How is the Postal Service in Colombia?

utopiacowboy says on May 11, 2005, 21:20:

Of course I am going to get grief from every bozo on the site but the Colombian postal system sucks. My wife and her family never send anything they care about through the Colombian mail - they use the many private courier services available. My own experience with the US embassy which insists on using the postal system to send out immigration packets shows that many of the packets are never delivered. God knows how many people I've told to go to the embassy in person to get them.

Disclaimer: any comment I make is inane and is not to be taken seriously, and is so patently ridiculous that no one should take it seriously, even as an insult.

Miguel says on May 11, 2005, 21:32:

Items of value If you want to send something and want to make sure it arrives in Colombia safe and sound, you'll need to spend the extra bucks and use the courier services UC mentioned above. Several of us here use ServiEntrenga out of Miami.

Rubiazo says on May 11, 2005, 21:59:

My rule of thumb The moment you send anything that has to go anywhere outside of the US, use Fedex. It's the only way you'll know it'll get there. Even Canada Post loses as much as 4% of its mail!

platano says on May 11, 2005, 22:02:

I love the Colombian postal system.... Had many interesting experiences with it, good and bad. Friendly folks, quick lines, cheap, and mostly efficient. Someone once sent me a letter addressed: "Plátano en Medellin" and the postal service delivered it! I had an apartado aereo but the person did not put the AA number in the address, and it still got to me with only my name in a city of 2 million people!

Also, some years the postal service provided me with most unexpected surprises, like delivering a box of Christmas gifts in February, mailed from the USA in November! Unexpected Christmas joy on a random February day courtesy of the Colombian postal system.

A letter sometimes took two weeks to a month to arrive from the USA, (don't use "entrega especial, it sometimes gets very special attention, but arrives days later than letters sent by normal, inconspicuous mail.) I also had lots of books delivered from Amazon.com and they always arrived in nine days...go figure.

I love the Colombian postal system. They did a great job providing me good service for twelve years.

Plátano, el banano verde
Estudiante del Manual de Urbanidad y Buenas Maneras por Manuel Antonio Carreño
Oxigeno Verde ¡Libertad por Ingrid y los demás!

plátano

dwmte says on May 12, 2005, 03:32:

in answer to your question... there is no postal system...at least as far as we are familiar with that term. a letter/package arrives at a non descript building somewhere and when it needs to go out, the workers inquire of friends or taxi drivers to take it to...'platano' (jeje). or whomever.

years ago while still not married to my wife, i'd send her letters and adorn them with our most current 'pretty' stamps. the letters never got there. i finally figured it out and started putting on machine (pitney bowes) stamps and the letters got through. and if i was sending something special, i'd register it to make sure it got to the door.

don't look for the post office building, it will be a long search. but don't be too hard on them, it does work.
dw

Brians says on May 12, 2005, 04:04:

Sucks I agree with UC the mail is horrible. We are waiting on a packet for my fiancee from the embassy. We know she won't get it but we hope because she is in Medellin and it is a real pain to fly to embassy to pick things up. As far as FedEx Rubiazo they are good and reliable. I had to send a lot of papers to my fiancee. It was important that they don't get lost. However it cost $160 to send one week delivery. I told the guy I might as well fly them down myself. This was about three times as much as the other services. However I weighed the fact that it was important and she had to have and I paid FedEx their ransom.

juanalejo says on May 12, 2005, 05:04:

Mail The mail service in Colombia i.e. Adpostal is virtually non existant. You can hardly find an office and you can almost never receive a letter. Avianca´s service is not much better. I would suggest for inbound using Fedex or UPS and outbound using Servientrega or TCC which are connected to the first two internationally. For a postcard I would just pay adpostal, it will take a long time to get there but it will eventually do it.

Gator says on May 12, 2005, 07:09:

Listen to Tio utopiacowboy. A word to the wise is sufficient.

"Brevior Sltare Cum Deformibus Mulieribus Est Vita!" .

cypher says on May 12, 2005, 07:19:

yeh colombian postal sevice is crap to wrap things up..

i had a good experience with them, twice i sent two cards (via normal mail) both got to bogota say 6 weeks later, jaja .. but they got there..

however recently i sent a poster(in one of those tube things) via normal mail just to save a few pounds got to Bucaramanga over two months later.. PLUS it was cut in half!! and where do you complain? the guy who delivered it just said "thats how they gave it to me"...*roll eyes*

best way to send stuff is via a courier.. i use a company called Mensaya from here in the UK.. they're based in the US.. very reliable, cheap and fast!

Peter Miami says on May 12, 2005, 07:22:

Known Carriers You definitely have to pay a little more and use known carriers i.e. UPS, FedEx, DHL, etc. I have send letters to Colombia and some of the letters have not arrived there.

foxylady says on May 12, 2005, 07:30:

AYH PLATANITO. Dear platano; I just wanted to say that you make me laugh very hard. you are sooooooooooooo funny. Thanks

Colombia-Jane says on May 12, 2005, 08:10:

Air, ground, donkey... (Wow I haven't made a post here in ages!)

I live in No Man's Land, Canada (como dice mi bobio, vivo en la mi*3da) and somehow everything I've ever sent to Colombia has gotten there. Maybe the guardian post office angels are watching out for me. The problem is, and you're all right, that things get sketchy on the Colombian side of things. Sometimes I can send things and it'll get there in 7 days, other times it takes a month or more. As cheap as it is (at least from Canada), NEVER USE GROUND MAIL! I'm POSITIVE it goes by burro, colibri, caballo, etc...and takes about 289478714 years to get there.

I sent some gifts to Bogota for some little friends in el campo and I think it probably only got there because I had "Es MUY importante que este paquete llegue a su destino. NO PERDER POR FAVOR!!!!!!!" all over it. ;)

There is still mail waiting for me in Bogota that never got to me over the summer.

Mailing woes is just a part of the fun! Enjoy.

www.community.webshots/user/cjontheloose

N2Aquatix says on May 12, 2005, 10:31:

Direct Contradiction I know this is in direct contradiction to everything that has been said here, but I have sent two packages to my novia in Barranquilla and both of them arrived just fine. One contained MONEY, and the other contained a very expensive brand new unlocked quad-band Motorola camera phone. Maybe I just got lucky.

Jay

adrimm says on May 12, 2005, 11:25:

From here A simple letter, that doesn't appear thick, usually arrives.

Postcards vanish, and anything thicker than 2 sheets of paper or larger than a small envelope must be registered, whch slows it down dramatically. We send Christmas cards in a large registered envelope to one household in each city who then distributes them for us.

In my opinion Colombian post is pretty bad for theft.

Desideria (Moderator) says on May 12, 2005, 12:03:

don't they have internet banking in Colombia? It's been ages I've used regular walk-in services at my local bank here, I do get a statement every three months by regular mail though. I was hoping I could do the same in Cali...

Cheers,
Desi

"I have opinions of my own, strong opinions, but I don't always agree with them."-President George W. Bush

Tinto (Moderator) says on May 12, 2005, 12:24:

Sure Bancolombia/Conavi, the banks in Grupo Aval and probably several other large ones.

juanalejo says on May 12, 2005, 14:44:

All the banks do internet banking, I do not ever remember standing in line at a bank for services, you can pay via internet including schools fees, taxes, cable I mean the list is endless. And if you do not trust internet, you can pay at ATM or at the supermarket together with your shopping.

Gator says on May 12, 2005, 18:54:

Desi For what it's worth we are very satisfied with Conavi(the wife likes the bee).

"Brevior Sltare Cum Deformibus Mulieribus Est Vita!" .

Mariangela says on May 12, 2005, 23:07:

Registered mail Whenever I send stuff to Bogota (pictures, videos, little gifts) I use Registered Mail at the US Post Office. It is pretty safe. It is much cheaper than Fedex and the merchandise gets to its destination. It can take a while, though. Sometimes even a month, because when it arrives at the Colombian post office they just let it seat there for ever.
Mariángela

Mariángela