Thread: Recieving mail from the US in PC

Hello,

I wonder what is the best way to recieve my mail while I am in Panama.

I have a mailbox with The UPS Store in the US and would like them to send me my mail every two weeks (should be 1 pound envelope). I would like to be able to track the package.
What is the best reliable way that this can be done? Is anybody using US Postal service? From the US POST website - Express Mail® International - take 3-5 days to ship, cost $35.25.

You cannot send non-courier mail (Express Mail is not courier in that sense so forget about that option) to Panama and expect to get it. The country has no street address and delivery system for mail - people only have PO boxes which are extremely unreliable. Most Panamanian mail forwarding companies in Miami should work assuming you have tracking. If it's just short term, have UPS/FedEx/DHL send it directly to your street address and make sure to put your phone number on the package as the driver is very unlikely to find you otherwise. Unless you have extremely important documents I would just leave them - people here do not understand the value of mail since they have never received it themselves. They might just steal it because the envelope looks cool or for the stamps.

This is from the US Post website -

Express Mail® International
Max. length 36", max. length plus girth 79"

3 to 5 average business day delivery to major destinations
Tracking available
Free $100 insurance
Additional insurance available for a fee

So what you are saying is that even if the package is tracked and insured it is not guranteed that I will recieve it in Panama?

That's right, it will be tracked into a black hole, and just that.

We have a UPS mail box in Vegas and have our mail forwarded about once a month or whenever we have something important (W2s!). The manager there sorts out junk and catalogs and sends it priority (or express) cant remember which! It costs about $40 for over a pound. We receive it in 6-14 days. It says it will be here in 5-7 but hey, it gets here at least!
We live in Colon, which, if you've read anything about this place, it sucks! But we have received every piece of mail that has been sent or forwarded to us. Packages, letters, wedding invitations! It arrives to the post office here and is sorted in the most antiquated manner, but apparently, it works for them. They told us to have everyone write our phone number on the mail, under Republica de Panama. They call us when mail comes in (most of the time!).
I know from reading other threads on the forum that this might not be the best way to get mail but it's what we started with when we were still in the US so we're sticking with it.
Hope this helps!

Thanks, thats really helps!
Just to clarify, I assume that you need to have a PO box in the post office in Panama for this to work, is this correct?

I think she just clarified that no tracking is available once it hits Panamanian border with that option.

Yes, you will need to have a PO Box. They are $20 a year - you need to bring a copy of your passport.

Originally Posted by expat747

Thanks, thats really helps!
Just to clarify, I assume that you need to have a PO box in the post office in Panama for this to work, is this correct?

Originally Posted by expat747

Hello,

I wonder what is the best way to recieve my mail while I am in Panama.

I have a mailbox with The UPS Store in the US and would like them to send me my mail every two weeks (should be 1 pound envelope). I would like to be able to track the package.
What is the best reliable way that this can be done? Is anybody using US Postal service? From the US POST website - Express Mail® International - take 3-5 days to ship, cost $35.25.

USABOX works great for me.

No, we don't have a PO Box. We live in a "Reverted Area" so we somewhat have a 'real-ish' address. People mail us things to our address and they land in the Colon Post Office.
I would recommend a PO Box. Especially if you're in PC.

On another note, it is SUPER cheap to mail things back home. We mailed 60 envelopes for 35cents EACH and they all got there in less than 2 weeks!!! You couldn't get a letter across town in Las Vegas for 35 cents! We sent an envelope "ceritified" and it was 95 cents.

For people to ship things here to you, on the other hand, is so ridiculously expensive (and always unsure of its delivery) that I would look into something else (getting a box in Miami that forwards here) then friends and family will send you stuff without taking out a 2nd mortgage!!

After getting about 1000 pieces of mail in Panama over the past 4 years I would rank the options like this as far as failure rate (permanently gone) for loose mail:

Correos de Panama (street address): About 25-30 % (they have thrown stuff into the lobby area a few times)
Correos de Panama (PO Box): About 5-10 % (books, photos and several pieces of mail stolen)
Aerocasillas (PO Box in Miami direct forwarding): 15-25 % (they lost about 20 % of check payment)
Mailboxes Etc (PO Box in Miami direct forwarding): 3-5 % (only 3 checks lost in about 1 year after ownership changed, none before that)
Earth Class Mail (US Street address with manual FedEx to Panama): 0.2 - 0.5 % (one FedEx package was ripped open during transport). For extremely important stuff they can scan it and produce a PDF of the contents.

I will never again in my life let a Panamanian company (nor government) even come within 200 yards of my mail.

I've used USAbox.com for years. I've lived in Costa Rica, Mexico and next is Panama.

You get a "real street address." I actually use it for my residential address and my business address for everything now.

Originally Posted by JustinG

I've used USAbox.com for years. I've lived in Costa Rica, Mexico and next is Panama.

You get a "real street address." I actually use it for my residential address and my business address for everything now.

Can you use it to get a Florida driver liscense? Open a bank account?

Originally Posted by expat747

Can you use it to get a Florida driver liscense? Open a bank account?

I already had my bank accounts set-up in another state. Just did a change of address.

I was actually living in Florida when I changed my license. But I was surprised when she put my mailing address on my license. I told her again I didn't live at that address. She gave me one of those DMV looks like I said something stupid. Then said the "mailing address" went on the license.

fyi, to get a FL license you need proof of residency.