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Living in Belize, Pt. 6
By Jane Goodwin | August 15, 2007
John Madeira tells our readers how to ship things to Belize!
“Several people have asked about shipping to us. If you do ship something, be aware that a customs form must be filled out. This is not a hard form to complete. These forms are available at the post office.
When I was shipping a lot to Diane, I took a few of these forms home in order to save time at the post office. One thing to keep in mind is the value column. First of all, no one opens boxes shipped by mail. Secondly, Belize imposes duty on the value and nature of items shipped in. I usually marked the contents as used books, snacks, and magazines. Regardless of actual value, I always marked the value of contents less than $20. Belize duty on some items is 100% of value. One thing to keep in mind is that one gets $100 insurance on all items shipped via airmail. We never lost a box shipped to Belize.
Sometimes, despite their being shipped airmail the boxes arrive in 3 weeks. Other times, they arrive in a week. If you ship by the lowest rate, figure a month to six weeks for delivery. Ship Airmail!
Mailing of letters is really strange and it is hard to advise what to do. It seems that mail from the US arrives in Belize fairly quickly. Usually one week. One real surprise is that we received a regular mail (39cent) letter in 3 days! Mail from Belize is a different story. I remember a few letters that took between 3 weeks and a month to arrive in the US. These letters, as with all letters we mail, were mailed airmail.”
Mail service of any kind is usually slower in another country than in the States, but Belize seems to be faster than most! Thank you for sharing your mailing experience, Mr. Madeira.
Sphere ItTopics: Prices, Belize, Culture, Travel / Relocation, Lifestyle, Retirement Overseas |
