What to do with US Mail

Nooooooo!  If it arrives it could take 6 months. 

You can have it forwarded to a "mail forwarded" who brings it to the DR for about US $5 a pound. So decide if you want and need it and then find a mail forwarder near where you will live in Las Terrenas.  When you open an account they give you an address in Miami.  That is where you send everything.

Look for Mailbox Etc, BM Cargo, CPS and there are others. I don't know who is in las terrenas

Could I buy products on Amazon and have the packages forwarded to the DR the same way; or do you recommend something else? Or, do you buy from Mercadolibre? If so, how do you get those packages?

@planner we are considering using USA2Me mail forwarding company.

    Could I buy products on Amazon and have the packages forwarded to the DR the same way; or do you recommend something else? Or, do you buy from Mercadolibre? If so, how do you get those packages?        -@gainkeeper

Yes, open a MailBoxes Etc or CPS account here. They will provide you a Miami address. Amazon will ship to this address and forward your stuff to the local MBE or CPS (or forwarder of your choice) local office. We use both MBE and CPS here in Las Terrenas with good results. Five dollars US per pound, so it can get costly.

@bonnie28 Hi Bonnie! First of all, you can't forward US Mail to an international address. In addition to that, there is no regular postal delivery in DR. Here in Las Terrenas, there are very few addresses and tons of roads without names!

Use a mail forwarder. CPS and MBE are the two biggest in Las Terrenas, and the Miami address if you need to have anything sent to you. We have not had a great experience with correspondence sent to us through either service. Packages are no problem and arrive from Miami in 3-6 days, but the few letters we've had mailed took months to arrive!

Since we are here full-time, we no longer have a home in the US. We use my parents' address as our "permanent" address. If they get mail for us, they scan it and email it, and if we need to keep the physical item, they hold on to it for us to pick up on our next visit, or they package it with a few other items in a box and send it. If you are concerned about missing mail in the months you are away, I would recommend forwarding to a trusted friend or family member rather than having it all forwarded here.

Thank you.  That was very helpful