Is sending merchandise to Mexico a disaster? Hard experience has led some to think so.
Tales abound of Christmas gifts sent via U.S. Mail (and Correos de Mexico, the national postal service) that arrive in February — or never show up. Likewise, even privately shipped (FedEx, DHL, UPS) packages from abroad may be impeded by Mexican Customs or other snafus. Private mailboxes, though expensive and not very fast, are another possible solution. Sometimes foreign residents resort to shipping goods they want to friends from their home countries planning a visit.
But recent improvements in some sectors may have changed all this.
“Surprising” is how one foreign resident of Guadalajara describes his purchase in January 2015, of a laptop from the U.S. website of e-commerce giant Amazon.com.
“I ordered it on a Saturday,” said Richard Ashby. “I kept checking online and saw it was sent on Monday. It arrived on Tuesday.”
Ashby recalls that he paid around US$50 for expedited delivery, which was provided by Amazon via their contract with a shipping company such as FedEx.
“Amazing” is how Chicagoan Susan Draftz describes her experience at Christmas with books from Amazon.com. “I ordered four books and a DVD and I got two of the books three days later. The shipping was free,” she added, “because my order was over US$65.”
The rest of the order “wasn’t so amazing,” Draftz admits. “That part took three weeks, but I could track it the whole time. I got messages saying, ‘Your order will arrive a little late. The shipment is tied up in Customs in Monterrey.’ They’re bending over backwards on international shipping. It’s very dependable.”
To be sure, ordering from Amazon is still not flawless – many vitamins and health care products cannot be shipped to Mexico. “I tried to order vitamins from Amazon and I couldn’t,” Ashby said, “because apparently there are so many regulations.”
Such products are also unavailable at Amazon Mexico, which kicked off in June 2015.
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