FYI: Shipping bits to South America

[chris]

Having been asked independently about shipping stuff (i.e. not complete bikes, but spares and the like) http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ubb...ML/000274.html I thought others might wish to know my experiences.

*a pair of bike trousers took 4 days from florida, usa to cusco, peru. normal post/airmail. no hassle.

*an ohlins shock took 5 days from holland to lima, peru. normal post/airmail. very minor hassle. make sure you have an extra low value on the invoice. you pay import tax based on the given value.

*some bike parts took 3 days from germany to lima and 8 (!) days lima to cusco with those basket-cases from dh hell. it may even have been longer without the threat of violence and going to the police. we won't mention how much it cost either!!

Have you had any experiences with post/couriers to South America? Maybe tell others who was good, who wasn’t,
Cheers
ChrisB


[This message has been edited by chris (edited 06 August 2003).]

[JamesCo]

In total, I had five parcels sent to Peru and all made it through okay. Here are my notes:

Airmail from the US took from between 4 and 14 days to arrive in the country. Airmail from New Zealand took a week. Delivery out of Lima varied.

Poste restante (lista de correos, en castellano) works great, but check that your town post office has an aduana. Cusco does, Huaraz does not; I reckon that delivery is faster if there is one - i.e. your package is redirected to the local office, instead of being the 51,000th one in line for inspection at the Lima sorting centre. Taxable packages can still be received in aduana-free towns, after it's worked out in Lima, but the tax is paid at Banco de la Nacion instead. (Even if there is an aduana you can still pay at the bank if you like.) If a package is taxable (or even just big), it won't leave the post office until the tax is paid. So if your using the South American Explorers Club, for example, as the delivery address and nothing turns up, don't just check there - call in at the post office where the package could be waiting for you and your wallet.

Here's one the guidebooks don't know about: the first working day of the month is not the best for receiving packages. The password for the computer system used to track payments is changed, but doesn't get passed around to the clerks efficiently, which can leave you waiting for it to be discovered.

Ensure that the package sender keeps the number from the customs declaration form to help with tracking the package. It can be done from a name, but numbers are easier.

If you get multiple packages from the same source country note that the documents for the first to arrive will always be the ones picked up if you're running after a later package; in other words, if you've got package A but not package B, make this clear so that the staff dig deeper. The customs number really helps here.

Tariffs in Peru can be steep and somewhat arbitrary to my gringo eyes; a box with a shock & inner-tubes was untaxed, while a new rack was taxed at almost 100% of the customs declaration. Therefore, if it doesn't hurt your conscience to be dodging tax, make sure the stated value is low on any paperwork in and outside the box.

The address where packages are sorted in Lima is:
Av. Tomas Valle, Cuadra 6
Tel 015332002

Ultra-easy to find: turn left at the road sign while on the Pan-Am north, you can't miss the Serpost building. Open long hours, seven days, but the aduana there is on standard office hours. Señora Luz Ortega at Serpost is amazingly helpful - seek her out.

Even an untaxed package may sit on the shelf in Lima before delivery; working the phones will help here, but take promised delivery times with a grain of salt. You can intercept a package if it's in Lima, no problem, to hurry things along.

Small, light (under four pounds) parcels will likely be delivered without inspection or delay, so consider breaking slightly larger ones up, if practicable.

Here's a sample address for poste restante delivery:
Poste Restante
Lista de Correos
Correo Central
Huaraz
Peru

Atención: Señor Fred DAGG

Last words - Peru is my pick for receiving packages in South America. The mail gets through, usually fairly efficiently, and if you have to wait it's a fascinating place to be, anyway.

Whew, long post, hope this is useful to someone...

James

[This message has been edited by JamesCo (edited 04 November 2003).]

[JamesCo]

Highly recommend not using Argentina for post, either way. The only package I sent from there was stolen, despite being just t-shirts and other cheap souveneirs. Chile is a much safer (and cheaper) bet in the southern cone.

James