Outgoing Mail (via Homeland Security)
Submitted by mjt on Fri, 2009/04/10 - 22:48.
While there hasn't been any problem with the outgoing mail getting through, there is a rather odd streak of "Homeland Security Inspections". In fact, the last 9 items send from Nicaragua and Honduras (all 2/09-4/09) here to South Dakota have been opened and resealed by Customs (see wonderful green tape job). Purely a random open-close job might be the case, but statistically it seems less then likely. No envelope-packaged item was ever opened by USPS or Customs in the last 8-9 years. Yet, they are an impressive 7 for 7 in the last 10 weeks. Were the packages big, bulky, awkward, emitting some odor, "ticking", using a third-party payee with last name "Escobar", etc., I guess I could see the inspection hit rate. Unfortunately, least for those sad souls opening my the mail, all there are is inside are documents and photocopies. At least 5 of the 9 envelopes held just 3-6 pieces of regular or legal-size paper, stapled together - and no other inclusions of any kind. Hard to imagine what an inspector hoped to find inside there a thin plastic bag hold a few pieces of paper...
you are proving....
that Fatherland Security has a greater mission than to just steal people`s Swiss Army knives at the airport!
"You can avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality." Ayn Rand
mail packages that go missing
for what it is worth..I typicaly have 1 out of 3 or 4 mailed packages go missing,. I had been sending a package every 3 or 4 weeks to the same people in Jinotega... I generaly send stuff flat rate piority envelopes..I am told by the USPS, that suff is traced to Managua in all cases, and somewhere in the 100 odd mile trip el norte it is "lost"?? However I have never had one marked "Photographs do not bend" stamped on the package go missing on me. My guess is, packages full of photo's are not prone to wander off!!!
I've never had anything go missing
This includes camera gear worth several hundred dollars, a mixed box of stuff including four hummingbird feeders, and a couple of shipments from Amazon. Four cameras or camera accessory shipments, maybe three Amazon book shipments, and the hummingbird feeder box.
I do tend to alert the women at Jinotega Correos that I'm expecting a package, don't know if that helps or not, and I'm having things sent to a PO box as mail gets slipped under the door if it's directed to the house (Claro bills come this way -- my dog ate two of them but they were salvageable, one went missing).
When I lived in NYC on Riverside Drive, I got zero packages of things mailed to me, probably lost four different things that I knew about -- including a dress in one mailing and a scarf that would have gone well with it in another. I don't know if they disappeared from the hall by light fingered others or if someone at the PO decided to nick them (I was on a grand jury that indicted a postal employee for stealing). Most likely, local thieves, though. I mostly got things at Mott Street, but not always.
I highly recommend getting a PO Box. If nobody's home, and the thing can't slip under the door, then anything left in front of the house is likely to wander off. My packages come to my PO Box and I ask about packages if I expect something (one camera shipment in December came before I asked).
Rebecca Brown
Yes , get a PO box
but still ask at the package window if your stuff has arrived--10 day delay if you don`t ask. Also, another tip, don`t pay your PO box fee when it arrives--take it home to compare with the last one to see if they are double dipping.
"You can avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality." Ayn Rand
I start asking a few days before I figure it could have arrived.
They don't leave slips in the box, but I have had one of them stop me in the street to tell me a package had arrived, too.
If I didn't think they weren't too FSLN for tips, I'd give them all Christmas presents. They're always cheerful and polite.
Rebecca Brown
They
sometimes leave a slip in the box, sometimes they don`t, sometimes they leave a slip in the box when you have 2 packages but only give you one package. They really keep you on your toes!
"You can avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality." Ayn Rand
Jinotega doesn't do slips
One expat here tried to persuade them that this would be a good and useful thing for them to do. Nope, doesn't happen. Much more social for the patrons to ask or for the Correos workers to mention in passing in the street that a package arrived.
Rebecca Brown
Which Service
... how much and how long did it take to expedite the documents you sent?
EMS (older post though)
This is a 2-year old post, so make sure to take that into account. The mail was sent via international "Express Mail System" (EMS), an international coop of postal systems (there is a Wikipedia entry if you are unfamiliar with it). It isn't all that expressed, though the HS opening job adds a good 4-5 business days to delivery. Without delays, maybe 7-8 day delivery via Honduras (can't recall per Nicaragua, but it was slower); with delays, then closer to 2 weeks. The price for this, at least in Honduras, has jumped significantly at least 3 times in 8 years. For some kind of express with tracking it is or was the cheapest option, though still not as cheap as you might expect. Not sure they could really "track it" if it went missing - though they give you an impressive looking receipt. I cannot comment on it as of 2009-2011 as I now have most things hand delivered by people going back and forth or I rely on basic Air Mail, or Priority Mail via the US. Not sure the exact stats, but I haven't lost a U.S. Priority Mail or First Class package U.S.-to-Honduras, in easily more than 50 shipments into Trujillo, Tegucigalpa, or Choluteca - which all arrive different routes.
Regular mail
to USA gets there in 8 or 9 days to recipient. From there to here about a day less. Nothing opened either way (just letters though). Registered mail both ways works fine too. FedEx gets there in two days on normal overnight or two day shipment if you get it to MGA by 6 PM. Almost too convienent.ZZT