I've been living in Nepal for over 9 years now, so I've experienced many things that short-term visitors don't expect to deal with. I'm learning more every day and Nepal is developing pretty fast, too. This post is an update to what I'd written previously. Why? I've had two more ordeals around the postal issue, so there are a lot more lessons I've learned the hard way; you can learn the easy way.
This is one of our earlier videos from our Youtube channel; please excuse the microphone issue and you'll be rewarded with a much easier postal experience in Nepal. I hope you enjoy it.
I needed something I just couldn’t find in Nepal, and therefore had to order something on the internet and had it mailed. It shouldn’t have been an ordeal to write home about.
Each year or so I need to have credit/debit cards sent to me and it usually costs at least $120 and this last time my brother put BA for Bagmati district in Nepal and it went to Bosnia; it finally arrived. Another time I had it go to a friend in Kathmandu to his business, then I had it go to my other friend’s business in Changunarayan. These were the best plans, but I had to pay for FedX international rates for letters.
So when I ordered this special cream, since it was a package, I thought I’d skip putting a person’s name on the order and just have it go to the business. After a few weeks, it hadn’t arrived. I looked up the order and saw that it had actually arrived in Nepal. I sent Bikram to get it when he was already in Kathmandu.
Although my employee had the printout from the internet, the man refused to give the package to him. He neededthe man ’s citizenship papers. Kamal, the owner of the school, took me the next day to pick it up. He actually brought the stamp from the school and his citizenship card. I knew better than to show my face for fear of more charges.
It actually took two hours and four more trips into the post office for Kamal while I waited at the street. It got so ridiculous by the end when the man finally asked Kamal what company he had ordered the items from. It was like an interrogation. The name was on the invoice in his hands, but the man was sure anyone should know the company one had ordered products from. Kamal called me to ask me. I told him to look at the invoice, but the man wanted information about the store and products. It was a medicinal cream. Did he really need to know where I was intending on putting it?
It went like this: first Kamal needed to write a letter certifying that he had the right to collect packages for the school and needed to have his citizenship card copied. We bought one piece of copy paper from a nearby stationery store for a rupee; I wrote the letter. Fortunately, the monsoon has started and there was electricity running to make a copy of his card. Otherwise, it would have been a problem to find someone with a generator or inverter to be able to make a copy. He had even brought his official stamp for the Thangka painting school and we stamped the letter in a couple places. Done. He went back in and I was sure it would be fine. 30 minutes later here he came out again with no package. What happened? The stamp wasn’t dark enough. He left the stamp with me so he had to bring it back in to show the postmaster.
Lessons learned:
1. Do not put Nepal's country code with the phone number. If you do it will be too long for the space allotted and they won’t be able to contact you when it arrives. Putting your own name and then C/O then your Nepali friend's name.
2. Always put a name on it, preferably a Nepali whom you trust. Actually, your guesthouse will be fine but put the owner or manager’s name.
3. Understand there is a difference between a letter and a package. Letters are delivered to businesses, packages are not. There is no mail delivery to homes in Nepal.
4. Be prepared to pay a tariff for the item, no matter how little it cost. My medical cream that cost $65, plus $44 for shipping USPS, required 650 NRs. for the tariff (about $6).
5. Use the opportunity to have a few things sent to you that you cannot find in Kathmandu. Perhaps your country has the best brand of something that you miss while you are in Nepal. You can find many things in Nepal, an electric toothbrush and such, but there isn't a big selection of vitamins, for example. If you need one thing you might as well send a few more, right?
6. Just be sure its value is under $200 value. There will be a problem with the tariff if the value is over this amount.
7. If it's mediation you should put the prescription in the box along with the invoice or receipt.
When my debit card didn't work we went to the post office to research it. The postal worker suggested we help ourselves to three boxes in the corner to search for the letter ourselves.
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| Sujit looking through boxes for our letter. |
| In my opinion, sending items home is much safer. After covering it in a cloth cover it is sewn shut and then stamped with an old fashion wax stamp. Then it is taken to a corner where everything is sent directly to the postal distribution center. Surprisingly, the signs and stamp on the postal boxes, the entire system is directed by the US Postal Service. It is much cheaper than the DHL/UPS/FedEx systems of delivery. |  | ||
This was my plan from the original post on the topic:
"I think I learned a frugal trick to get my debit cards to me next time. I will have my brother pick up a couple warm jackets at a garage sale in the US. He can put the debit card at the bottom of the box, attached with tape in the underside of the box flap. He can send the box for $44 if there are just a couple of children’s jackets with a note that he hopes ‘all three jackets will be useful to the orphans.’ I would suggest putting the cards in a jacket pocket, but someone might take the jacket. If it goes well, this should save about $75 over the FedX/UPS rates." This worked perfectly as you can see by the video from our Youtube channel.
One other trick you might try is to have the package come to you but addressed to the UPS Office, Naxal, Bhupimarg, Kathmandu, Nepal, (opposite the police headquarters). Be sure to include your own name and Nepali phone number.
If you enjoyed this post please take a look at our Youtube channel, What About Nepal?
If you've heard all you want to hear on the subject, you might like to see our short trailer. If you are going to Nepal our videos will help you on a variety of levels for traveling to Nepal.
As we say, 'We teach the A,B,Cs of Nepal; Always Be Chillin'
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