U.S.P.S. ?

I found that if you send priorty mail w/ confirmation of deliver, which costs 80 cents, packages will arrive in about 5-7 days from Florida. And, I found this out from the Postal Worker in Florida when I mailed some of my personal belongings to STX, otherwise the Island is in not hurry to get them to you. Welcome to Island living!

If they were shipped priority mail - which I assume to be true since you had a tracking # and they were sent to the actual Post Office in Tutu - not a mail service - their usual path from Fla. is PR - Sugar Estate - Tutu.
Could take a few weeks or longer if they were not prioity - shipped by land means: on a boat in a trailer in Post Office language not in an airplane.

A postal worker in MN once told me to insure every box I send to an address outside the continental US and they will be delivered faster. It works. I just sent two boxes from MN to STX - the first was sent for me by someone and she did not insure it, the second I sent myself about 9 days later and insured it. Both boxes got to STX on the same day. The insured box only took 4 days the uninsured one took 13 days. And always send using Priority Mail or it will take 6 weeks.

The general wisdom I hear about delayed mail is "it's probably stuck in Puerto Rico."

Here is my recent experience with shipping boxes from a country post office in Virginia to STJ. I used parcel post + insurance on 2/3 of the boxes and media mail + delivery confirmation on the remaining 1/3. I also printed out big address labels for most of the boxes. Observations:

-- The average shipping time for everything I've received so far has been about 12 days -- some came in a week, some took more than two weeks.
-- The only three boxes that I hand-addressed are still MIA three weeks later -- so I think the computer-printed labels made a difference.
-- The media mail with delivery confirmation was no slower than parcel post plus insurance, and sometimes faster.
-- Somewhere in Puerto Rico, they have a giant box-crushing machine. I can think of no other explanation for the condition of some of the parcels I've received! If your box is not taped and bubble-wrapped to withstand hurricane-force abuse, the contents might not arrive intact or at all. Even things you think couldn't possibly be damaged in the mail, can be.

I've found mail to be ridiculously quick here recently. We shipped 30 boxes from DC to STX last month. I shipped them about 2 weeks before coming back so they'd be here a few weeks after I got here. I shipped them parcel post with insurance. They were here in 3 days! I had sent them to the office as we get package delivery and I owe some co-workers for their help in storing them until I got back.

I had a few other things shipped here in the last few weeks and they've all been arriving within 3-4 days from the East Coast. This is the best it's ever been for me. I joined blockbuster online last Thursday and had my first DVD by Monday. I coudl get used to this but I know better 🙂

One caveat, some of the boxes looked like they had gone through the ringer and we ended up with a bunch of broken bowls and knick knacks that, despite being bubble wrapped, were shattered. We knew we took a chance but some of the boxes were REALLY destroyed and even had stickers on them saying "deilvered damaged." We couldn't prove value though so didn't make a claim. We get the insurance because I've been told it helps it arrive faster and arrive in general.

Sean

So what's the deal with the Post Office? I noticed in Gallows Bay they have a sign up that says "Summer Hours". They are now closed on Saturday and they close at 4:00 weekdays. Is this to save money? Did they reduce the salaries of the postal workers to reflect the reduced hours?

Rotorhead, they are cutting hours and closing POs nationwide, not just here.

Sean, I had the same experience -- some stuff I shipped in early July made it here in just a few days! I wound up having to pay $100 in storage fees when I arrived on island 2 weeks afterwards...

Very true on the cut backs, home delivery is very close to ending on Saturday. Email and on line bill pay is killing the USPS. Don't mind the cut backs, but 3+ weeks for a package to get from Florida to STT is ridiculous. Inexcusable, poor management and obviously the word priority is an oxymoron on the islands. No offense to the nice people on this board. Sailing many years in the VI's, I love island time and totally understand it. But USPS is a well paying goverment job and should be treated as such.

sail: "Well paying government jobs" is the key to the redistribution of wealth. And we do it very well here, thank you! 😉

Sail -- so you actually think the packages are being held up here by the STT postal workers -[ island time?? ]

We'll see soon. I just mailed one yesterday Priority Mail to STT and another today, parcel but insured. Anyone want to make bets?

My wife picked up a package at Richmond yesterday and when she got there it was absolutely shredded. She was told that if she took it or opened it to check for damage that "it was hers." What a stupid policy. So instead she called Baby's R Us and they are sending another shipment.

It seems that many packages get shredded coming in here...I know they had equipment issues in San Juan that led to this last year but it appears that the problem is back.

Sean

Sail -- so you actually think the packages are being held up here by the STT postal workers -[ island time?? ]

Is the solution so simple as to having packages sent to STT, flown to STT directly. So where are the packages, why are they sitting somewhere not being "mailed". Why is USPS so effient, leaves Florida, and chaos ensues. Is USPS the same company? There is a major breakdown in the system somewhere.:-o

All of our mail is routed through Puerto Rico.

An update -- my last three boxes just arrived. So that makes the range for USPS parcel post insured delivery in July 2009 somewhere between a few days to 3.5 weeks from Virginia to STJ.

Sean is absolutely right about the shredding problem. My company shipped me a laptop here via Express Mail, and it's nothing short of a miracle I received both laptop and charger in working condition. I didn't even have to open the package to remove both items; that's how bad it was.

Another problem is shipping anything liquid; no matter how well it is sealed, things always seem to leak at least a bit. Although the box wasn't in too terrible shape on the outside, my last CVS.com order arrived with one completely empty bottle and the rest of the contents soaked (they were good about replacing it all, though). Lots of tape and lots of plastic bags will help a bit, but the box-destroying equipment is pretty fierce.

Leaking can be caused from pressure and tempurature fluctuations on the planes.

update, packages arrived in STT today, 17 days after leaving Jacksonville, Fl. Don't know if they are in Tu Tu yet, but they were scanned as arrived.:D

Are they using the Tutu Post Office or the private Mail Service there?

the P.O. box store, 4605 TuTu Park Mall

That is a private mail service and has nothing whatever to do with the US Postal Service - it is only an address and simply a business - An extra step in a complicated system.

Well, today I received my regular parcel post insured package. But haven't seen my priority mail yet! Gotta love it!

The ladies at the post office are always telling newbies that priority can take as long as 2 to 3 weeks to get here. If you need it in 2 to 3 days you gotta use express mail.