Mail can be a problem. It’s been difficult for us to get our local cable, electric, and telephone bill, let alone anything from the United States. We have received letters mailed from the US, but it took about four weeks. They were never actually delivered to our apartment, we found them in a pile of mail left on a chair in the lobby of our apartment. Apparently, others receive mail the same way, but we have little confidence in it.  I’ll share our approach to handling snail mail.

First, we minimized the amount of first class mail we receive by using online statements and billing whenever possible. We also cancelled all our magazines subscriptions. However, we were not able to totally shut down our U.S. mail.

We have used a PakMail address for years as a matter of privacy and convenience. Basically, they provide us a street address and a mailbox, similar to a Post Office box. The cost is about $20.00 a month. We also opened a DHL account in the United States. DHL has an office in Playa del Carmen located on 20th Avenue and 12th Street. That’s nice for us as it’s only a couple blocks from our apartment.

Once a month PakMail packs up all our first class mail and ships it to us in care of the DHL office here. They only send documents and it cost us about $50.00 US from Tampa, FL. Yes, they could forward packages, but so far we have resisted the tempation. The cost of shipping escalates and Mexico customs will add a solid tariff on any goods you import into the country. Everything inbound and outbound goes through Mexico City. It’s better to have someone mule goods for you in their luggage, which will generally pass through customs without any tariff.

For outgoing mail, we send a package of letters back to PakMail, they apply postage and mail them for us. An outgoing document package costs about $300 pesos to Tampa, Florida from Playa del Carmen.

You could just as easily use a family member to collect your mail and forward it to you. We still recommend DHL as your courier. They are the dominate International carrier in Playa.

To forward mail through the DHL office here, use this address:
Your name 
Calle 12 Norte Numero 172
Entre 20 y 15 Avenida
Norte Centro 77710
Playa Del Carmen Q. Roo
Mexico

There are a host of mail forwarders in the United States. One with an interesting twist is USAbox. They will not only receive and forward your mail and packages, but they also scan your mail so you can accept or discard it via the Internet. You still might want them to forward to your mail to the DHL address above.

There is also a PakMail office here in Playa del Carmen. Their contact information is:

PAKMAIL PLAYA DEL CARMEN
Av. 10 Nte # 244 esq. 12 Nte Loc. 4
sobre la 12 Nte. PCN Centro
Playa del Crmen, Q. Roo CP 77710
Tel 01  (984) 8034251
Fax 01 (984) 8034481