Thanks for that useful information, Lambada. I had mentally written off any possibility of sending parcels from England. Evidently I was too pessimistic.
Does the parcel still have to be addressed to the person's own address (or what passes for an address in the DR) or (as I imagine) simply to them @ Puerto Plata Post Office?
Any ballpark figures for delivery leadtimes?
No I don't think you were being overly pessimistic, london777. There are still.......issues

. If the question had been 'is it a good idea to send a parcel' I would probably have answered with all the downsides, which you already know, but since that wasn't the question asked, I responded to what was asked (yeah 16+ years
aplatanada :cheeky

. However, there is a
better chance using a service which provides tracking & signing for, like Airsure for letters or Parcelforce for parcels. Interestingly I am currently awaiting the arrival of an author contract; the Editor told office in UK to Fedex it, but they 'sent by some form of recorded delivery'

. That was 3 weeks ago. I'll keep you posted as to whether it ever gets here.
Three months ago a couple from Milton Keynes who had had a wonderful time out here, sent a cellphone to a local in Cabarete to say thank you for looking after them. They emailed me a month later to say he hadn't received it, so I sent him to the Post Office with his c?dula. On his third attempt he was able to retrieve it; they were sooo happy but as they said, if I hadn't told them he had to go in person with ID, he wouldn't have known it had arrived (because they don't phone you to tell you), so he & they would have been waiting.....and the longer the item remains unclaimed the greater the risk for...er.....employee sequestration.
I wouldn't address your item to Inposdom, no, they might think it's intended as a gift for them. Use the best address you have for recipient. It'll wait at the Post Office anyway. I'd say the quickest it'll get into PP post office from UK will be 3.5-4 weeks. Tell your recipient to go to Post Office 4 weeks after you've sent it, with their c?dula. If they get 'nada', go back the next day, then a further 2 days time, then a further 2 days time etc etc. The recipient of the cellphone didn't want to do this, because he isn't the pushy type, but you have to be. My hunch is that his cellphone was already there when he first went, but he was being tested to see if he would go back, if you get my drift. If he hadn't retrieved it on the third attempt I was going to go down there & do an Aunty Lambada

. They know me!