Postal Service???

The postal service was well treated when Fernandez was president and the service improved dramatically. Now it is very badly treated and the service is terrible. I use EPS, others may use different services, but these private services are the only way to send or receive something in a secure, timely manner.

Going Postal

I could drive from Wisconsin to Miami and take a sailboat to Puerto Plata and get that card delivered faster than you could have it delivered by mail. And to answer your questions, yes to both.

With all due respect Negro Lindo, despite your Spanish handle, you sound like you have never been to the DR nor talked to anyone from there.

I wish i had a photograph of our local post office.. If i remember right, there is a coconut tree growing right through it. It is so overgrown there is barely room for a chicken to run through it...

I used to send postcards and they would be delivered fine...after a couple on months in transit of course.

I sent a package here over 2 years ago. Nothing important. Pretzles, and a few little trinkets. They still haven't recieved it.
My aunt sent me a care package 1 year ago. It still isn't here . And my mom sent me a fre candy making supplies 3 months ago. Guess what...still not here.
I hope they choke and die...well maybe not die, but get real sick, on all the food in those 3 packages!

They have a mail service here???

Don't bother calling them to see if they have you mail, their phones got disconnected by Codetel before Christmas.

Under Leonnel it actually started working again and started to get a good name. It was at this time I actually saw postmen and vans on the street.

How times change under a different government...

I once gave money to the "Canadian wild life" I thought it was for parties...lol..just kidding. But they sent me return address stickers that have my name and it says. " Proud Supporter of Canadian Wildlife Federation" Anything I ever mailed to the DR or overseas always gets there within two weeks. But on second thought the last time I mailed to the DR was Dec. 2000. But even to Turkey is less than two weeks.

Letters between Illinois and my wife's family in San Francisco de Macor?s seem to require 3 to 4 weeks transit time in either direction. Same on a few letters to Boca Chica.

Matter of fact, one of the Postal workers at Boca Chica mailed a letter to me that took nearly 4 weeks; but more than 2 weeks of that time was spent in the DR according to the postmarks!

So far nothing has been lost but service is sloooow. Service has certainly declined over the years.

Swede

Took 5 weeks using Priority Mail. The package was there within the week but it took another 4 weeks for it to be delivered. I have had people tell me EPS is better and I have also heard Fed EX is not bad either. On the latter, I would like opinions regarding Fed Express if possible. Thank you.
dale7

Forget the mail service, period!

Negro Lindo said:

Do you think it matters what part of the country the mail is being sent? For instance mail to Santo Domingo would more likely arrive in a timely manner than something sent to a more rural area? I'm mailing to San Juan de la Maguana/ Juan de Herrera.......

Click to expand...

Actually my experience has been that mail sent to the country side actually arrives faster than that sent to Santo Domingo. My husband's village is in the mountain of Padre Las Casas and they get the cards and letter within 2-3 weeks. In Santo Domingo I send stuff and if it's bigger than a card sometimes my cousin-in-law has to actually go and pick it up and pay some type of tax. Otherwise it would take ages for it to be delivered. Go figure!

I do not however send packages, just too risky. And one at Las Americas airport I witnessed customs opening up all packages, whether they be fedex, UPS, regular inspecting them. This was below the airport in a room near to where the luggage is put into into the bins to go onto the airplane.

To Anna Coniglio:

When you mentioned Turkey, was it only because of distance or were you making a comparison?

If the latter, one can't compare the 2 countries, at least not attitude wise.

Although Turkey is poor, basic services are good there - postal service, telephone service, electricity (few outages there), water, police protection, modern banking, etc. Even the taxicab drivers are scrupulously honest - one never asks what the fare will be because there is no need to, he won't be cheated.

It is actually possible (I've done it) to get one's computer connected to the internet through a provider in less than an hour - take a taxi to the provider's location, pay a deposit (a small one) and get the connection information, take a taxi back to one's abode, setup the connection parameters, dial up, and you're done. Contrast that to the seemingly endless waits and excuses in the DR (or to do anything).

Education is also taken very seriously there.

No, it is not a utopia either, but the DR could learn a lot from it - especially as to how being poor is no excuse for a meltdown.

By the way, for those interested, most Turks are Moslim, but it's government is secular.

Also, as a followup to a discussion several months ago about beautiful Moslim women, did anyone else notice that the Miss World contest recently was won by a Turk. It was no fluke, Turkish girls really take care of themselves.

Andy sometimes my mind drifts. Well most time but the reason I mentioned Turkey was the fact that I once sent some music tapes and they arrived within 7 days and other things within two weeks. I just wondered if my return labels with the words Federation and Canadian helped the two packages get through faster. Especially to the DR.
I found Turks to be very nice people. I have a friend that sends me gifts everytime a grandchild is born and he sent me a latin CD for my birthday because he knows how much I love it. I was by no means comparing the two countries, only on the speed that may or may not have had an affect by my labels.

We were told that if you put words such as "Dios le bendiga" "Vive con Cristo" and other religious phrases your packages were less likely to be opened. I do admit many PCV's received their packages just fine when those words were written on them.

I have a package that was shipped in Nov. with my Christmans presents from my parents and I received it intact in April, it was fun having a late Christmas.

A simple response is: "There is no postal service in the D.R." Regards, PJT