Managing mailboxes or PO boxes in Colombia

Cheryl Moderator

16092POSTS

7 months ago

Hello everyone,

Something as simple as receiving mail can become a whole new experience when you settle in Colombia as an expat. Mailing management can indeed be different from what you are used to. In order to help other expats and soon-to-be expats, we invite you to share your insights.

How do you receive mail in Colombia? Do you have a traditional mailbox, a PO Box, or another system?

How was it to set it up and what are the formalities?

Is the postal service reliable and secure?

How do you handle missed deliveries or forwarding your mail?

Do you have any tips you would like to share to newcomers and fellow expats?

Share your insights and experience.

Thank you for your contribution.

Cheryl
大咖福利影院 Team

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ChineduOpara Serial expat

431POSTS

7 months ago

I use a virtual mailbox called iPostal1, opted for an address in Miami Beach (Florida), and I changed all my mailing addresses to that virtual mailbox address. I signed up 1 month before leaving the USA (so in November 2022). The cost is $10/month. There are higher tiers but I don't need those additional perks. At my base level, I can request for documents to be scanned (for a fee), discarded (free), or forwarded to another address (for a fee). I've never had a problem with lost mail with them, they are reliable and communicative (great customer service), and they are fair in their pricing and issue resolution.

The few times that I've had documents mailed to my Colombia address from there using regular mail (USPS International mail, or some variation thereof), the package has either arrived months later (instead of in 2 weeks) or never arrived. So I stopped requesting mail like that, and just wait for someone who's travelling from the USA to Colombia, and send the important mail to THEM so that they can bring it to Colombia in their personal suitcase.

If the document is super-important, one can opt for DHL shipping, the most expensive option. And i mean EXPENSIVE with a capital X. Once - and once only - I shipped some documents from my virtual mailbox to Colombia via DHL...

馃"And what did it cost you, father?"

馃檷"EVERYthing, child"

馃槄

Nothing like a $189 bill for sending a 2-page document, to remind me that I'm, in fact, poor 馃槶 LOL

Things shipped from Amazon.com arrive on-time (or 1 day late, maximum) 馃憤

In summary:

At $10/month, my iPostal1 virtual mailbox is well-worth it (at least to me).
There is no official nor reliable, low-cost international mail service between USA and Colombia..
...but Amazon packages arrive just fine.
You can use DHL if you're willing to pay the sky-high prices. This is usually worth it for super-important items, since DHL is known to be aggressively reliable across all the destinations that they serve

mtbe Contributor

195POSTS

6 months ago

I changed all of my mailing addresses to that of a family member.聽 They throw away the trash and scan anything that may seem important and email it to me.聽 It's free and they don't mind as I've weeded out most of the garbage anyway.聽聽I might get something important 2-3x/year.

As far as shipping boxes: there is nothing I need from the US that I can't get in Colombia.聽 I usually head back to my home country once/yr to visit family, and if there is anything I need that I can't find in Colombia, I bring it back with me.