{"id":38869,"date":"2013-08-11T05:13:18","date_gmt":"2013-08-11T09:13:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/?p=38869"},"modified":"2020-08-11T05:27:35","modified_gmt":"2020-08-11T09:27:35","slug":"mail-ecuador-style","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/blog\/mail-ecuador-style\/","title":{"rendered":"Mail Ecuador Style"},"content":{"rendered":"

You\u2019ve Got Mail – Ecuador Style<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

So you\u2019ve done everything perfectly right…made your exploratory visits to Ecuador, established professional contacts, purchased that sweet beach house of which you\u2019ve always dreamed, sent off an army of shippers to relocate your household belongings across the globe (please, reconsider the latter, for your own sanity) and said good-bye to the kids, now busy with their own families. Your big, ol\u2019 jet plane makes a smooth landing in beautiful, sunny Ecuador, as you embark for that new beach house, to just wait on the delivery of your precious household goods (no, seriously, reconsider this step for the sake of your sanity).\u00a0 As you unpack everything, perfectly delivered to your doorstep just as you remembered (buy a lottery ticket and win $50 million – better odds), you suddenly realize, wowza!\u00a0 We forgot the items in the attic.\u00a0 Your helpful spouse, of course, turns to you, with that special look of bemusement and says, \u201cWe had an attic?\u201d\u00a0 So…it begins, for many, mail Ecuador style.<\/p>\n

Inadvertently, one of those \u201cattic items\u201d is always that \u201cone in a million\u201d item you can\u2019t live without.\u00a0 Your beloved wedding album.\u00a0 Junior\u2019s\u201d first report card.\u00a0 Your customized and personally engraved, jewel-studded bowling ball. Oh, come on now, this is Ecuador…we won\u2019t judge.\u00a0 What is important is that you have to retrieve the item and fast.\u00a0 Forget that this already involves an embarrassing call to the new owner, of your previous home, but now you have to figure out how to get that \u201cthing\u201d shipped all the way to Ecuador.\u00a0 Good luck!<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start with the basics.\u00a0 Unless you have moved to Quito, Guayaquil, Cuenca or parts of Manta, the truth is that your brand new home is unlikely to even have a street address.\u00a0 I swear…I am not making this up.\u00a0 It is not some kind of cruel prank we play on all the new expats.\u00a0 Street addresses are not necessarily common throughout most parts of Ecuador.\u00a0 I know what you\u2019re thinking…yes, it\u2019s going to be kind of hard to receive delivery of your \u201cbowling ball\u201d sans address.<\/p>\n

Perhaps you have the luck of the draw, as I originally did.\u00a0 My first condo in Salinas was in a building so recognizable that any postal worker knew exactly where it was, despite the lack of an actual building address.\u00a0 You could literally mail something to me addressed as:<\/p>\n

Hector G. Quintana<\/p>\n

The Building [insert name here]<\/p>\n

Salinas, Ecuador<\/p>\n

I would actually receive it, even if you failed to include a condo unit number or zip code (more on Ecuadorian zip codes, later).\u00a0 However, I wouldn\u2019t bet on this kind of luck, as it is the rare exception and not the rule.\u00a0 So, at this point, any sane person would be thinking one of two things: \u201cI am never moving to Ecuador\u201d or \u201cWell, then how do I get delivery of my forgotten attic items?\u201d<\/p>\n

My experience suggests that the best way to get stuff from \u201cpoint A\u201d to Ecuador is a\u00a0 qualified international drop shipper.\u00a0 I know, more questions than answers.\u00a0 Think of the \u201cdrop shipper\u201d as a go-between…an intermediary…a broker of sorts.\u00a0 They receive any item you wish to have mailed (within reason and the confines of law), regardless of source, and because they have access to \u201csorcerers tools\u201d or by some other way of \u201cstrange divination\u201d, they can find you.\u00a0 These guys make the IRS look like lightweights.\u00a0 So, whatever you do, never get your drop shipper angry at you, or regardless of where you move, or how often you change your alias, precisely 14 times per year, you will get a delivery from the \u201cfluorescent lawn gnome-of-the-month\u201d club.\u00a0 Trust me, this is not something you want.<\/p>\n

Drop shippers, especially of the \u201cinternational\u201d variety, need to be well-vetted.\u00a0 You\u2019re not going to entrust your \u201cbowling ball\u201d to just \u201canybody\u201d.\u00a0 Keep in mind that many in this profession establish \u201cfly-by-night\u201d operations.\u00a0 Sort of like David Copperfield…now you seem him, now you don\u2019t.\u00a0 One well-known and highly advertised operation just recently \u201cvanished\u201d overnight.\u00a0 I never did fully understand what happened to the items they had delivered to their offices for transit.\u00a0 Such mystery is not what you need in your life, after moving across the globe and learning to adapt in a new country.<\/p>\n

My suggestion, for those living in the USA, is that you consider a tried, true and stable operation, like that run by Club Correos<\/i><\/b>.\u00a0 They are an outfit run out of Miami.\u00a0 I am pretty sure that it is now a \u201cfederally mandated law\u201d that states if you have a business operation in the USA, which goes anywhere near Latin America, you must…I repeat…must…be headquartered in Miami.\u00a0 Can\u2019t understand why, since Miami is a pretty nice city and I am sure businesses would eventually find their way there, all on their own.<\/p>\n

Club Correos offers the shipping of items purchased in the USA directly to you in Ecuador.\u00a0 If you stick to their basic, simple requirements, all clearly published on their InterNet website, then they have an exceptionally reliable track record.\u00a0 So, having a \u201cjones\u201d for all things Amazon.com, but they don\u2019t deliver to Ecuador.\u00a0 No problem.\u00a0 Have the items shipped to Club Correos in Miami and they will have them at your front door, faster than you can say, \u201cHow much?\u201d\u00a0 Glad you asked.<\/p>\n

Club Correos is a \u201cby membership only\u201d operation.\u00a0 Now, before you start peeling off Franklins, the cost is only $11.20 annually, but it must be billed to a credit or debit card (what doesn\u2019t now-a-days?).\u00a0 Yes, precisely, $11.20.\u00a0 That\u2019s a $10 yearly membership fee + the 12% Ecuadorian sales tax (known as IVA).\u00a0 Why does an operation out of Miami charge an Ecuador sales tax?\u00a0 Same reason the USA Congress defines a \u201cbudget cut\u201d as a \u201creduction in the excessive amount we will increase this fiscal year\u2019s expenditures\u201d.\u00a0 Frankly, there are just some \u201cmysteries\u201d in the world best left unsolved.\u00a0 However, if you want to be a member of Club Correos…you need to fork over the $11.20 yearly membership fee.<\/p>\n

Once you are a member, there are a few things to keep in mind.\u00a0 Membership is ongoing.\u00a0 Automatically renewed each year. No surprise, right?\u00a0 If you wish to terminate service, you need to provide them with your social security number, a secret 20-digit encrypted PIN and the precise GPS coordinates as to where Jimmy Hoffa lies.\u00a0 Ok, I did make that up.\u00a0 Actually, you send them a request, in writing, to terminate the arrangement.\u00a0 However, if you like to receive regular deliveries from overseas in Ecuador, I am betting you don\u2019t cancel.<\/p>\n

Also, you have to promise that the total value of your shipped purchase, for any single purchase, is not more than $400 USD.\u00a0 Remember, that is per shipment.\u00a0 If you need to have items shipped above that dollar amount, you must split up the order across several shipments.\u00a0 This works great for folks like my friend, Bill, who bought one of those handy-dandy espresso machines in Ecuador…you know, you just drop an \u201cespresso pod\u201d in them and they make a killer espresso, so rich it puts you in a coma for 12-days.\u00a0 Well, the good news is that he got a good deal on the machine, here in Ecuador.\u00a0 The bad news…there isn\u2019t a single store in all of Ecuador that sells the espresso pods.\u00a0 So, now he orders them, by the hundreds, via Club Correos.\u00a0 Works great!\u00a0 If you are trying to get around Ecuador\u2019s strict import laws and receive a Ferrari this way…not so much.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, any one shipment order cannot weigh more than 8.8 pounds or 4 kilograms.\u00a0 Again, you can split up the order and ship separately (tough luck on that jewel-studded bowling ball).\u00a0 Now, at first, these \u201citem values\u201d and \u201cweight restrictions\u201d seem silly.\u00a0 However, there is a method to the madness at Club Correos.\u00a0 In Ecuador, any item entering the country, valued at over $400 or weighing more than 4 kilograms is subject to a full Customs Inspection.\u00a0 Officially and on the record, this means that Club Correos (meaning you, the customer) will have to pay a hefty Customs duty.\u00a0 Unofficially and off the record, a \u201cCustoms inspection\u201d means, Christmas just came early for some lucky Ecuadorian family.\u00a0 Trust me, best to follow the weight and value limits and bypass the \u201cfull Customs inspection\u201d.\u00a0 This place is may be paradise, but nowhere is \u201cperfect\u201d.<\/p>\n

For all this, Club Correos charges some very reasonable fees.\u00a0 They have a \u201cread at a glance\u201d chart on their website.\u00a0 However, for anything under 1 lbs, it is only a $10.29 surcharge and for the maximum 8.8 lbs, it is $45.74.\u00a0 That\u2019s the maximum you will pay.\u00a0 Not bad for the convenience of having a \u201cslice of home\u201d brought to your doorstep, here in Ecuador.<\/p>\n

Again, all payments must be made by credit\/debit card, but Club Correos does provide the convenience of arranging other forms of payment in advance.\u00a0 Such options include an electronic bank transfer and a PayPal payment, but no cash or cash equivalents.\u00a0 All payments must be received and cleared, before they can ship off your package.\u00a0 Club Correos has a website at http:\/\/www.clubcorreos.com<\/span><\/b>.\u00a0 I encourage you to review their website and ask specific questions directly.<\/p>\n

Some readers might wonder, if any other options exist.\u00a0 Sure!\u00a0 However, there are a few special drawbacks.\u00a0 For starters, Club Correos, as an international drop shipper of sorts, has that \u201cspecial way\u201d of locating your address, which I alluded to earlier.\u00a0 As such, they are one of the few shipping sources to which, with an actual straight face, you can actually say, \u201cI don\u2019t have a zip code in Ecuador.\u201d\u00a0 Now, let me be clear.\u00a0 Ecuador does have zip codes.\u00a0 However, more mystery surrounds them than Area 51 in the Nevada desert. No one uses zip codes here, not even the postal service.\u00a0 Ask any Ecuadorian on the street, \u201cWhat\u2019s your zip code?\u201d and they will start looking around to see if you have a hidden camera as part of one of those \u201cGringo gag\u201d hidden camera shows. Keep in mind that this is a serious obstacle, as many shipping services cannot ship without a zip code.\u00a0 At Club Correos, work-arounds exist, because they are very used to delivering to this part of the world.<\/p>\n

Some of those other options include, for example, Federal Express or DHL.\u00a0 The traditional international shippers.\u00a0 However, unless the item you are sending is lighter than a feather, the costs are going to far exceed those of Club Correos.\u00a0 Then there is the whole sticky \u201czip code issue\u201d.<\/p>\n

You can try the good, old-fashioned U.S. Postal Service.\u00a0\u00a0This means that at our end, here in Ecuador, the Ecuador postal service, known as Correos de Ecuador, will handle delivery to your door.\u00a0\u00a0For practical purposes, simply don’t bother. It\u00a0will save you the cost of shipment and the heartache of waiting for a delivery from Correos de Ecuador. \u00a0You can bank on it.<\/p>\n

Lastly, you can try an unknown, not well-vetted international drop shipping service.\u00a0 For the end results, read above referencing the USPS option and then add the inconvenience of never-ending automatic service charges to your credit card.<\/p>\n

Truthfully, not a lot of options.\u00a0 I encourage you to search the InterNet for choices and compare recommendations and options to the Club Correos offering.\u00a0 No one is perfect, but the folks at Club Correos have a great deal of experience doing what they do…and, mostly, doing it well.<\/p>\n

If any of my comments or examples in this report have proven inane, annoying, or simply not uplifting enough, please remember to be kind in your critique.\u00a0 Otherwise, a fluorescent lawn gnome collection could be part of your not too distant future.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You\u2019ve Got Mail – Ecuador Style So you\u2019ve done everything perfectly right…made your exploratory visits to Ecuador, established professional contacts, purchased that sweet beach house of which you\u2019ve always dreamed, sent off an army of shippers to relocate your household belongings across the globe (please, reconsider the latter, for your own sanity) and said good-bye […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":308,"featured_media":38800,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[32313,7456,32304,32307,32333,32328,32314,7731,32338,32332,32326,32311,32310,32337,32308,32329,32335,32312,32305,32324],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Ecuador-Coastal-Living-\u2013-A-Reality-Check.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38869"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/308"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38869"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38869\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38890,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38869\/revisions\/38890"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38869"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=38869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}