About two weeks ago I noticed that the coffee table in the lobby downstairs was covered with new magazines instead of the usual doggie toys and maté fixings. I was surprised enough to ask Santiago about it (I usually work on the theory that if I am not told about something, it is for my own good).
It turns out that they were delivered by Victor Benavides, the proprietor of Miami-Box, which is located just a few blocks away here in Buceo.
Victor operates a mail receiving service much like any private mail box company in the US–the difference is that the mail comes in from the US Postal Service, and then goes out once a week as air freight to Montevideo, and is then delivered by the Miami-Box van throughout Montevideo.
I arranged for Victor to visit me so I could get first hand information from him. He has a very nice website at www.miami-box.com, but it is only in Spanish, and I am not confidant enough to write much based on my own translating skills. (I still remember John Kennedy telling the Berliners that he was a “jelly doughnut” and Jimmy Carter saying he wanted to “rape” the Polish people–one thing you have to say for King George the Second, he speaks Spanish better than he speaks English–but he still can’t say nuclear because the word is the same in both languages.) Sorry.
As I was saying, Victor was kind enough to visit me and explain how it works.
He has a warehouse in Miami to which your mail can be delivered. You have a street address with an apartment number (your mailbox number). Once each week everything is shipped to Montevideo via air freight. There is no charge for the subscription, only for the freight and delivery of the items.
Victor went on to explain that the service is most cost effective for receiving regular mail, printed matter, books, CDs and DVDs, catalogs and even credit cards–these things sail through customs duty free. If you have software, take it out of the box and just ship the manual the the CD or you might get gigged by the Aduana. This service is not cheap, but it is reasonable and the website makes full disclosure of all costs.
Everything else costs big bucks. Victor has a calculator on his website so you can see about what it will cost to have other items delivered. For example, a US$25 t-shirt weighing up to 1kg (my t-shirts are big) costs US$68.5o–US$15.00 for shipping and the rest for customs….
Miami-Box also has some really cool magazine offers: 60+ magazines with free subscriptions–you only pay the freight and delivery; and another 200 magazines at reduced rates.
You can sign up online with a credit card or arrange a cash deposit. I just signed up in 5 minutes.
This might be a solution you are looking for–especially if you are a magazine addict.
Hello Southron,
Good to read you have started using Miami-Box´s service.
I recommended the service to you a few months ago and you added a link on your other site.
Best Regards,
Javier Olaizola
Left by Javier on January 29th, 2008