Chile Forum

by **sputnic1** » Mon May 03, 2010 12:07 am

eeuunikkeiexpat wrote:But the USPS claim they are a "private" corporation?? And service continues to decline and rates continue to increase despite it all.

Regarding the question, your ultimate problem will be with Chile Aduanas. Important points:

(1) Always better to have something shipped to you from a residential address appearing to be a family-like care package than from a business.
(2) If no choice and sent from a business address, have that businessperson classify the shipment as a "gift" with maybe an enclosed letter to you with evidence of "familiarity."
(3) If 1 or 2 can't be done, it may slip through or not. The less inside the box and the less the dollar declaration, the more likely it will slip through without a hold.

Bottomline, for clothes, personal care type items, smaller tools, parts, etc., have someone repackage and forward to you from a residential address or residential-like address in the States.

Good. I was planning on having my sister purchase the clothing and shipping in to me. The only other question I have is shipping of professional equipment. I was planning on shipping my ultrasound, e-stim, PT equipment, and portable chiropractic tables via air cargo (Delta/AA whomever). Will my stuff get stuck in customs for an extended period of time? Only businesses can use Delta's Air Cargo from what I understand and I have to drop off the equipment at the US airport and I pick it up at the Santiago Airport. Does anyone know how that works/customs, etc. I can't ship it in the shipping container with the rest of my stuff because that container will not ship off before I begin working in Chile and without my equipment, I can't work. It'll be over the $1500 business exemption for professional equipment so I know I will have to pay a fee for the difference.

by **eeuunikkeiexpat** » Mon May 03, 2010 12:20 am

Air cargo is definitely outside my experience.

Charles? Hello Charles? Where the hell are you?

Read up on what Charles has arranged with periodic air cargo shipments to Temuco, I don't know if he can work something out for other locations.

by **Ripsigg** » Mon May 03, 2010 1:48 am

Just a note about repackaging before sending them: Make sure the tags are removed and any other things that make the clothing look new.

by **sputnic1** » Mon May 03, 2010 9:17 am

eeuunikkeiexpat wrote:Air cargo is definitely outside my experience.

Charles? Hello Charles? Where the hell are you?

Read up on what Charles has arranged with periodic air cargo shipments to Temuco, I don't know if he can work something out for other locations.

OK. This will be an important question for me to have answered. I'm planning on a 2nd business with vitamins, supplements, herbs, healthy stuff, etc. and I will be shipping in a lot of product. All this is contingent on two things: the market wanting and can afford what I offer and it being possible to ship in the product I want to offer. I can learn the cost now, but I won't understand the market for at least one-two years.

by **patagoniax** » Thu Jul 15, 2010 1:35 am

PaChileVoy wrote:Hmmmm.... how I would love to copy many of the comments regarding the bad mail service in Chile. As a U.S. Postal Service employee, I can gloat about how good 'we' move the mail. In spite of the horror stories many americans may have about our 'snail mail' and how bad the service is. I have mailed packages to Santiago from the U.S. and it has taken no fewer than 15 days each time. I guess it's sort of a thing to keep in mind when complaining about our US postal service, in stark comparison to what I have read here.

On the other hand, when I was visiting the US some time ago and went to a post office to mail a 40-lb box of books to Chile, they said they didn't know how to do it. And so they wouldn't do it. They were nice about it, in an air-headed way. I even gave them the USPS web page for the international mailing regulations. Still no chalupa. They said they would look into it and email me. They never did. A query to USPS via their website got me the the usual "how did we do?" online questionnaire a few days later, which could only be answered with "ones" (rating from one to ten, a zero for zero performance not being an option) because USPS never did reply to my query about why I can't get normal books mailed to Chile from US post offices. So let's not be too smug. USPS sucks, and Correos de Chile sucks. The only difference is that USPS charges outrageously more.

by **patagoniax** » Thu Jul 15, 2010 1:59 am

The US in USPS likes to think of itself as a civilised nation. We cannot say the same for the Chile in Correos de Chile. The Chilean postal system, like the Chilean education and legal systems, are living artifacts of the 19th century mindset and remind us why Chile is enamored of its Third World status.

Some time ago I determined that I needed a casilla, a post office box. Now, one has reasonable expectations that a post office box is a technologically primordial sort of thing. But alas, the concept baffles the average civil servant in rural Chile, as others have observed. I am of the opinion that many of them should not be let onto the streets unsupervised.

In this case, I paid for a PO box, but did not receive a key. Now, in a sane world, a clerk would have said, OK, let's rent a casilla for which we have the required set of two keys for the customer.

But Chile is not among the sane world nations. And so Señora Clerk says come back some other day and she will try to get some keys made. All the while the clock is running on my rented casilla and I can't use it because I have no key. This goes on for days. With each visit, the clerk is cheerful, in the same way that the mentally deficient and the chronically untrainable have learned to be pleasant.

This goes on for quite some time, and since I live some distance from this town it represents something of an effort to come in to be told that yes we have no keys yet.

Finally, on the eleventh visit, I get the keys to the casilla. On the same day, the Chilean congress ratifies an amendment recognising that the sun does not go around the earth, but that Copernicus is still wrong.

Chile: Un País Lindo pero Atrasado

by **patagoniax** » Thu Jul 15, 2010 2:18 am

It may be worth mentioning that in addition to the Correos de Chile carteros, there are private mailing companies that also deliver mail. Some business organisations, such as utility companies, recognise that the state really sucks at delivering mail reliably. So in some areas you may encounter people delivering mail who are not with Correos de Chile. Bear in mind that if a private mail delivery person brings an item, they are not legally allowed to charge the 30CLP per item since the delivery charges are paid for by the company that hired them.

It is also my understanding that if you do not wish to have the Correos de Chile cartero deliver your mail, you can make arrangements to have it held at the post office, where you can elect to pick it up when you feel like it. In that way you can legally avoid paying the cartero the 30 CLP per piece delivery fee. I have no personal experience with this practice since I use a casilla, but one can imagine a disgruntled cartero going postal over such a slight, and disappearing all your mail someplace where the sun don't shine.

by **Vicki and Greg Lansen** » Thu Jul 15, 2010 11:18 am

I had fairly decent experiences with Correos Chile, compared to other Central and South American countries. I was surprised at the cost for mailing ordinary envelopes and shocked at the cost for sending packages! Even inside Chile, sending a postcard was 500 pesos!

On another note, I had mail sent to me in Futa. My addrress was

My Name
Futaleufu, Reg X
Chile

I got everything sent (I think) and often received things within two weeks from the US (not counting the interruption of service due to Volcan Chaiten). There is no "delivery" service in Futa, just cubbies in alphabetical order, and big boxes for the municipality, Carabineros, and hospital. Us extranjeros had our own box which was handed to us so we could sort through and pick out what was ours. Mail for ex-pats who are seasonal visitors was actually held an entire year or more until they returned the following season. Most of the locals used the bus routes to send letters and packages for much less (100 pesos for a letter).

I applied for, received and paid for a casilla in Futa (#25) but the post master continued to toss my mail in the ex-pat box, gleefully handling it to me and sharing in my joy of finding letters from home. I repeatedly showed him my mailbox key and showed him that it actually opened my casilla, and he agreed it did indeed work. Not once did he place anything in my casilla except for mail that did not belong to me. Go figure! He was a charming fellow who also made wonderful bread (the post office doubled as a bakery). He was fired as postmaster and seemed relieved.

by **eeuunikkeiexpat** » Mon Jul 26, 2010 3:41 pm

http://www.ilovechile.cl/2010/07/26/chiles-daily-news-brief-july-26th/9868 wrote:... Postal Worker Union president Jaime Romero said that if Correos de Chile fails to comply with their demands, they will be forced to start a legal strike to begin on August 2.

The unions have declared themselves in state of alert until July 29, the final date in which the strike could be called off. Romero said that the employees are uniting and it’s probable the strike will occur since they are not willing to compromise their benefits. ...

by **STORKLADY53** » Tue Jul 27, 2010 10:38 am

I'm sorry...yet ANOTHER strike for services that are either non-existent or poor at best?!! Give me a break...jake.

by **admin** » Tue Jul 27, 2010 11:41 am

That is great. We might get our mail now that all the thieves are on strike.

by **STORKLADY53** » Tue Jul 27, 2010 3:37 pm

Hmmmm. You have a valid point oh wise Admin!!

Chile Forum

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HEADS UP! - CORREOS STRIKE POSSIBLE

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Who is online

Need Help In Chile?

Phone From Outside Chile: 1-917-470-9653 ( USA to Chile)
In Chile Land Line: (56) 65 421 024
Cell Phone 747 97974 (From a Cell Phone in Chile dial with no other numbers)

Chile Forum

Who is online

Need Help In Chile?

Phone From Outside Chile: 1-917-470-9653 ( USA to Chile) In Chile Land Line: (56) 65 421 024 Cell Phone 747 97974 (From a Cell Phone in Chile dial with no other numbers)

Phone From Outside Chile: 1-917-470-9653 ( USA to Chile)
In Chile Land Line: (56) 65 421 024
Cell Phone 747 97974 (From a Cell Phone in Chile dial with no other numbers)