Winter seniors

Wife and I will be staying in Ajijic for four months this winter. This board has quite a bit of information. We have been reading it for several months and have learned quite a bit.. We stayed at the Nueva Posada last january for 10 days and really enjoyed the town. One question is about mail, which company is best. Also will they resend mail that is in transit when you depart for home? Fedex would be OK. We are flying not driving and have our tickets already. We checked all of our medicines with the pharmacy across from the german restaurant and they carry everything. Hopefully we understand most potential problem issues. Looking forward to a much warmer November than Traverse City, MI

Hola Xzoomie, welcome to the board. Unless there is mail you absolutely need to have in your possession I would recommend having it redirected to a trusted friend or family member back home. We have lived here for 5 years now and still use our daughter's address in Canada to receive any mail. She calls us if it looks important. We don't receive much mail as we have most things come electronically. Anything requiring a signature gets scanned and emailed to us. We sign it and mail it directly back to whomever requires it.

Otherwise there are several mail services here which I'm sure some other members can comment on.

Handymail, in the strip mall east of Superlake, is a reliable service many expats use. Pay by the month or longer. I wouldn't recommend the Mexican postal service. I think there is a reason that their logo is a carrier pigeon.

gringal wrote:
I wouldn't recommend the Mexican postal service.  I think there is a reason that their logo is a carrier pigeon.

LOL! Too true! And their logo should probably be a Pony Express 'cuz I think even a carrier pigeon would be faster that a pony.

Still waiting three month for garden seeds from Poland (they were supposed to be from London, but switched at the last minute). Tracking shows them entering Mexico, clearing customs, then on their way. Never got here. I don't think any postie is interested in stealing unknown garden seeds. The only thing I can think of is that he saw the Polish stamps, adding them to his collection, and throwing the package away. Either that, or in some corner, of some obscure post office, there is a Chilean Jasmine Vine slowly creeping up the wall.

The major reason for mail is our tax preparer likes to have paper copies by 1Apr. We have to file both US and MI. Thanks for the answers.

I have gone into both Handy Mail and iShop and sent required paper copies without having a mailbox. Handy Mail does a run to the border to snail mail things from there and with iShop you use the courier service of your choice. Courier service will give you sticker shock but it's less than paying for a mailbox.

I send documents to Canada through iShop. 50 pesos and it takes about 10 days to arrive, sometimes sooner. I have had regular ole mail come from Canada that took from 6 to 16 weeks. Mexico postal service must be one of the worst on the planet.....jaja.

CanuckBob wrote:Hola Xzoomie, welcome to the board. Unless there is mail you absolutely need to have in your possession I would recommend having it redirected to a trusted friend or family member back home. We have lived here for 5 years now and still use our daughter's address in Canada to receive any mail. She calls us if it looks important. We don't receive much mail as we have most things come electronically. Anything requiring a signature gets scanned and emailed to us. We sign it and mail it directly back to whomever requires it.

Otherwise there are several mail services here which I'm sure some other members can comment on.

What CBoB said. We have everything sent electronically and deal with what few things actually HAVE to be mailed through one of the local mail shops. We have not found a need for a separate mail service/P.O. Box (costing $$).

xzoomie wrote:The major reason for mail is our tax preparer likes to have paper copies by 1Apr.  We have to file both US and MI.  Thanks for the answers.

We have our daughter courier all our tax documents into our accountant in Vancouver. I don't know if an arrangement like that would work in your case but it might be better than risking loss through mail services to Mexico.

You can also send mail by Sol y Luna for cheaper than iShop.

All of your replies are appreciated.  I think we have the solution to the mail problem.  Thanks everybody for the rapid response.

No problem. If you have any other questions, fire away. You will usually get a number of potential solutions to choose from. See ya next winter.