Managing mailboxes or PO boxes in Dominican Republic

There is no postal service, at least not in Las Terrenas! There is a post office, but those who have tried to have things mailed here have either experienced tremendous delays or had the items disappear. I'm not sure how mail delivery would even work here - our house has no address and our road has no name!

I've had a few insurance documents that had to be sent from Santo Domingo to Las Terrenas. For those items, they were either sent by bus or transferred from one Mail Boxes Etc. office to another.

There is none anywhere in the country unfortunately!

I have actually had mail delivered via the Dominican mail system to the house. I reside in Bonao,there is a Post Office here. The problem is that it takes about an average of 2 months to receive something from the US. Better to use a service like EPS. Now I received a tax refund,but the US government sent a letter that the check had to be picked up at the U S consulate.

My advice is never ever rely on the postal system here!  Anything of any value is 99% likely to be stolen!  You can use the postal service to mail envelopes out with good success. Currently they are not mailing any packages to the USA due to tariff issues

Use a mail forwarder. There are many of them.  First use one of the bigger well known franchises.  The smaller ones tend to have issues or to disappear.   Second if you have choices where you live, choose one that is convenient or who delivers to you at low or no extra cost.

All of them play by the same rules of customs! Currently under US $200 is tax and duty free. Above that you will be charged duty and ITBIS.  Be aware customs can band together any deliveries arriving on the same day from multiple sources!  And remember the cost is about US $5 a pound.  Some companies round up and that can get expensive.  Most companies offer better rates for heavier items! Shop accordingly.

The latest bump to our options is Amazon opening a distribution center here. If you create an Amazon address with your DR location here, Amazon will show you all items that can be delivered directly to you here.  Be very aware most of these come with a hefty delivery fee!  I compare costs with direct delivery and delivery via my mail forwarder!  Most of the time I am better using my mail forwarder!

About 3 years ago I sent a Christmas card with a little bit of money in it  ( I didn’t know it at the time there is no mail system ) the person assured me other people get mail delivered to their office , well I sent a card and heard nothing back so I asked if they had received it and they said no ….. so they went down to their post in PP and the mail man at the facility said if they wanted to they could go through the 10 mail bins in the back themselves , they eventually found the card , ( this is the end of January ) it was ripped open and the few dollars was gone so they complained to the man and he told them to call up Santa Domingo and complain the government  , good luck , yep no postal service there