| 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.
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Paulclark
Nomad
Posts: 359
Registered: 10-13-2008
Location: Castillo de Arena
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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.
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rhintransit
Super Nomad
Posts: 1588
Registered: 9-4-2006
Location: Loreto
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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.
reality\'s never been of much use out here...
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Trueheart
Nomad
Posts: 155
Registered: 1-31-2010
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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.
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Paulclark
Nomad
Posts: 359
Registered: 10-13-2008
Location: Castillo de Arena
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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.
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bajajudy
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6886
Registered: 10-4-2004
Location: San Jose del Cabo,BCS
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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]
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Bob and Susan
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8813
Registered: 8-20-2003
Location: Mulege BCS on the BAY
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Mood: Full Time Residents
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"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
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longlegsinlapaz
Super Nomad
Posts: 1685
Registered: 11-18-2005
Location: La Paz
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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.
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!
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Bob and Susan
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8813
Registered: 8-20-2003
Location: Mulege BCS on the BAY
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Mood: Full Time Residents
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"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
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Pompano
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8194
Registered: 11-14-2004
Location: Bay of Conception and Up North
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Mood: Optimistic
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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?
I do what the voices in my tackle box tell me.
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DENNIS
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 29510
Registered: 9-2-2006
Location: Punta Banda
Member Is Offline
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Bob and Susan
no one gets mags anymore anyway...just old people
the internet has taken over
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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.
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Bob and Susan
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8813
Registered: 8-20-2003
Location: Mulege BCS on the BAY
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Mood: Full Time Residents
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yes... and of the 2 letters i recieved last year
NONE were misdelivered
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Bob and Susan
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8813
Registered: 8-20-2003
Location: Mulege BCS on the BAY
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Mood: Full Time Residents
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Cabela's catalogs are not magazines
theses are 3rd class advertisments
the only real moneymaker for the USPS
mags are 2nd class
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DENNIS
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 29510
Registered: 9-2-2006
Location: Punta Banda
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Bob and Susan
Cabela's catalogs are not magazines
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Well...they're built like magazines. What do I know.
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longlegsinlapaz
Super Nomad
Posts: 1685
Registered: 11-18-2005
Location: La Paz
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| 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!
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Bob and Susan
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8813
Registered: 8-20-2003
Location: Mulege BCS on the BAY
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Mood: Full Time Residents
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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
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YARDSAIL
Junior Nomad
Posts: 63
Registered: 10-30-2007
Location: LOS BARRILES,BCS
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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...
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