How to get mail

Mailboxs, etc

Thank you. I think mail has been the biggest hurdle so far.

There may be two more similar services there

Depends on how much and what kind of mail.
If it's critical, maybe have your correspondents send UPS, Fedex or DHL.
If it's non Critical USPS will get to you in about 15 days.
Four weeks at most.
You ought to try some test mailings of first class letters and air mail letters and see if that'll do.

I am in McAllen, TX more frequently than expected and order quite a bit of stuff on the Internet from US sites.  I use MailboxesUSA in McAllen for several reasons.  Website: mailboxesusa.net.
They have been reliable for 7 years receiving all my US Mail.
They will reliably receive and hold even quite valuable packages.
They will forward to me anything I need in a hurry by Estafeta (a Mexico wide express service) for a fee in addition to express cost, avoiding hassles with Mexican Customs.

I normally bring in stuff, including a 27" computer monitor, when I'm up in McAllen, and never had a problem with Mexican Customs.  They really only get suspicious when there's an obvious excess or attempt to hide something.  So that reason is minor these days.

That's the balance I worked out.  I don't know what service Mailboxes Etc. provide but I have been quite pleased with the arrangement I have.

Thank you. I really appreciate the help.

Thank you.

Yow!  I just got a letter today 1/18/16 that was postmarked in Chicago on 10/26/15.

84 days with air mail postage on it.

None of the dozen or so letters I received from the States in Zacatecas took anywhere that long.

Having a mail service in the US for stuff that can't be done by email or FAX is a must.

FAXes are not too too exhorbitant.

If your sources can fax you, an online fax service can be had for around $15/mo.

Do not send anything by Mexican or US postal services. If it makes it, it can easily take a month and a half.

A business that has mailboxes on the US side of the border and retrieves your stuff at least weekly

Forwarding letters electronically by scanning them worked for me early on with a service in Florida.
They scanned the letters weekly and sent them by email.  As I remember, it cost about $20USD/mo.

It turned out I wanted mainly to order stuff from US businesses and had to have a physical place to receive it where I could pick it up or have it forwarded.

My volume of snail mail is minimal, almost everything is email now.
Oh yeah, I still get piles of junk mail, never to be forwarded and trashed when picked up.

Yikes!  Thanks for info.

Thank you

Yes indeed,letters from the states to the state of veracruz take between 6 weeks to 3 months

Luckily, the check that followed was sent to my US address which I will be visiting in a couple og days.

I get Mail from Europe that can take up to four months to arrive.However the senders are aware of this i hope they are at least

We are in Playa del Carmen, so driving over the border to pick up is not an option.  We did the test and had first class mail from FL take 62 days.  We use a service in Houston called US Global Mail.  They are a forwarding service.  All our mail goes there.  We can see on line what has arrived and at we choose when to have it sent to us via FedEx (or other, UPS, DHL).  Not inexpensive but it has worked well for 3 years.

The absolute guaranteed way to use the Mexican postal system is to have mail sent from the US registered mail for about $18.00 USD and recieve it at your home in Mexico in about 6 to 9 days and sign for it and have the person sending it give you the data to track it on-line at the USPS website.

To send mail to the US go into a Mexican post office and send it certified mail to the US for about $2.00 USD and track it on-line on the Mexican postal service website. It takes about 6 to 9 days to arrive.

Don´t use US priority mail or regular mail from the US to Mexico. Don´t use Mexican regular mail to the US. If you do use regular mail services [ US or Mexican] you are gambling with the mail and may never recieve it. 

When getting mail sent from the US give the person sending it the complete address exactly as written on your CFE bill and don´t leave out anything. This is important.

All the advice is really appreciated. I guess the best thing is to send as little mail as possible either way.

Check with La Conexion on Aldama in centro historico. They are like a post office and you setup a local box there for delivery from Laredo.