Sending and receiving packages in Ecuador

My general experience is that it's difficult to get packages in Ecuador. The postal service is privately owned and completely unreliable. (I've sent myself postcards from various locations and none have ever turned up.) Courier services into Ecuador can be very pricey. I shipped a parcel here that was under a pound and it cost $160 Cdn to send the parcel. We were charged a further $25usd plus IVA as an import tax. It was a part for my oven that isn't available in Ecuador, which was delivered to my residence. Even small items like a Halloween sized box of candy caused issues at customs, as the form wasn't legible enough. We waited a month to clear the mess up and I had to pick up the package at the courier office. The easiest way to get items into the country is to have someone bring them to you or find them in country, if possible. Courier service within Ecuador has always been highly reliable and affordable and deliver office to door.

My best advice: adapt to what is available here, whenever possible. Let go of pet brands and any nostalgia for "back home" items.

I agree with you about the mail here. You might get it and you might not.  Any thing you dont want to lose,  never rely on Ecuador mailing system.

Good advise, however we have friends that have reliable inexpensive mail service. We dont personally use mail service but can find out details if anyone is interested. In Ecuador, we use Servi Entrega and bus services, and have never had a problem in the last twelve years.

PEI Red wrote:

My general experience is that it's difficult to get packages in Ecuador. The postal service is privately owned and completely unreliable.

This is a valuable post, Red, showing why Expats should avoid using Correos del Ecuador whenever possible.

The post contained a piece of information I had never heard or seen before .. that the postal service is privately owned.

Who owns it?

cccmedia

cccmedia wrote:

Who owns it?

This government page of Ecuador's Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores y Movilidad Humana would seem to indicate that Correos del Ecuador is a government run and owned utility:

https://www.cancilleria.gob.ec/correos- … vicio-4x4/

This page confirms that suspicion, as the URL uses a gob.ec address:

https://www.correosdelecuador.gob.ec/

That the Ecuadorian government runs and operates Correos del Ecuador should give you a big clue as to why its performance is not so good...

I was told that it was privately owned by a local Ecuadorian, which seemed to make sense to me, but I recently saw a government building that oversees the correo, so my info might be incorrect. (Perhaps they meant something like a crown corporation in Canada.) I never thought to ask.

My one in-country story about Correo Ecuador: my sister desperately wanted to send post cards from Cuenca, and I told her not to bother. She insisted and when we got to the post office, they had no stamps available and sent us to another little tienda that "might" have some. (They didn't, either.) Needless to say, she mailed the post cards from Lima on their way home.

PEI Red wrote:

My one in-country story about Correo Ecuador: my sister desperately wanted to send post cards from Cuenca, and I told her not to bother. She insisted and when we got to the post office, they had no stamps available....

No stamps at the post office?!

Since stamping machines exist, the only explanation for this is that Correos does not trust its empleados.

cccmedia

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PEI Red wrote:

My general experience is that it's difficult to get packages in Ecuador. The postal service is privately owned and completely unreliable. (I've sent myself postcards from various locations and none have ever turned up.) Courier services into Ecuador can be very pricey. I shipped a parcel here that was under a pound and it cost $160 Cdn to send the parcel. We were charged a further $25usd plus IVA as an import tax. It was a part for my oven that isn't available in Ecuador, which was delivered to my residence. Even small items like a Halloween sized box of candy caused issues at customs, as the form wasn't legible enough. We waited a month to clear the mess up and I had to pick up the package at the courier office. The easiest way to get items into the country is to have someone bring them to you or find them in country, if possible. Courier service within Ecuador has always been highly reliable and affordable and deliver office to door.

My best advice: adapt to what is available here, whenever possible. Let go of pet brands and any nostalgia for "back home" items.

Excellent firsthand account, Red! With regards to brands, Ecuador has improved in so many areas in recent years. I think this is attributed to returning Ecuadorians who have bought with them their expertise and experience.

For foreign food item name brands, what I do now is take advantage of the 3 for 2 promo that is being offered on many imported brands nowadays. Take Smuckers jelly (preserve) which typically costs about $4.39.  With a SuperMaxi membership and buying 3x2, the price comes down to about $2.69 each. Not bad at all.

Something like this that has a long validity date is good to buy.

I'm not surprised. I was just at a restaurant that was out of bananas and coffee ... in Ecuador.

One of the best subjects in a long time. Good info.

HI
Does this also include sending packages from the USA?
I have a package to send to my Ecuadorian family - about 10-12 pounds (5 kilos).
Will the service you refer to get it there? How do I access this service?
Thanks,
Robin and Joel

Eh, good day

Im from Vancouver, and have a house in Puerto Lopez, Ecuador.

We have no mail service in Puerto Lopez, so Ive a Post Office Box
in Manta. They told me at Manta Correo that Parcels for Puerto Lopez
go to some other town. I got mail going all the place. As a retired
Letter Carrier from Canada Post...it really gets my goat.

Anyway, we do have DHL Office in Puerto Lopez. So, I tried buying stuff
on Ebay with Global Shipping. That is all DHL. Well, DHL got the Parcel in
Manta, but would not Deliver it to Puerto Lopez unless I phoned them. I
dont speak Spanish. So...they sent the Parcel back to sender...even though
I sent the five English emails asking them to please not do that. They dont
answer emails.

Now..I have another Laptop stuck in that system. We are having
email war with them.

Sorry....i guess there is nothing to offer.

You might want to make some Spanish speaking friends.

My wife has a cousin in New York that sends packages often through Delgado Courier CIA which operates New York City, Newark and Chicago, if those cities are shipping options for you. It’s significantly less than other couriers and we’ve not had any problems as yet.